I Opyne

So what is Attan? In one word it is a dance. But this is the dance of the Pashtuns; a people who according to some have formed the largest tribal society in the world. Since the dance in some cases also serves as a form of tribal identity (although there are exceptions), the large number of tribes and sub tribes is reflected in diversity in the various forms of Attans in practice. Although it is important to mention that Attan is not indigenous to all Pashtun areas. This “Attan-less” zone includes almost all of the northern districts of Khyber  Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in Pakistan i.e. Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Dir, Malakand etc and also the tribal agencies of Khyber, Mohmand, and Bajaur.

A peculiar aspect of Attan these days is the rate at which it is being documented. Modern technology is to be accredited for that; the proliferation of mobile cameras…

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