In Ghalegaun, Khim Kumari Gurung walks to the other end of the village carrying extra wool to to sell to another weaver. Photos by Karen Brock unless otherwise noted
One story of spinning wool in Nepal begins in the west central Himalayas above 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). Vivid green slopes dotted with wildflowers and the occasional blue poppy surround an alpine lake and piles of tumbling boulders. These alpine pastures support large herds of hardy Barawal sheep that graze on grass thick from heavy summer rains. Gurung shepherds, gothalos, tend sheep, goats, and yaks at these altitudes as they have for generations. The Gurungs have inhabited a broad region of the mid-hills in the Annapurna mountain range since their ancestors came over the mountains from Tibet centuries ago. Originally, they hunted and raised livestock but later established steeply pitched hillside villages at lower elevations of about 5,000–6,000 feet (1750–2000m) and began to farm.
Gurung shepherds tend their sheep, goats, and yaks high in the Himalayas.
Present-day Gurung shepherds follow the ancient ways of tending their livestock at altitude, living in long sheds, some large enough for their animals—some sheep, but mostly yaks. Caring for huge herds of sheep, goats, and yaks in such austere conditions and harsh climate can be brutally hard work. Most Gurungs are farmers, and in recent decades, many more have devoted themselves to tourism because their villages are near popular Himalayan trekking routes in the Annapurna Conservation Area. Perhaps the hardiest few among the Gurung choose the shepherd’s life. Some have their own sheep and goat herds; others are paid by members of villages at lower altitudes to care for their small flocks, which they use for wool, meat, and sacrifice during special religious festivals.
The Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) started nearly forty years ago to balance wilderness conservation and socio-economic development in communities within the conservation area. The Project, begun by the National Trust for Nature Conservation, recognizes community involvement is a crucial factor in conservation and provides training to village members in such activities as overseeing management of their forests, developing sustainable tourism, and engaging in preservation of both natural and cultural heritage.
Peek into the life of a shepherd and their sheep.
The Grazing Cycle
In October and November when temperatures begin to fall, shepherds, with the help of trusty Tibetan mastiffs, guide the sheep several thousand feet below the high summer grazing pastures to lower elevation farming and tourist villages. Here, shepherds shear the sheep and leave them in recently harvested farm fields to naturally fertilize them. During the day the
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One story of spinning wool in Nepal begins in the west central Himalayas above 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). Vivid green slopes dotted with wildflowers and the occasional blue poppy surround an alpine lake and piles of tumbling boulders. These alpine pastures support large herds of hardy Barawal sheep that graze on grass thick from heavy summer rains. Gurung shepherds, gothalos, tend sheep, goats, and yaks at these altitudes as they have for generations. The Gurungs have inhabited a broad region of the mid-hills in the Annapurna mountain range since their ancestors came over the mountains from Tibet centuries ago. Originally, they hunted and raised livestock but later established steeply pitched hillside villages at lower elevations of about 5,000–6,000 feet (1750–2000m) and began to farm.
Gurung shepherds tend their sheep, goats, and yaks high in the Himalayas.
Present-day Gurung shepherds follow the ancient ways of tending their livestock at altitude, living in long sheds, some large enough for their animals—some sheep, but mostly yaks. Caring for huge herds of sheep, goats, and yaks in such austere conditions and harsh climate can be brutally hard work. Most Gurungs are farmers, and in recent decades, many more have devoted themselves to tourism because their villages are near popular Himalayan trekking routes in the Annapurna Conservation Area. Perhaps the hardiest few among the Gurung choose the shepherd’s life. Some have their own sheep and goat herds; others are paid by members of villages at lower altitudes to care for their small flocks, which they use for wool, meat, and sacrifice during special religious festivals.
The Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) started nearly forty years ago to balance wilderness conservation and socio-economic development in communities within the conservation area. The Project, begun by the National Trust for Nature Conservation, recognizes community involvement is a crucial factor in conservation and provides training to village members in such activities as overseeing management of their forests, developing sustainable tourism, and engaging in preservation of both natural and cultural heritage.
Peek into the life of a shepherd and their sheep.
The Grazing Cycle
In October and November when temperatures begin to fall, shepherds, with the help of trusty Tibetan mastiffs, guide the sheep several thousand feet below the high summer grazing pastures to lower elevation farming and tourist villages. Here, shepherds shear the sheep and leave them in recently harvested farm fields to naturally fertilize them. During the day the[PAYWALL] sheep graze on grass and shrubs in nearby forests. After a month, the sheep are taken to even lower elevation locations where they will stay until early spring before the start of the monsoon season. They’ll be shorn again before making the journey back up to their high-altitude hills, continuing the annual grazing cycle.
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The Baruwal breed is quite adaptable to the varying climates where it lives, the more temperate lower mountains as well as the very high. Its fleece is short, which helps it both bear the heat and manage the cold in harsh mountain conditions where intense rain and hail are frequent. The wool has minimal crimp, is strong and springy, and ideal for fulling. In the fall, one sheep yields about two pounds (1 kg) of wool, but in the spring, that’s reduced to about one pound (0.5 kg) because the sheep grow thicker wool when they are at cold, high altitudes.
In the lower altitude villages of Ghalegaun and Sikles, artisans spin the wool for weaving and fulling narrow sitting blankets called rari and a hooded cape, worn mostly by men, called bokhu. No one in the village of Ghandruk weaves rari or bokhu anymore, although there was a rich history of this in the past. Now, the few remaining wool weavers of Ghandruk make small, knotted pile rugs, called galaicha used as chair cushions or seating pads.
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Wool weavers in Ghandruk source their wool from sheep near high-altitude Hidden Lake as no one in the village owns any sheep. Weavers purchase wool in large bags that hold several pounds of wool. Ghandruk villagers explain that because fewer women are weaving in the villages, sometimes the shepherds will shear the sheep before bringing them down the mountain and throw the wool away because there isn’t the market there used to be. What they do sell is quite expensive. A young entrepreneur in Ghandruk developed a plan to sell wool from his region to textile mills in Kathmandu where most of the commercial textile work is done. He abandoned the idea after the transportation overhead exceeded the profit from selling the wool. Locals also say that sometimes enterprising folks collect the tossed wool and try to sell it to whomever they can.
Weavers in Ghalegaun keep their sheep at high-altitude pastures near Thulek, over 13,000 feet (4070m). Around 200 sheep gradually descend several thousand feet from the lake to graze in various locations around Ghalegaun. Sheep for the spinners in Sikles pasture at Kori Hill, above 12,000 feet (3800m) and a day’s hike away. They are brought down to Khailing via Sikles for the winter months.
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During the fall and spring shearing days, the wool is cut with a hasiya, a sickle used throughout Nepal for everything from harvesting rice and millet paddies to cutting grass for water buffalo to slicing vegetables for dinner. The ubiquitous hasiya is an important symbol of Gurungs’ connection with their land and is sometimes even used in cultural dances. Some shepherds now use hand shears.
Washing, Sorting, and Carding
The shearer cuts wool in bunches rather than shearing a whole fleece. Spinners sort the bunches according to color: white, black, brown. They wash wool once, leave it in the sun to dry, and then sort again for quality—the unusable wool sometimes finds its way into square, recycled rice bags used for cushions.
Spinners card the wool into rolags. Rolags are called paii la in Gurung; Pai is wool, la is to roll. Some cards are handmade in the villages, but many spinners purchase them from Pokhara, a large city a few hours away.
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In Ghalegaun, weaver Khim Kumari’s daughter-in-law Kusum only washes and cards the wool, forming rolags for her mother-in-law to spin. She has no interest in learning how to spin or weave, which she thinks is too difficult, but laughs when she says, “anyone can card.” In Sikles, rather than using handcards, Buddhi Maya prepares wool for spinning using a bamboo-and-string bow. She holds the bow in one hand while strumming the string with the other and passing it through a bundle of wool. The vibration of the string loosens the wool and fluffs it up. The bow is about 40 inches in length (100 cm). She shapes tidy little bundles of wool, just like a rolag from a handcard.
Buddhi Maya of Sikles uses a bamboo-and-string bow instead of handcards. Photo by Kathleen Mahoney
After carding, the artisans spin singles then ply two singles to make the yarn used for all weaving. They will spend about one month carding then spinning and plying on a charkha to make all the wool they’ll need for the weaving seasons of summer and winter. Few weavers spin and weave year-round as their lives are busy with managing their homestays, hotels, and their farmwork, but working with wool remains an integral part of their lives.
For information on visiting the locations mentioned here, or to learn more: Ghalegaun: Rural tourism in Ghalegaun, email: [email protected] Ghandruk: Annapurna Guest House, email: [email protected] Sikles: Weavers of Sikles, email: [email protected]
Reference
Macfarlane, Alan and Indrabahadur Gurung. Gurungs of Nepal: A Guide to the Gurungs. Second Ed. Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu: 1992.
Karen Brock is a Peace Corps Response volunteer serving in central Nepal, helping to promote sustainable tourism. She could not have written this article without the collaboration of fellow Peace Corps Response volunteers Sally Conover and Kathleen Mahoney. All three are grateful to the community members of Ghalegaun, Ghandruk, Landruk, and Sikles for their generous welcome as they gathered information for this article. Special thanks to Ishwor Gurung, Puja Gurung, Munendra Gurung, and Basuna Shrestha for their translation assistance, both linguistic and cultural.
Gurung shepherds tend their sheep, goats, and yaks high in the Himalayas. 
Buddhi Maya of Sikles uses a bamboo-and-string bow instead of handcards. Photo by Kathleen Mahoney