On our last day at Hunza Valley, the hotel management arranged a Bonfire Gathering for us. Many of their staff members joined outside in a small park owned by the hotel. It was about 9:00 pm that evening. The night started wearing the dark dress, moon began compensating with bright silver light, and snowy mountain peaks were glowing ever so brightly. People began gathering tinder and kindling material, then placed the larger firewood into the newly made pit. Someone was about to lit the fire. The bonfire gathering was about to begin. It finally did.

As the fire intensified, so was the spirit of people around it. Our hosts came, one by one, and performed their cultural Dance. I have never seen such a dance in my life. Usually, men are hardly known for their dance in my region, but they were different. There was a sense of nobility in their moves. Men in beard and feather mounting caps were slowly and slowly moving with the rhythmic beats of folk musicians. They were slowly merging into the color of nature. They finally did.

Their dance was probably the indigenous style locals have transferred each other through generations. I would divide the dance performance into three phases. Firstly, the locals were trying to copy the moves of creatures like peacock and horse. Their dance was inspired by the nature’s creation, the animals and birds. Secondly, they copied royal styles where they expressed elegance and strength through their slow and gentle movements. The moves translated how respectable men or royal blood would express when become happy or reach the state of ecstasy. Final phase was when they asked everyone to join and participate before ending the proceedings and until the fire completely extinguished.

The Hunza Chacha (Uncle), as he is known in the valley, was one of the leading performers in the bonfire gathering. A humble man with long beard was not only a skilled dancer but could play multiple instruments at will. Someone told me he could play flute with perfection. His performance could be described with one word, “elegance.” As rhythmic as any performer could ever be, I thought his moves were mixture of Chinese Tai Chi and Buddhists meditation incorporated into dance.

The fire in the woods started diminishing slowly but surely. They asked us to join the dance. I was shy enough to seek excuse as I was recording their performance. Other fellows conceded to their demands. They circled around the fire and kept moving with a specific movement of hands and feet. The process continued until the musicians started slowing down along with the deteriorating intensity of the fire.

In the final moments when fire breathed its last, I looked up to the night sky, eyes on the shinning moon above ultra high mountains. That bright silver light pouring on the snowy peaks was an amazing sight to watch. Nature was too beautiful around the flames which were separating from the fire. In the colors of that night, I realized my life would have been incomplete had I not witnessed those moments.