The main food crops are wheat and barley supplemented with various vegetables and some fruit. They also rear sheep and goats and catch fish from the lake, although the latter is very closely controlled - over fishing could destroy this food source. There is one particularly interesting addition to their diet. In and around each village are areas of low bushes which produce a small black berry which looks a like a blackcurrant and is called ‘kalkos’. These berries do not form a significant bulk of the diet but virtually every meal contains a few of these berries for flavouring. Everyone seems to eat them, even the youngest children and babies. In fact they are so important in their culture that there is a sort of ‘christening’ ceremony for babies who are only a few weeks old in which the they are given milk with berry juice. Apparently the bushes fruit all year round.
Virtually all the water for crops comes from irrigation rather than rainfall, as the climate is very dry. A heavy rainfall is quite an event and is regarded as an excuse for celebration.
The people here have a strong tradition of story telling. Each village has one person, who could be either a man or a woman, who holds the position of ‘chief story teller’. Most of the stories appear to be fictional but there are a few relating to the peoples’ origins and traditions, which are held in great reverence. Apparently these are passed on from generation to generation. Each storyteller has an apprentice whose most important task is to learn these old tales. Great importance is laid on getting them word perfect.
I have started to transcribe some of these tales. Here is the one of them:
(Unfortunately the text that follows is quite badly damaged)
‘…… with 550 people and was pleased with the things he saw. The mountains were high and forbidding but the valley had good water and Chenem knew that the people would live here in peace and without trouble. So he led them into the valley. They did not look back – because there could be no going back. As time passed they grew their wheat and barley and…….…….some people questioned the law and wanted to know what was beyond the mountains…..’
The Sholu do not use much metal but they do operate a couple of small mines, one in the northern mountains producing copper and another in the south producing tin. Each village has a blacksmith and is allocated a certain weight of copper and tin each year in proportion to their population. Some is also kept separate to produce their coinage and there is a central store that acts as a reserve. They are very conscious of recycling old and broken items. I suppose that they must be careful to conserve what they have because if the ores around the valley run out, their reclusive nature is going to make it difficult to find further reserves.
One factor in their favour is that they have no need of metal for weapons, armour and such like. Indeed, they seem to have no military apparatus at all.