The Sherpa people originally came from eastern Tibet, but migrated to Nepal within the last 500 years. Most live in the eastern part of the country, with the oldest Sherpa village being Pangboche. The vast majority (over 90%) of Sherpas are Buddhists, although they also incorporate animist and shamanistic practices.
Sherpas are traditionally farmers and traders, raising yaks and growing and trading barley, buckwheat, potatoes, wheat and animal products. Although many people think of Sherpas as expert mountain guides, not all who work as sherpas are actually members of the Sherpa ethnic group. The term derived from the 1920s, the early days of western exploration of the Himalayas, when true Sherpa people were greatly valued by explorers for their tremendous knowledge of the region, their services as guides and porters and their strength at high altitude. Before this, the Sherpas considered climbing the mountains to be blasphemous, as they viewed them as the homes of deities, and even today the starting point for any Everest expedition is the Puja ceremony, in which the Sherpas pay homage to the gods.
The most famous Sherpa is Tenzing Norgay, who, together with Sir Edmund Hillary, in 1953 made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Other Sherpas have continued to set records on the mountain ever since, and Sherpas still today work as guides and porters, often being paid a higher fee than those from outside their ethnic group. Sherpas make up 25% of the total number of people climbing Everest, and they account for one third of the lives lost on the mountain.
Sherpa society does not follow the caste system that exists in Nepal’s Hindu communities. Instead, there are 18 exogamous clans, with clan identity inherited through the father. Traditionally, Sherpas would not marry somebody from their own clan. Until 1949, the kipat system was in place, whereby their land belonged to the various clans rather than to individuals –a tradition which ended when the clan land was taken over by the Nepali state.
The traditional Sherpa language, Sharwa, is seldom written, and most Sherpas under the age of 60 speak and write Nepali.
Hospitality is an ancient and very important tradition amongst the Sherpas, and there are strict guidelines for both guests and hosts. For example, a guest in a Sherpa home may be ‘shey-shey’d’ by their host –that is, strongly encouraged three times to take food or drink (the Sherpa word for ‘respect’ is ‘shey-sa’). It is considered rude for a guest to ask for tea or food, so it is the duty of the host to offer these things. It is also rude for guests to ask for further servings of food at mealtimes –and, indeed, guests are expected to decline when the food is first offered, before being ‘shey-shey’d’ and then accepting.