In the summer of 1999 three of the co-authors of this paper formed a team to conduct ethnographic research among the Jirel people of eastern Nepal. The Jirels are one of 70 or so ethnic groups in Nepal and occupy a valley that carries their name, the Jiri Valley, about 90 kilometres east of Kathmandu. Very little ethnographic information has been recorded about the Jirels. Therefore the authors' primary goal for the initial research was to begin the basic process of describing the Jirel culture. Research time was limited to a brief period, so the authors focused on the basic ethnographic task of a good description that covered aspects of the culture, such as social organisation, subsistence patterns, religion, language, and politics.
