Yolmo people

The Yolmo or Hyolmo (Tibetic: ཡོལ་མོ་) are a people mainly from the Eastern and Northern Himalayan Regions of Nepal called Helambu. They refer to themselves as the "Yolmowa" or "Yolmopa"^[1] and are native residents of the Helambu valleys (Melamchigyang, Nakote, Tarkegyang, Sermathang) (situated over 43.4 kilometres/27 miles and 44.1 kilometres/27.4 miles to the north of Kathmandu respectively) and the surrounding regions of Northeastern Nepal. The combined population in these regions is around 11,000. They also have sizeable communities in Bhutan, Darjeeling, Sikkim and some regions of South-Western Tibet. They are among the 59 indigenous groups officially recognized by the Government of Nepal as having a distinct cultural identity^[1] and are also listed as one of the 645 Scheduled Tribes of India.

The Yolmo people speak the Yolmo language of the Kyirong branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Accordingly, it has a high lexical similarity to Tibetan, although the two languages are not completely mutually intelligible.