Uygur New Year Customs (1)

The Uighurs' Spring Festival is Nowruz Festival.

Nowruz Festival is a traditional festival with a long history. In Xinjiang, Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kirgiz, Turks and other Huns in China celebrate this traditional festival. The word "Nowruz" comes from ancient Iranian, which means "rainy days in Mao Mao". It is equivalent to March 22 of the ancient solar calendar in Saudi Arabia, that is, March 22 of the solar calendar.

Uighurs divide the day into six classes: sunrise class, lunch break class, sunset class, star class, late night class and dawn class. The ceremony of Nowruz begins at the dawn of the festival. On that day, people of all ages will hold various festival-themed activities and be in full bloom with the Chinese nation. Parents wake up first, light a bunch of pine and cypress tree skills in the middle of the room, wrap the smoking tree skills around everyone's head, and wish them peace and happiness in the new year. Later, parents sent the pine branches that began to smoke to the door of the barn to make the herd smoke, praying that the livestock would be strong and reproduce quickly in the new year.

After sunrise on the day of the festival, Uighurs will cook "Nuoluzimi", and each household will use the remaining grain and ingredients, plus a variety of seasonings (including natural seasonings) to make thick porridge, which is called "Keque" or "Chongkeque" (rich porridge). After this meal, the livestock will not be slaughtered. Since noon that day, Uighurs have become sworn in groups. After sunset, every family invited dinner, and everyone sang and danced to express their joy in the New Year.

After the "Nowruz Festival", the countryside began an anxious spring ploughing. Nowruz Festival has a history of at least 3,000 years, and its content is similar to the Spring Festival in China. At the beginning of the festival, the elders of Xiongnu tribes, including Uighurs, lived the daily life of nomadic people. At the end of winter and the beginning of spring, they called the day when the time difference between day and night was almost the same as "the day of birth" and "the year of the year", and called the month from this day "the lamb month".

At this time, it coincides with the season when the ice and snow melt, creeping grass turns green, the earth recovers and livestock give birth. At this time, nomadic people are celebrating the festival happily, and at the same time checking the safety of livestock in winter, ready to start stocking on the grassland. With the development trend from grazing to agriculture, housing and city walls, festivals have added more contents. Around AD 1000, western Uighurs were described as "nine Uighurs" in historical materials, and this festival was called "Nowruz Festival" in Tajik. With the change of time, the exhibition has added a strong color of "culture and art festival" on the basis of retaining its original appearance.

The food for the Uygur New Year banquet includes: Rop made of rice, beef and dried blueberries, Pitier Manda (steamed bread) made of wheat flour, beef and onion, Gus fried with boned beef (mutton by hand), and Lanman (Lamian Noodles) made of batter. In addition, there are all kinds of China cakes and snacks, such as Aisim Sanza (round fried dumplings), Yayimaza (lace fried dumplings), Bohu Sagues (fried chicken skin), Shamubosa (fried zygote) and Kayikeka (fried dumplings with flowers).