Tajik water diversion Festival and sowing Festival

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Tajik water diversion Festival and sowing Festival

Applicant: Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Item No.: 476

Project No.: Ⅹ - 28

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Type: new item

Applicant: Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Protected by: cultural center of Tajik Autonomous County, Tashkurgan, Xinjiang

Introduction to Tajik water diversion Festival and sowing Festival:

Applicant: Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

In Xinjiang tashikorgan Tajik Autonomous County, the Tajik water diversion Festival and sowing Festival are the agricultural festivals of the Tajik people. In Tajik language, the sowing Festival is called "hamozwast" and the water diversion Festival is called "zival". The first day of spring sowing is the festival period.

At that time, the whole village will gather in the fields to celebrate the beginning of spring sowing. Every family will bring some wheat together, and the public will select an elder respected by the whole village to sow. The elected elders were smiling and chanting words, carrying seeds to the people who had been waiting in the field for a long time. They stretched their skirts and laughed, surrounded by the seeds, in order to express their congratulations on spring sowing. After sowing seeds, a man led a fat cattle to the field to plough symbolically, and sowed a few wheat seeds to indicate sowing. Then feed some pasta shaped like plowshare and plough cover to the cattle to express their consolation.

It is said that on the sowing day in the old society, people who lived in poverty and lacked seeds had to send their families out to inoculate them to relieve their urgent need. Now, sowing and inoculation are just a kind of ceremony. The Tajik people also have the custom of splashing water on their guests during the sowing day. On this day, if a guest comes to Tajik's house, when they leave, the woman who has already been waiting outside with a basin of water will splash water on the guest as soon as he comes out to show respect.

Although the water diversion Festival and sowing Festival are closely related to agriculture, they are also closely related to the local natural conditions. Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County is located in the Pamirs Plateau, with cold climate, sparse population and scattered residence. Under such natural conditions, it is difficult for only one or two families to break the ice and divert water and sow seeds in the spring. It is necessary to mobilize and organize the whole village, men, women, old and young, to unite and help each other to bring water in. After the water was drawn in, the next day the plough was plowed and the seeds were sown. During this period, people also helped those who were short of seeds. The purpose was to organize them to do a good job in spring farming. The ceremony was held to pray for good luck and a good harvest, so that the whole village could have food.

The formation and development of the water diversion Festival and the sowing Festival are connected by the Tajik people's sincere feelings of mutual assistance. The fashion of "helping people is proud, while hurting people is shameful" still has practical significance for the construction of a harmonious society.