I walk down the crowded streets
confused and disorientated. What's with the mob of people and the
animals being herded down our city streets? On the right and the
left you can see yaks, cows, bulls and sheep being auctioned off and
bargained for. I joke about buying one to get around the city and
find out that they can go from about 10 thousand to 20 thousand yuan
(the equivalent of 1585 to 3175 USD), so I guess I wont be doing
that. I live in a city and while in some cities around the world
herding animals might not be uncommon, here it is. So what is it
for? Why are all the road barriers taken down with the cars swerving
out of the way of freaked-out, bucking bulls? Its a Chinese Muslim
holiday called Corbon.
Its true name is Id al-Qurban, which
means “offering sacrifices”. It's common name is Adha. It's the
once a year festival of animal sacrifice to atone for sins. There
are many different minority groups in China that practice this
festival, but the main one in my city is called the Hui People, a
minority group that is similar in appearance as the Han Chinese, but
mostly Muslim.
Corbon is a four day event that starts on the 10th day of the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. For us, that meant two weeks ago. Within the celebrations, you will mostly see men. To tell you the truth, I don't know a lot about this celebration, even after some research, so I can only say what I've seen. And that did not include women. The men swarm the streets to buy an animal. Some even buy theirs ahead of time and keep them for a few days until the celebration. I went by one of the mosques in my city and there were thousands there; inside, in front of and on the street of. I didn't see how they celebrate, but I've heard of dancing, music being played, fireworks and I'm sure meals are probably involved. Again, I don't know how they sacrifice the animals or what they do with all the meat afterwards, but I did see a lot of blood, a lot of skins and the heads were usually burned with a blow torch afterwards, for what reason I'm not sure.
I wish I would have had more time to
watch the proceedings, to ask questions and to take pictures, but I
was unfortunately busy. There is always next year.
Its true name is Id al-Qurban, which
means “offering sacrifices”. It's common name is Adha. It's the
once a year festival of animal sacrifice to atone for sins. There
are many different minority groups in China that practice this
festival, but the main one in my city is called the Hui People, a
minority group that is similar in appearance as the Han Chinese, but
mostly Muslim.
Corbon is a four day event that starts on the 10th day of the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. For us, that meant two weeks ago. Within the celebrations, you will mostly see men. To tell you the truth, I don't know a lot about this celebration, even after some research, so I can only say what I've seen. And that did not include women. The men swarm the streets to buy an animal. Some even buy theirs ahead of time and keep them for a few days until the celebration. I went by one of the mosques in my city and there were thousands there; inside, in front of and on the street of. I didn't see how they celebrate, but I've heard of dancing, music being played, fireworks and I'm sure meals are probably involved. Again, I don't know how they sacrifice the animals or what they do with all the meat afterwards, but I did see a lot of blood, a lot of skins and the heads were usually burned with a blow torch afterwards, for what reason I'm not sure.
I wish I would have had more time to
watch the proceedings, to ask questions and to take pictures, but I
was unfortunately busy. There is always next year.
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