This festival falls on the tenth day of Zhuld Hijia, which is the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. It is celebrated by Muslim Chinese minority groups, including Uyghur, Kazak, Ozbek, Tajik, Hui, Kirgiz, Dongxian, Bonan, Salar and Tartar.
In Islamic legend, once a year, a certain number of cattle were slaughtered for offering to others, showing devotion to Allah. Ibrahim said that he would sacrifice his son if Allah requested it. He then dreamt Allah asked him to deliver on his promise to sacrifice his son and the dream recurred until he made up his mind, took his son to a hilltop and was about to kill him when another message was sent to replace his son with a sheep. Since that day, Muslims have remembered the day by slaughtering sheep. This has evolved into one of the most important festivals in the Islamic calendar.
After a bath and tidying their clothes, Muslims go to the mosque to hear the Koran read by the imams. This is the year’s largest gathering in the mosques and, after rites and prayers, people visit graveyards and pay respect to late relatives.
The festival is also a get-together so people can indulge in conversation and food.
Muslims in Xinjiang are given three days’ holiday to mark the festival; in Ningxia, whether Muslim or not, employees and staff of the government are given the day off work. All across China, also, Islamic associations organise gatherings for this festival.
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