Baluoti Festival is an important
festival for the Tajik people in China's northwest region. The Tajik people
believe in Islam, and as a result, many of their festivals, including their
traditional Baluoti Festival, are related to Islam.
Baluoti Festival is also called lamp
festival, which is celebrated in the first two days of the eighth month every
year in Islamic calendar. Every family will light a specially made lamp at night
during the festival, hence the name of lamp festival.
Before the festival, every family will make
many small lamps and an extremely big one. The lamp uses the culm of a certain
grass called Kawuri as the lampwick, and cotton to wrap around the lampwick.
After being dipped into ghee or sheep fat, this torch-like lamp is ready for
use. At festival night, the whole family sit in bed around a plate filled with
sand. Then the householder will call every family member's name in the order of
seniority and age, and they should reply respectively. The householder will
place a burning lamp before each one who replies, which symbols good luck. When
all the lamps are lighted, everyone will put his or her hands above his or her
lamp for a while and then prays to Allah for blessings.
After the rite, the whole family enjoys a
rich dinner in the lamplight. Finally, they light the big lamp and put it on the
roof of their house, which they call heaven light. At this time, the whole
family will get out and stand solemnly, watching the light and praying
silently.