Tatar Saban Festival
01 · Historical Records
Later, the Tatars, in order to celebrate the advanced tool of the plowshare, deliberately used the Tatar pronunciation of the word for plowshare, "saban," to name this celebration; over time the celebration evolved into a traditional festival of the Tatar people, so the "Saban Festival" can also be called the "Plowshare Festival." The name saban first referred to a wild herb widely distributed across Central Asia; the ancestors, returning from grass flats and fields at the turn of spring and summer, gathered and competed in the saban grass, praying for favorable weather and full grain stores, and over time this became a festival. After the shift to crop farming, the tools for turning the soil changed from spades, ketmen hoes, and pickaxes to the plowshare, so people took the Tatar pronunciation of the plowshare to name this kind of celebration, and the Saban Festival can also be called the Plowshare Festival: the years of gathering and herding on the grasslands and the yield growth after the transformation of farm tools are recorded together by the same syllable. The Qitai area is mainly agricultural with herding as a supplement, so this festival, compared with purely pastoral regions, follows more closely the rhythm of busy and slack seasons after the wheat harvest.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qitai County is located in the northeastern part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, between 89°13′ and 91°22′ east longitude and 43°25′ and 45°29′ north latitude. It borders Mori County to the east, adjoins Turpan City and Shanshan County to the south across the central ridge of the Tianshan Mountains, connects with Jimsar County to the west, borders Fuyun County and Qinghe County to the north, and meets Mongolia to the northeast. Daquan Tatar Township lies along both sides of Provincial Highway S303: to the east it connects with the 108th Regiment of the Sixth Agricultural Division, to the south, across Dongwan Town, it extends to the eastern side of the Tianshan Mountains, to the west it borders Jimsar County, and to the north it reaches the Gurbantunggut Desert. The Tatar Township of Qitai County is the only ethnic township in the country with the Tatar people as its main body. The Tatar people are one of China's ethnic groups with a small population; there are currently 1,450 Tatars in Qitai, whose livelihood depends mainly on farming and herding. The "Saban Festival" is a traditional agricultural festival of the Tatar people and an important component of Tatar folk customs. After the Tatars gradually shifted from animal husbandry to crop farming, they changed their old production method of turning the soil and planting crops with tools such as spades, ketmen hoes, and pickaxes to a method of cultivating crops with the plowshare. The Saban Festival is a festival of universal participation, held between June 20 and 25 each year; the venue is not fixed, and there are no special taboos during the activities. The "Saban Festival" activities carry no religious coloring; the festival is an encyclopedia of Tatar traditional culture and preserves relatively complete Tatar customs, showing distinct Tatar characteristics in food, dress, athletic competition, music, dance, handicrafts, and cultural activities.
The saban meadow origin
Saban was a common wild plant of Central Asia, and the gatherings held on meadows covered with it after spring and summer work became a fixed festival.
From spades to the ploughshare
After the ploughshare replaced the spade, its Tatar name was given to the celebration, so the festival's name enshrines a change of tool.
The June fair at Daquan Tatar township
In Daquan township, where the Tatar farm and graze, the festival is held between the twentieth and twenty-fifth of June with no fixed ground for the gathering.
The township of Qitai
Qita township is the only Tatar-majority township in the country with about 1,450 residents, and its taboo-free festival life rests on everyday communal living.
A festival shared across the border
The Tatar are a cross-border people, so the festival marks an identity that does not stop at administrative boundaries.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tatar people are a cross-border ethnic group, distributed in neighboring countries around Xinjiang.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tatar Saban Festival.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Seasonal festivals are an important intangible cultural heritage, possessing considerable historical and cultural value. From an academic standpoint, the "Saban Festival" is of important significance and value to folklore studies, the humanities, and sociology, and should be protected and transmitted.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zaitunna 05-3017
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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