Last week China celebrated what is called the “Spring Festival”, the country’s largest holiday. Whether you visit Beijing, Shanghai, Tibet, or Xinjiang you won’t be able to miss the elaborate decorations and deafening firecrackers…but do the minorities join in the celebration?

You know how it always feels like Christmas comes a little earlier every year?  I find it fascinating that this type of “roaming holiday” is exactly what Corban (a.k.a. Eid al-Adha) is to the Xinjiang Muslim culture. Last year we celebrated this holiday on December 10th but this year was moved all the way back to last Saturday on November 28th. Thanks to the lunar calendar one never exactly knows when the next holiday will be, and oddly during some years it is celebrated on two different days …

Thanksgiving in Xinjiang has always been an adventurous occasion for my wife and me. One year was sadly spent at Pizza Hut in Urumqi after searching unsuccessfully for a traditional Thanksgiving meal; last year I actually walked around the city with a live turkey under my arm – a gift from one of my adult students who told me it was the only one within a 100km radius of the city.

Once upon a time, in a land far to China’s west
where camels did roam and merchants had passed,
where a living was made with the cattle and soil
and no one yet cared for that ugly black oil,

I have taken a couple trips to our local cemetery just for the adventure as well as to quench my curiosity. This weekend many people here will be making that same journey out to these grave sites to burn money, set out incense and sweep the tombs (literally) so I thought it might be an appropriate time to share with you my experience visiting a Xinjiang cemetery.

“Xinjiang time” isn’t as annoying as people think, but it sure makes Christmas morning in China a drag.

Whether you’re a Muslim visiting a mosque in the early morning, killing a sheep in the late morning, and visiting family and friends in the afternoon or just a bystander observing all these traditions, you’re probably tired. I am, that’s for sure.

There are two major groups in the world today who still use the lunar calendar – the Chinese and the Muslims – and both of them represent a majority of Xinjiang’s population.

As always, it’s a bit harder to get a Thanksgiving turkey out here in Xinjiang, so I’m very proud to say that after two and a half long years of living here, we finally got a turkey – and I’m convinced it was the only one in the province!

I was planning on sleeping in today, enjoying my warm bed and maybe even read for a bit. I have a book that is just begging to be picked up and read. I was actually hoping to begin packing for our upcoming trip over the October holiday. I mean, it is Saturday. I should reasonably expect to be able to do all of those things on a Saturday, right?