Journey to "The Land of the Blue Sky"~Mongolia~: February 2014

Sain uu again?!

It has been a long long time since I have written anything. Several updates are due that will be done slowly but surely. However, I could not delay this blog entry any longer because 1) it was an amazing cultural experience and 2) because I promise my Mongolian friends I would share.

Tsgaan Sar (literally translated White Moon)-This is the Mongolian New Year celebration and according to the Mongolian lunar calendar, it is the first day of the year. This is one of the most important holidays in Mongolia. A lot of time and money go into celebrating this important date.

To celebrate my first Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, which took place Jan 31st- Feb 2nd, I went to Khentii Province to the countryside about 8 hours from where I live in UB to a beautiful, quiet, peaceful place with fresh air where you would look out miles and miles ahead and see no signs of civilization just empty fields, the mountains and clear sunrise and sun sets every day and where I was welcomed by a wonderful and loving herder family.

We pull up to my friend's family's home, right in from of their ger at about 7:30 am on January 30th after a long overnight drive. We greeted my friend's mom, dad and little sister- Tsegsegmaa, Ganpurev and Ochbayar (later her older sister, older brother, brother's wife and their little son). Then we had some hot traditional suutei tsai or "milk tea" and some "buuz" (dumplings filled with mutton meat) and traditional staple foods that are eaten during the Tsagaan Sar holiday.

The next day on Jan 31st, it was time to set up the table for "Bituun" (Bituun is the day before Tsgaan Sar when the moon is not visible-so it is known as "dark moon") which would hold the food and drinks to be eaten and drank for the next few days (see the pic with explanation). After setting the table, it was then time to go feed all the animals (sheep, goats, horses, cows, chickens) until they were "very full" ( animals must be fed until they are very full before Tsagaan Sar as it is the belief that this will bring good fortune for the coming New Year).

After this, it was time to put on our traditional deels and "greet" each other, but first and most importantly our elders. First, we greeted dad (head of household)-he extended both his arms out holding a "khadag" (a traditional blue scarf used for important ceremonies) and because I am younger than him, I held my arms out and put them under his as I get close to his cheeks (as if I was giving a kiss on the cheeks) to get a sniff on each cheek (traditional greeting) saying "amar bain uu?" "saihan shinlerei" ("did you rest well", Happy New Year) and giving him a small monetary gift. This greeting is then repeated with everyone in the family and everyone that visits or you visit for the following three days. It is important to mention that husband and wife of a household do not greet each other as they are considered One- beautiful reason!

After greeting our own family ( I became part of the family:), my friend said "Laura let's go Bituni to other "ails" (or homes), in other words let's go give our greeting to other homes, so off we went to other nearby homes to wish a happy New Year and spend some time in friendship.

The next day on Feb 1st-which is the actual first day of the Mongolian New Year, we got up at sunrise, dad held the Khadag facing the sun and the mountains greeting the New Year and wishing for all good things- one of the most beautiful moments when I just found myself so genuinely grateful to be there in that exact moment. After greeting the New Year and after consulting a Mongolian calendar book “Mongol zurhain tsag tooni bichig", we figured out the corresponding animal to my year of birth, which is the "mouse" -we determined my symbol and direction for imprinting my foot prints the first day of the year. I was to walk north-east holding something symbolizing a tree (we had matches so that did it). I walk first north throwing a match as I walked and left my footprints on the snow and then east, again throwing the tree (match) and saying as I walked "um bazar dagii nii hum, mamaa biziya zuha" (I am still working on figuring out exactly what it means but I know is wishes for good things...we also determine my "moles" which were 7 red moles and 3 blue moles (still trying to figure out the meaning of this as well).

I was told usually it is enough if the head of household does the foot printing-representing the entire family, but they wanted me to do it for the experience.

While this was happening, Temuulen, a 10 year old and one of my favorite Mongolian children (son of my friend's older sister) woke up excited to get his deel on and take off on his horse to the nearby soum (village) to do his greetings and receive presents. It is tradition in the countryside for all children to this on this day. Temuka (as we call him) was sooo excited that he forgot to greet his grandpa and grandma! Yana! (expression for OMG basically). Although, he did do his greeting that night when he returned with his deel filled with candy and money- he was then tasked with putting a plant on one side of our ger entrance at the top and a piece of ice on the other top side which is symbolic for food and water to receive the gods this new year.

The next day, we got ready to go greet grandma and grandpa in what it turned out to be a 4 hour ride to their soum (8 hours round trip on the same day on unpaved road) a small price to pay, given the importance of the greeting, especially the elders. On our way there, we stopped a few times, sometimes to try to help dad find an alternative way to maneuver around the snowy path so we would not get stuck, other times to stretch and take pics and one particular time for dad to do a vodka offering to the mountain (pouring into a little cup and throwing it in three directions-a task only men do).

Once we got to grandma's and grandpa's home we greeted them, gave them a small monetary gift (the monetary gift, is not important it is just symbolic of good will, appreciation and good wishes and it is not always money the gifts could be literally anything) and then ate milk tea, buuz, cow meat, arld and candy-- which was the menu for the entire duration of the Tsagaan Sar holiday. As I mentioned before, buzz is a staple food and it is offered every time you visit a home (likewise, you offer this when you get a visit) along with milk tea, aaruul (dried curds), airag (fermented horse milk) and cow's chest meat.

On our way back, we stopped at another home up in the mountain to greet another family--the belief is that the more families you visit or that visit you the better luck and future you and your family will have.

This time, dad went in first to see if the family was available, while we waited at the car I happened to look out and see the crescent moon--I pointed it out not realizing I had just pointed out something really important and exciting. Immediately my friend said I was lucky to have seen it, my friend and her sister took out money and started waving it at the moon--so I of course followed :) not knowing why I was doing that but quickly learned it was for good fortune. Later, as we drove away she told me it is lucky to see the first moon of the year because usually it only lasts about 10 minutes in sight. She said all people that night were confused because about an hour later, it was still visible-as we drove we just stared at it until it disappeared from sight as we reflected on a good day, many warm and welcoming greetings and good fortune wishes.

During these three days not only did I celebrate this holiday with what is now a family to me, but I also got to experience three days living the nomadic, traditional Mongolian life which is so so beautiful but definitely hard work too.

I have been invited back to their home this summer, I cannot wait to see everything I saw again but now everything covered in snow and brown grass will be a beautiful bright green!