Tsagaan Sar & the year of the ox!

The Mongolian Tsagaan Sar or White Moon is one of the 2 more important celebrations in the country. I talked about it last year but maybe now I understand a bit more of it.

It's basically a moment of getting together, celebrating the end of the lunar year and greeting family and friends. "Bituun" day (the day before Tsagaan Sar) is the day of cleaning, in all senses, people not only clean their houses but also debts, quarrels, etc.. On that day close family gets together and eats like monsters, if you are not stuffed it might mean you will be hungry the new year. The days following Tsagaan Sar people go to relative's houses and greet them, traditionally you should greet the eldest of the family first, and also the eldest relatives of your friends. But how do you greet? you grasp people by their elbows and depending on your age you go under or over, if you are the same age you do a mix. (older people on top = meaning the youngest is supporting them). So it is first about greeting, but is also about getting together, eating and exchanging gifts.

Traditions have change, and now people have made some changes. For example in the old times you will only eat white food (curd, sugar, dairy products and many other Mongolian sweet), drink suute tse (milky tea) and airag (fermented mare's milk, since the summer so i tell you it is fermented!), and other traditional food like the buuz (Mongolian dumplings). Now things have change though and the airag has been often replaced by vodka (it's also white if you put it in a white cup no?) and other food is served like salad (I liked that change!)

However how does a foreigner lives all that?
If you are lucky and you are invited at someone house (I was later told you don't really need to be invited) you will if you want bring some presents (a box of chocolate, a bottle of wine...) when you get into the house you will go around greeting people (arm thing) it is important you keep you hat on and you can say something along the lines of "Amar bain uu?" or for me, easier to say "Saikhan shinleree" (sorry for the spelling!). If the family lives in a ger there is a particular place for visitors, usually the left side as you get in or the east side as the ger's door always faces south. The most important or more respected person sits in front of the door, place of honor. Then the eating (so tempted to write stuffing) begins. As i said all white food the traditional boov (or something like that), a bit cake piece, with different layers that for some reason i still don't know but maybe as all the Buddhist traditions it needs to be odd numbers and on top is covered with white sweeties and erol (curd). And it all goes by 3s, so you need to have at least 3 shots of vodka, or 3 beers (i told you traditions have change), 3 buuz, and so on... When the person leaves the ger is tradition that the family s/he visited offers him/her a gift, there are usually small presents, chocolate, toiletries, etc... if you are lucky and you don't have to visit a family you go home and collapse! During this period you will often see men and women stumbling along the road trying, i guess, to go back to their houses. There is something (i was lucky not to have it this year) about forcing you to eat and particularly to drink... It can be very tough, i tell you!

So the practicalities is what stroked me the most this year. Families with elderly people or basically the eldest in the family, will go through very difficult times if they don't have much money. An average family will make around 600 buuz, but if they have a family member that is relatively old or important in the community they will end up making 2000 of them. I know that for 600 buuz you need more or less a whole leg of a mutton, just for the meat and just for the buuz, then add to the expenses the drinks, other food, the gifts... A Mongolian friend was telling me that people nowadays indebted themselves so much during this period just to be able to keep a face, crime does go up and pickpocketing and even mugging increases drastically...

So at the end of it is a bit like Xmas for us...

Last year I was sick after Tsagaan Sar, I didn't want to eat or touch/smell a buuz for at least 5-6 month. This year I did well, i hide at home and only went where i really wanted to go...


I was curious about the significance of the lunar year itself and the traditions behind and found this web pages which tells the story of how Buddha decided on the order of the animals. So if you want some culture, just click on this link: Nezumi's New Year

Some pics from Peter who woke up very very early on Tsagaan Sar day to visit the Owoo, as many Mongolian did to pay their respect and prey for the upcoming year.

hmmmm... well is the other way around the first photos are supposed to be at the end! No comments!