Disclaimer: This is a personal blog and not representative of the views of Indiana University or the Fulbright IIE program.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
Cheese Kings
This Friday Mongolia and my university community will celebrate the first day of Tsaagan Sar ("white moon"), the Mongolian Lunar New Year. It has also been unusually cold here this year, though I'm still only wearing what was my spring coat in Mongolia, my nostrils never freeze on the twenty minute walk, and there's very little air pollution. All in all, very different yet still reminiscent of this time last year in Mongolia.
To get you all in the spirit of the New Year, here's a video about Tsagaan Sar that I've been using in my elementary school presentations.
A few things to watch out for:
-in the first five seconds you see a woman with a blue prayer cloth (the cloth is called a hadag, and though there are five common colors the blue hadag is considered to be the best color because it represents mongke tenger, the great sky spirit) tied to a spoon flinging milk into the air, doing what's called a tsatal to bless the land.
-at 30 seconds in, the woman puts ice on top of the ger near the door. They only do this on Bituun, the night before Tsagaan Sar, where they spend extra time cleaning and making sure everything is order for the new year. Apparently the ice is for the deer of a Buddhist deity to drink from.
-At 1:55, you can see a nice close-up of the traditional Mongolian wooden saddle (they are hard!)
-At 2:15, you see a grandmother helping her grandson put on his nice clothes for the holiday
-At 2:30, the men exchange snuff bottles
-At 2:50, you see friends and relatives come to visit. Tsaagan Sar lasts for three days, so a lot of visiting and eating goes on.
-At 3:30 they're putting out the tower of cookies, steaming those buuz (dumplings, people make hundreds sometimes thousands in the month or so before Tsagaan Sar but they can just stick them in bags outside to freeze), and preparing the mutton fatback.
-4:15 is my favorite, because you see zolgokh, the special Tsagaan Sar greeting. You place a hadag over your hands and support the elbows of your elder, showing them respect, as you ask "Amar mend uu?" (Are you peaceful?/Is there peace?)
Anyways, sar shiniin mend hurgie! Happy New Year!
To get you all in the spirit of the New Year, here's a video about Tsagaan Sar that I've been using in my elementary school presentations.
A few things to watch out for:
-in the first five seconds you see a woman with a blue prayer cloth (the cloth is called a hadag, and though there are five common colors the blue hadag is considered to be the best color because it represents mongke tenger, the great sky spirit) tied to a spoon flinging milk into the air, doing what's called a tsatal to bless the land.
-at 30 seconds in, the woman puts ice on top of the ger near the door. They only do this on Bituun, the night before Tsagaan Sar, where they spend extra time cleaning and making sure everything is order for the new year. Apparently the ice is for the deer of a Buddhist deity to drink from.
-At 1:55, you can see a nice close-up of the traditional Mongolian wooden saddle (they are hard!)
-At 2:15, you see a grandmother helping her grandson put on his nice clothes for the holiday
-At 2:30, the men exchange snuff bottles
-At 2:50, you see friends and relatives come to visit. Tsaagan Sar lasts for three days, so a lot of visiting and eating goes on.
-At 3:30 they're putting out the tower of cookies, steaming those buuz (dumplings, people make hundreds sometimes thousands in the month or so before Tsagaan Sar but they can just stick them in bags outside to freeze), and preparing the mutton fatback.
-4:15 is my favorite, because you see zolgokh, the special Tsagaan Sar greeting. You place a hadag over your hands and support the elbows of your elder, showing them respect, as you ask "Amar mend uu?" (Are you peaceful?/Is there peace?)
Anyways, sar shiniin mend hurgie! Happy New Year!
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