/зохиогчийн эрхээр хамгаалагдана/
Dear Guest,
This subsection is under further development.
1-Ger, 2-Routine lifestyle of nomadic families, 3-Shaman heritage, 4-Buddhism, 5-Animal husbandry, 6-Diet and cuisine, 7-Music, 8-Costumes, 9-Fine Art...
1. Ger: Since thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Mongols and other Central Asian nomads lived in ger, a round, cone-shaped tent easily assembled and disassembled felt homes which perfectly fit to their nomadic lifestyle. A ger has normally windows on its very roof/outlet/, although some families construct windows on ger's ceilings and walls. The small opening with windows at the top of ger is for stove's chimney too. The ger is erected from hana/folding lattice walls/, uni/wooden sticks for roof/, toono/upper smoke outlet with windows/ and door, which are assembled and fastened together; they are covered by tuurga, felt layers in winter and by light materials in warm season.
Ger is light and easily transportable on camel' back or on carts pulled by horses, camels and yaks. Ger has different sizes depending on number of walls. The weight of a 5 wall- ger is approximately 350-450 kg. It only takes only an hour for 3-4 persons to disassemble an average size ger and half an hour to assemble it. The ger's door usually faces to south. The altar and sacred possessions such as statues, photos, medals are kept always in front of northern walls. Riding and hunting gears are kept on south-western side of ger while kitchen is on its south-eastern side. To enter the ger, you had to step over the threshold without touching it. Guests are traditionally seated in the western section while eastern and north-eastern sections of ger are normally for the family members or for neighboors and close people.
How to build a ger?! It's easy.
A ger is assembled and disassembled in a particular way and the door always had to face south.
1. First, you need to find a suitable place that is flat and with dry soil as well as better protected from winds,
2. You spread the walls and the gate and then link and reinforce them.
5. Next, you raise the roof and support it to the walls by 50-70 poles.
6. Lastly, you need to put the cotton or wool felt layers over the wooden frame of the ger depending on the season.
2-Routine lifestyle of nomadic families:
3. Shamanism: For thousands of years Central Asian nomads orrientated on Shamanism, worshipping to the nature and Blue Tengrism/Sky/. Although it may look very primitive and simple at glance, the shamanism has indeed the most ancient backgrounds and a quiete sophisticated philosophy. Shamanism is a way of life in which a person believes that everything may have a spirit which remains alive forever. Shamanism takes its sources from worshipping nature, blue sky and spirits of ancestors. Chingis Khaan once created the Blue Tengerism or "Blue Sky" for the Mongols from the shamanism which was the main belief of Central Asian nomads and held a famous shaman under his favor. Since the 16th century when Buddhism started to spread throughout Mongolia taking the leading position in the intellectual life of nomads that later Mongols overvelmingly were converted into buddhism. However, the shamanism has still co-existed with Buddhism for the last four hundred years within certain geographic areas such as Buryatia in today's Siberia and north-eastern and northern Mongolia where Buryat, Darhad Mongols and Tsaaatan or reindeer tribes live. The shamans are divided in 2 categories: "black" and "white". The most powerful were black ones. Their main function is to treat "nervous" or "strange" diseases and behavours. They "treated" and "prophesied" with the help of different spirits.
The shaman ability considered to be inherited as well as ancient shaman traditions, practices and rituals have been inherited till today. For example, Spirit Evoking Ceremony is held on the third day of Lunar new year. This ceremony coincides with the annual Great Sacrifice, a nomadic religious ceremony during which offerings of livestock are made to deities. This tradition has been transmitted down from as far back as the Huns, who established the first Mongol state during 3rd century BC. This spirit evoking ceremony is a symbolic form of worshipping the ancestors, their origin and the spirits of Shamans who lived the preceding times.
Everything used by Shamans during their practices contains symbols of this powerful phenomena. Their clothes are marked with special symbols. A Shaman practicing the ritual depends on the spirit of an individual Shaman, who have passed away and that is being evoked.
A male Shaman is known as 'Boo' and a female Shaman is ' Udgan' . A Shaman can often be a reincarnation of a former Shaman partitioner .
This reincarnation is decided by a spiritual power known as ' touch of spirit'. The spirit is wise and eminent Shaman , who once lived on earth. His or her choice is revealed by the candidate going into a trance, known by the researchers as an ' abnormal psychological state'. It is also called ' the Shamanic state of consciousness'. The manifestation of this abnormal psychological state is usually an illness, which known as Shamanic sickness. This sickness may last from two or three days to several years. The reason behind this sickness can only be explained by another Shaman. If one who has suffered from this Shamanic sickness, or who has experienced the touch of spirit, doesn't become a Shaman, he or she risks to die at his or her younger ages. A Shaman has to follow many unconventional rules and orders, which vary from one Shaman to another. Shaman normally prefers to inhabit most of time in quiet, isolated environments. He doesn't even visit other nomadic families, settlements or communities without a specific purpose.
A Shaman's food, clothing, tools, and individual belongings are used as part of their ritual existence. Some Shamans never use tobacco and alcohol, whilst others have both in abundance. Some Shamans only wear light and bright colored clothes, whilst others dress in somber deels. As for the vocation of a Shaman , it is to defend his or her tribe or clan. In their own words, Shamans live in order to keep their people healthy and livestock alive. One of the features of Shamanism that differentiates a Shaman from a lama or a nun, is that Shamans do not have the same definite concepts of good and evil. The broadest Shaman concept is the view that everything consists within a state of two contradictions. The first belongs to their own tribe or clan. The other to those who live outside. This view is to defend the survival of the tribe or clan and protect their natural surroundings. The question if Shamanism is a religion or not has been a point of contention among Shaman researchers the world over. Shamanism doesn't match the conventional description of a religion in the same way as Buddhism, Christianity or Islam etc. It is instead a religious phenomena. Shamanism doesn't fulfil some of the criteria that are seen as essential for an established religious doctrine. Any established religion has its founder, from whom its teaching originate, such as Buddha, Jesus Christ or Allah. But there is no such figure from whom Shamanist doctrine manifested. When Shamanism was originally studied researchers believed it was a global phenomena. But as these studies gradually become more elaborate, academics realized it was actually quite different from other seemingly similar religious phenomena: African sorcery, European witchcraft and native American Indian spiritual practices. The main distinguishing feature of Shamanism is that individual Shamans embark on spiritual journeys outside of their own bodies. In other words, a Shaman is able to communicate with both animate and inanimate bodies , via his or her spirit. People who live in areas where Shamans live and Shamanism is being practiced are heavily influenced by the phenomena. I can give you a direct example. A young family of Tsaatans named Baldish who lived near the Huvsgul lake in a village called Hankhhad never been Shaman pracititioners. The daughter of the family developed a bad year infection. The family visited many doctors who were unable to treat her ailment. Eventually the family saw an old female Shaman in their neighborhood. The Shaman spoke with the family and presented the girl with a two year old reindeer which had been consecrated to Shaman deities and had sacred strips of cloth bound to its antlers. Within days the daughter's disease was completely cured. The Shaman promised to visit the family again. She made an appointment with the parents, who presumed she would be visiting her in person.
But on the day of appointment a small , yellow bird sat on the roof of their canvas sheltered sang. An old man who was familiar with the phenomena explained to the family that this was the Shaman, she was displaying her presence to the spirit. The Tsaatan believe this illustrates the part human and part spirit nature of a Shaman.
4. Buddhism:
Unfortunately, the lamaism/"yellow religion"/, a kind of Buddhism was very disastrious for thoughts of the Mongols. Warrior spirit of the Mongols was washed away by this foreign religion causing to the downfall of the Mongols.
First indroduction: In 126O, when Hubilai, the grandson of Chinggis Khaan established Yan Dinasty in China, the buddhism first time was introduced among Mongol rulers of China and it faded away after 100 years when the Mongols were expelled from China /Semi-nomadic Tibetans who were of shaman belief known as Bon, were converted to Buddhism by Indians. With the Indian Buddhism, the downfall of Tibetan Nation started. This historical background may also indicate that Tibetan Buddhism, that fit so naturally into the culture of the "!and of Snows", was also more easily accepted by the those Hubilai’s Mongols in
than Confucianism and Sinicised Buddhism. The Mongols probably were afraid of being culturally assimilated by Chinese.
Second introduction: in 1570s, The Mongolian khans/or "kings"/ and nobles started adopting so–called the “ Yelow Religion”, the sect of Tibetan Buddhism after Altan Khaan of Tumed Mongols who was conducting military raids to Tibetan lands, was converted in to the buddhism.
The Mongolian Khaan's choice of this religion seems to have been based also on lifestyle’s and physical similarities between the Mongols and the Tibetans, and their mutual distance-geographical and cultural--from the Chinese. Both and are high plateaus of Inner
Asia , and their open steppes and cold, arid climate contributed to Buddism's infiltration into brains of both the Mongols and the Tibetans. On account of similarities in their geographic circumstances, both and
developed a similar cultural style: Nomadic pastoralism. It was thus, easier for the Mongols to mingle with seminomadic Tibetans than with purely agricultural Chinese, who were far different in their social and cultural institutions.
Third introduction: Then the turn of Manchus came who commenced rising since 1616. The lamaism/ buddhism/ intentionally was introduced to Mongols by the Manchus who in the beginnining had great difficulties on conquering by military force. The Manchus succeeded to manipulate the Mongols. The Buddhism gradually spread among the Mongols throughout in 17th century. As result, abandoning their spirit of resistance, most Mongols came to a spirit of the retreat. In contrary to the North-American Indians, who 500 yearth ago, immediately chose to resist Europian conquerors, the Mongols-buddhists voluntarily moved away to deserts and arid mountains leaving their pasturing and farming lands to forChinese and Russian settlers. A few went resisting. It would have been unthinkable on the time of Chingis Khaan. For the last centuries, the Mongols never understood the sutras which were always read in Tibetan language which is uncompehensable. As result, we have today Inner
and Buryatia, although the Buddhism succeeded to spread its roots more deeply among Halkha Mongols, the central Mongols.
At time of the revolution of 1921, /outer/ had 650 monasteries and monks made up 40% of its male population. These factors provide some explanation as to why the Mongols who were shaman believers, adopted Tibetan Buddhism as their religious faith.
5. Animal husbandry: Since time immemorable, the Mongols raise 5 animals: mori, the horses, teme, the camels, khoni, the sheeps, yamaa, the goats and ukher, the cows/ or sarlag, the yaks in mountainous areas/ and they live off by the animal husbandry producing a great variety of diary products. A proto-Mongol man met first bankhar brought the dog to his ger before he caught a horse. For centuries the Mongolian dog proved to be the best friend of Mongol family. But today the Mongolian dog is almost a rarity. Then mori, the semi-wild horses are the second best friend of Mongol. Although they are small, the horses billion times proved their incredible importance to Mongol warriors and nomads. In Gobi deserts, temee, two-humped camels are more important than horses.
6. Diet and Cuisine: The food eaten by Mongols are mainly meat (including entrails), milk products and traditional cakes. But while herding their animals in the grasslands ans forests, Mongols used to eat many nutritious roots and fruits too. There were also some enrichments between cookings of Mongols and other nations who fell to the Chinggiss Khaan's conquests. The diet of the nomads differ from seasons.
For example, in summer, the nomads consume more milk products than meat. The nomads are almost vegetarians in summer and autumn. The most favorite drinks of Mongols are suutei tsai/tea with milk/, tarag/yougurt/ and airag/fermented mare's milk/. In winter, Mongols eat highly nutririous reserve meat like horse meat rich with protein and fat that allows the body's warmth. During the windy spring, the people don't slaughter animals, but prefer to consume borts/dried meat/, hyaramtsag,/frosen horse blood/, uuts/preserved meat/, shuutz/preserved meat in its own sauce/ and etc. The most preferred meat is mutton, then follows beaf and horse meat. Goat meat goes for the boodog, delicious food prepared by baking with hot stones.
The food is mostly cooked over a fire, but sometimes steamed or fried. Beef, mutton and camel meat dried in sun and wind, become very light in weight and they are preserved for a long period maintaining all their nutritious contents.
Milk beverages: Raw mare's milk is rarely consumed, because it usually leads to diarrhea in humans (on the other hand, that effect can be applied for medical treatment). All milk beverages are based on milk of cattle, yaks, or camels (sometimes sheep or goats). The most common drink is suutei tsai, tea with cow milk. Then the ayrag, a mildly alcoholic drink made of fermented mare's milk and tarag... From milk many kinds of dishes are prepared. First of all, the milk is boiled and is stirred many times, and after cooling, the "urum", a white butter, (the thick layer on boiled milk) is taken off. Urum is eaten with bread and sugar. Further, the boiled milk is fermented and used to make tarag/yogurt/, aarts (sour cottage cheese), and aaruul (a dry curd sweet). A small quantity of yogurt is poured into hot milk and fermented, and from this byaslag (cheese), eezgii (dry curds) and eedem (similar to cheese) are made.
7. Music.
Music is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among the unique contributions of Mongolia to the world's musical culture are the long songs, one of the greatest features of the Mongolian music, overtone singing and morin khuur, the horse-headed fiddle. The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country: Oirats, Hotogoid, Tuvans, Darhad, Buryats, Tsaatan, Dariganga, Uzemchins, Barga, Kazakhs and Khalha.
Besides the traditional music, Western classical music and ballet flourished during the MPR. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop and rock genres and the mass songs, which are written by modern authors in a form of folk songs.
The most important traditional singing is called "Long song" (Urtyn duu) because the songs are long, but because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. A four-minute song may only consist of ten words. Lyrical themes vary depending on context; they can be philosophical, religious, romance, or celebratory, and often use horses as a symbol or theme repeated throughout the song. Eastern Mongols typically use a morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) as accompaniment, sometimes with a type of indigenous flute. Oirat groups of the Western Mongols typically sing long songs unaccompanied or accompanied with the ikel.
Perhaps the best-known musical form of the Mongols is the throat singing tradition known as hoomii, extant among all or most Mongols though best known internationally from Tuva. Sung differently than traditional vocals. In Mongolia, the most-famous throat-singers include Khalkhas like Gereltsogt and Sundui, while the Tuvan group Huun-Huur-Tu has an international following. This unique type of singing involves the production of two distinctively audible pitches at the same time, including a low pedal note, or drone, derived from the fundamental frequency of the vocal cord vibrations, and higher melodic notes that result when the singer's mouth acts as a filter, selecting one note at a time from among the drone's natural overtone series pitches.
8. costumes:Historical sources and archeological findings show that ancestors of Mongols wore great many kinds of dress. For example, during the Mongolian empire period, married women wore original hats called "Bogtogo", which were very tall and slender, and were covered with silk, which was decorated with valuable pearls, precious stones and feathers on its top.
The del, the principal coat Mongols, was quite different from those of today. According to scholars, the del almost reached the ankles and had no collar, simply wrapping across sideways. In past, Mongol women wore traditional silver and coral jewellery-rings, necklaces, earrings and pins. Great attention was paid to the ornamentation of the head-dress. Ugalz, wild sheep's horn-like headdress of Mongolian noble woman was an amazing sculpture. Women kept their hair smoothly combed back. And an artificial string was glued to the front of the taruur, on both sides of which hung pendants made of strings or pearls.
Today, in countryside, the del remains the main garment of Mongols. Then hantaaz/jacket/, gutal/boots/, lovuz/hat/ follow. Deel has multipurpose uses, acting as a blanket at night, as a tent under rain. Mongolian costumes differ in shape and purpose. There are everyday costumes for men and women, for summer and winter, as well as special clothes for holidays and ceremonies. . The Mongols wear many kinds of hats and boots in all seasons of the year. Both men and women wear hats decorated with fur : sable, silver fox, red fox and others.
9. Fine Art: Fine arts of Mongolia are famous for its incredible paintings. Cave paintings aged 3-8 thousand years have been found in many places in Mongolia including those drawings carved in the Khoid Tsenkher cave, Mankhan county of Khovd Province which are considered the first works of art discovered in the territory of the country. The history of art and architecture of the Mongolian Empire begins in the 12th century and at later times was influenced by other nations. The capital city of the Mongol Dynasty, Harkhorin, was a magnificent proof of the glory and majesty of the Mongolian Empire. With the development of religious arts and architecture, in 16 to early 20th century, design of buildings acquired features of Buddhist temples. Many monasteries were built during this time. Works, that represents today's classical painting techniques, are O. Tsevegjav's "Battle of Stallions", U.Yadamsuren's "The Old Horse-fiddler", A.Senghetsokhio's "The Mongol Lady", B.Avarzed's "Uurgach" and Ts.Minjuur's "Caravan Guide".
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