Tsghaan Sar (White Month) Mongolian New Year

Deel, the Mongol national costume on Tsghaan Sar.

The New Year celebration started last week and is still continued. The Mongolian Lunar New Year festival is called Tsghaan Sar, which means White Moon/Month. This year it was on the same day, February 14 with Chinese New Year, due to which many, unaware of the cultural difference, thought its same thing. Though its same New Year festival, but culturally different. Other than the coincidence of this year’s Tsghaan Sar and Chinese New Year, it was also on Valentine’s Day! So, people almost forgot Valentine’s Day here in Mongolia. What a beautiful celebration coincidence! All the happiness come together. I think they should not be all-together. We should celebrate more days of happiness, rather than having them all in one day.

Officially there are three days of Tsghaan Sar celebration holidays, but in countryside the greetings and visiting to relatives continue for almost a month. In Central Asia, Nawroz is the New Year festival, which is celebrated warmly in all Central Asian countries, Afghanistan and Iran. Hazaras in Afghanistan also celebrate Nawroz, with a mixed cultural and religious vigor. The Iranian Mullah-controlled culture has plagued everything with their theocracy. A purely religious version of Nawroz is the notion in Iran. While it has nothing to do with religion in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Making  Tsghaan Sar more clear to my Hazara readers, its celebrated here in Mongolia like Eid in Muslim countries, with three days of celebrations, meeting relatives.

I went to countryside with Baasandorj, the person with whom i had A Day With a Mongol Family. We celebrated with his family in Tuv Aimaq (Province). We left a Ulaanbaatur a day before Tsghaan Sar. The evening is called Bityy (last day of the year), when family members come together and eat as much as they can. Byyz is the favorite food of Tsghaan Sar, among others, mostly white-food (Tsghaan means White). Counting all the Byyz i ate during my two days with Baasandorj’s family, i reached about 80 Byyz in two days. I like it very much. Airq (fermented horse milk) is the common drink of Tsghaan Sar. I had Airq on Tsghaan Sar for the first time after arrival in Mongolia–almost five months now. It tastes like Doogh in Hazaragi. Its strong and makes feeling like drunk if you take too much. For non-Hazara readers, Doogh is like Airq, but made of sheep and goat milk, not horse’s. Its also strong and makes sleepy.

Byyz (Mantoo/Dumplings), Aruul (Qurood/Dried Yogurt) on Bityy night.

We ate too much will all family members of Baasnadorj on Bityy night. His mother had cooked 3000 Byyz for Tsghaan Sar. The Tsghaan Sar day starts with early in the morning prayers of the festival. Nomads go to nearby peak of mountain and say special prayers for the year. They wear “Deel” the Mongolian national costume on this day. After coming back from mountain, all the family members and relatives greet the eldest in the family. We wore “Deel” and started from the 95-years old grandmother of Baasandorj. “Amar Baina yy? Caixan Shinilg Baina yy?” are the traditional greetings. Members of family also pay some money to eldest and youngest of the family as gift. Its the same culture among Hazaras on Eid, when elders give some money to children.

It took half hour to greet all the family members starting from eldest. It may be mentioned that spouse do not greet each other. For greetings, both person take from elbows of each other and elders kiss the cheek of younger. After the greetings all family members start eating food, mostly Byyz, Airq, alcohol and dairy products. During all the day, other relatives come to greet each other. Generally younger head of the families come to elder head of families, like a younger brother from other village comes to his father or elder brother.

It was a great cultural learning during the two days of Tsghaan Sar celebrations with Baasandorj’s family. Besides helping in cultural understanding, it helps with learning Mongolian language fast when see special conversations in such celebrations.

The weather was very cold on Tsghaan Sar day. Everywhere was covered white with heavy snowfall the day before. Though Tsghaan Sar is literally a spring festival, but its cold. Or in other words, spring is cold in Mongolia. But the harsh winter is saying goodbye. Its getting cool now a week after Tsghaan Sar. Snow is melting from trees and roads with clear sunny sky every day.

Kid greeting his grandmother on Tsghaan Sar day.

A Day With A Mongol Family

The NatGeo jeep and sunrise.

We left early in the morning  about dawn. It was a cold day slightly breezy. Nowadays the weather is getting windy as spring gets nearer. Next week is “Saghaan Sar (White Moon)”, the Mongol spring celebration like Nawrooz in Central Asia. But the difference between Nawrooz and Saghaan Sar is that the later is in February. Spring is cold in Mongolia.

Our host, Baasandorj, was waiting outside in freezing cold. We got in the vehicle and headed towards Bayanbulag, around 65km outside Ulaanbaatur towards the Chingis Equestrian.  By the time we got on the main exit-road of the city, the sun had just risen, giving a scenic view to  the bright sky with some  gray-darkened waves of scattered cloud, and the blushing reddish horizon. It was the first time i saw sunrise after arrival in Mongolia. A “National Geographic Channel” jeep was on the distance of some vehicles ahead of us. I wanted to photograph the NatGEO logo behind the jeep, so teased Purevdorj (Baasandorj’s brother) with his driving skills to overtake the vehicles and reach to jeep at a good angle for a camera-shot. He accelerated the already above 50mph speed and we got right behind the NatGEO jeep. As I took the above shot, the jeep turned right towards Terelj Valley.

On the way, Baasandorj was telling about how a Mongol nomad family lives in countryside. Meanwhile, he would also explain anything noticeable we saw on the way. Near to Chingis Equestrian there was an air-force base, which Baasandorj said was a Soviet Army Base that left in 1994, after the democratic revolution in Mongolia that toppled the communist system.

Driving on steppes.

After an hour of drive, we were now on vast steppes and hills covered with snow. There was no paved road, so it was Purevdorj’s skills driving so calmly on icy slopes and uplands. Now we could see some nomad houses faraway on hills near cluster of trees. Baasandorj was showing where his childhood days were passed in a nomadic family in Bayanbulag. We reached our destination–Baasandorj’s uncle. While getting near the “ger”, a child ran towards our vehicle and Purevdorj picked his tiny cousin up on front seat.

We were told to say …..(forgot the words…) for greetings as its different from “Cain Baina yy?” we used in UB. Doeshchuluun, Baasandorj’s uncle came out to welcome us. It was the first time to go inside a Mongol nomadic “ger” (yurt). I was surprised to see the Dish Antenna  and TV–the kid was watching cartoon—inside the warm “ger”. Where does the electricity come from?, I thought.  Doeshchuluun said it was running on solar system, which he made himself. Wow! i was surprised a herder could make batteries to run on solar system.

"Sutai Sai" and "Aruul".

We were served with “Sutai Sai” (Milk Tea), Aaruul (dried yogurt) …yum yum! Then we were introduced to Doeshchuluun in detail that we are Hazara and some related stuff. When he started telling about himself, my eyebrows raised. He was a former world champion of wrestling with dozens of medals from international competitions. He was one of the founding engineers of UB Thermal Power Plant. Doeshchuluun was graduated in Electric Engineering from Moscow. He is also a national-winner of competitions in making ropes for horses and said he teaches this as an expert to “malchins” (herders). At the same time, he was an expert veterinary doctor. He didn’t have any professional course, but learned everything from reading books. He repeatedly advised me “learn everything in life.”

Doeshchuluun with his medals from wrestling competitions.

Through our discussion with Doeshchuluun, i learned some new and beautiful Mongolian vocabularies. I also found an interesting Hazaragi-Mongol word, ”mal” (cattle in Hazaragi)  was exact same in Mongolian. “Mal” is used for cattle and “malchan” is a herder. He asked us about our professional field of study. When i said political science, he got excited and said you will now specially need to “learn everything in life”. He said political science is interesting, but tough. Then he went on some political discussion saying how difficult it was under the communist system before 1990. He said when he attended an interestional wrestling competition in Tehran, a spy was sent with him as guardian or eye-keeper in other words. He showed all his medals, world champion, Russian Champion, Mongol Champion and from many other regional and international competitions. Then he showed a book about veterinary, disease and problems with animals, which he downloaded from internet. He also showed the ropes (used to tie in jaw of horse, or on neck) he made and was awarded in competitions.

After the “Sutai Sai” we were served with mutton and “byyz”, the Mongol dumplings. It was so delicious. We continued the interesting discussion about nomadic life, politics and “learn everything”. After the lunch, we went out to see the cattle and horses. Before going out, we smelt “Khuurug”. Its in a small bottle like perfume. It made us snort. Doeshchuluun said its good to avoid cold.

We went to see the cattle livestock. In winter due to harsh cold, sheep, goat and horses are not taken out. Cows were covered with cashmere. It was interesting to see cattle production is being used by cattle itself Doeshchuluun was explaining to us different Mongolian words for sheep, goat, cow and horses at different ages. There were also a group of “sick animals” which he said are under treatment.   Every nomadic family has dogs to keep eye on cattle. They are dangerous and can bite strangers other than family members. Therefore, each time we were getting in and out of the “ger”, Doeshchuluun’s son would take the dog aside.

Doeshchuluun's cattle.

After the visit of cattle livestock, we came back and wore “Deel”, the Mongol national costume. Its very heavy and warm, made of sheepskin with fur. There are different styles for male and female, elderly and young and married woman. We went out to the groves of trees and herd of horses to take some photos with “Deel”. Fully covered with snow, the hills had such a fresh, but breezing, air. The sunny sky was clear like a crystal. Its too pollution in UB in winter. The smoke from “ger district” in UB pollutes the air badly, making it difficult to breath.  The air here in countryside was so fresh.

After coming back from the herds of horses, we went to another uncle of Baasandorj living on hill next to a mountain. Baasandorj had brought some gifts from city for his uncles. We had again a round of “Sutai Sai” and Aruul there. Children are nice to practice your Mongolian with. So i was trying with a child in the ger asking her “Che Nadtai, xotryy yavna?” (Will you go with me to city?” Baasandorj corrected me saying “yavchan not yavna for future tense”.  One can learn vocabularies with families much easier than turning pages of book in classroom and cramming the words.

Me, "Deel" and "ger".

Overall, i enjoyed A Day With a Mongol Family very much. It was a great fun, outing, learning and exploration. Doeshchuluun reiterated to visit him again in summer, he said it will be very nice in summer to ride horse and enjoy the good weather. We promised to visit him in coming summer.

"Sutai Sai" Milk-tea.