Traditional Celebration in Mongolia

                                                 The Tsagaan Sar

The festival of the lunar New Year, Tsagaan Sar, is celebrated in or around February depending on the Mongolian lunar calendar. It generally coincides with other lunar New Year celebrations. The day before New Years Day is known as Bituun, meaning “to close down”.  At the eve of the old year there is a celebration called Bituuleg. There is a big amount of “covered food”, where the meat is covered by for instance a layer of dough. Also the Ul Boov is created: a pile of ceremonial bread (boov) in an odd number of layers. Later traditional games can be played, and oral histories are told. It is said that at Bituun Baldanlham, a local god, is riding her mule during this time. She would be coming by three times so every family puts three pieces of ice on the top of the door of the ger, or on the balcony for people living in an apartment, for the mule to drink.

On the morning of the New Year traditionally the head of the family goes outside and walks in a direction which is prescribed in a book of Buddhist astrology. During New Years day itself the children honour their senior relatives. They start with their parents and then following the rules of genealogical seniority the other relatives, traditionally presenting them an amount of white food or pastry, but nowadays more and more other gifts as well. White and blue scarves, khadag, are presented to the most honoured. The rest of the festival which goes on for several days, is a celebration of present kinship. It is an occasion to publicly define your kin. A Buryat person once said his kin-group is all the people he visits at Tsagaan Sar.

Traditionally the celebration would last for three days, but a period of seven days is currently aloud for visiting people and up to a month for wishes.

In Buryatia the main shamanistic ritual called the Great sacrifice is held on the third day of Tsagaan sar. With the Daur Mongols, as described by Caroline Humphrey in Shamams and elders: Expierence knowledge and power among the Daur Mongols, the tsagaan sar is very much related to shamanism. On the eve of the lunar New Year there is an offering to the Sky. In this ritual Seven Stars, also known as seven old men, and all of the spirits of a household are remembered as well. A small table is placed in the yard, on which nine bowls of water and sticks of incense are placed. A huge fire is lit outside the courtyard, its smoke rising to heaven. The heat of the smoke should melt the icicles on the whiskers of the dragon. Furthermore the shaman will have a communal ritual shortly after New Year in his home and there will be a “purifying body ritual” done by the shaman at the beginning of the first month of each lunar New Year. The breast mirror and some coloured stones are put in a pot of water and boils the water, transforming it into arshan – sacred water. And it is splashed over the shaman’s body with a kitchen brush, then over the clan members. The ritual is also to give protection.

For the Buryats the lunar New Year is very much related to Lamaism. In the monasteries on New Year’s eve rubbish is burned, symbolising people’s sins over the past year and after this a service to Lhame, the protector of the faith. In the more religious families the Lamaist religious paintings are for the only time in the year. The paintings are done in canvas, with a wide silk border and have similarities with the thankas. In front of the paintings lamps of oil and incense are burned and small prayer wheels are turned. Prayers are said in honour of the dead kin and especially for patrilineal ancestors.
                                                                                   The Naadam

   Naadam is a traditional type of festival in Mongolia. The festival is also locally termed "eriin gurvan naadam" "the three games of men". The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery and are held throughout the country during the midsummer holidays. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling.
                                                       Mongolian Wrestling

512 or 1024 wrestlers meet in a single-elimination tournament that lasts nine or ten rounds. Mongolian traditional wrestling is an untimed competition in which wrestlers lose if they touch the ground. When picking pairs, the wrestler with the greatest fame has the privilege to choose his own opponent. Wrestlers wear two-piece costumes consisting of a tight shoulder vest (zodog) and shorts (shuudag). Only men are allowed to play.

Each wrestler has an "encourager" called a zasuul. The zasuul sings a song of praise for the winning wrestler after rounds 3, 5, and 7. Winners of the 7th or 8th stage (depending on whether the competition features 512 or 1024 wrestlers) earn the title of zaan, "elephant". The winner of the 9th or 10th stage, is called arslan, "lion".In the final competition, all the "zasuuls" drop in the wake of each wrestler as they take steps toward each other. Two time arslans are called the champions, or the "avrag".

                                                                                Horse Racing

Unlike Western horse racing, which consists of short sprints generally not much longer than 2 km, Mongolian horse racing as featured in Naadam is a cross-country event, with races 15–30 km long. The length of each race is determined by age class. For example, two-year-old horses race for ten miles and seven-year-olds for seventeen miles. Up to 1000 horses from any part of Mongolia can be chosen to participate. Race horses are fed a special diet.

Children from 5 to 13 are chosen as jockeys who train in the months preceding the races. While jockeys are an important component, the main purpose of the races is to test the skill of the horses. 

Before the races begin, the audience sings traditional songs and the jockeys sing a song called Gingo. Prizes are awarded to horses and jockeys. The top five horses in each class earn the title of airgiyn tav and the top three are given gold, silver, and bronze medals. Also the winning jockey is praised with the title of tumny ekh or leader of ten thousand. The horse that finishes last in the two-year-old class (the daaga class) is sung a song wishing him luck. 

                                                             Archery

Mongolian archery is unique for having not only one target, but hundreds of beadrs or surs on a huge wall. In this competition both men and women participate. It is played by ten-men/women teams who are given four arrows each; the team has to hit 33 "surs". Men fire their arrows from 75 meters away while women fire theirs from 65 meters away. When the archer hits the target the judge says uuhai which means "bulls eye". The winners of the contest are granted the titles of "national marksman" and "national markswoman".

XIII Century and Genghis Khan

The Mongol Emipe

   Mongol Empire was a massive empire during the 13th and 14th centuries. Beginning in Central Asia , it eventually stretched from the Korean Peninsula to Eastern Europe, covered Siberia in the north and extended southward into Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East. It is commonly referred to as the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world. At its greatest extent it spanned 6,000 mi (9,700 km), covered an area of 33,000,000 km² (12,741,000 sq mi), 22% of the Earth's total land area, and held sway over a population of 100 million.
                                                     The Genghis Khan

  Known during his childhood as Temujin, Genghis Khan was the son of a Mongol chieftain. He suffered a difficult childhood, and when his young wife Borte was kidnapped by a rival tribe. His most powerful allies were his father's friend, Kereyd chieftain Wang Khan Toghoril, and Temujin's childhood Jamukh of the Jadran clan. With their help, Temujin defeated the Merkit tribe, rescued his wife Borte, and then went on to defeat the Naimans and Tatars.

Temujin forbade looting and raping of his enemies without permission, and he divided the spoils to Mongol warriors and their families instead of giving all to the aristocrats.He thus held the title Khan. However, his uncles were also legitimate heirs to the throne, and this decision brought conflict among his generals and associates. His previous ally Jamukha of the Jadran clan, as well as the Kereyds, separated from Temujin. For rival aristocrats, Temujin was regarded not as leader but merely an insolent usurper. Temujin's powerful position and reputation among other Mongols and nomads raised the fears of Kereyd nobles. Virtually all his uncles, cousins and other clan chieftains turned against him, and war ensued. Temujin's forces were nearly defeated, but he recovered and was reinforced by tribes loyal to him. In 1203-1205, the Mongols under Temujin destroyed all the remaining rival tribes and brought them under his sway. In 1206, Temujin was crowned as the Khaghan of the Yekhe Mongol Ulus (Great Mongol Nation) at a Kurultai (general assembly/council). It was there that he assumed the title of "Genghis Khan", probably meaning Oceanic ruler or Universal ruler, instead of the old tribal titles such as Gur Khan or Tayang Khan. This event essentially marked the start of the Mongol Empire under the leadership of Genghis Khan.

  

                                    The first Mongolians Hunnu  Empire

Hunnu's the first creators of the Mongolian State founded a powerful empire in the fourth century BC to become immortal in the history of Central Asia. The majority of Hunnu lived in Ordos near the southern border of Mongolia. In the third century BC, these aimags united, subjugating a great number of neighboring aimags. It is considered that the first Mongolian State was established when Maodun declared himself Shanyui and ruled the state between 209 and 176 BC. But the first Shanyui of Hunnu was Tumen father of Maodun. The Hunnu Empire of that period was a union of powerful aimags that came to acquire the features of a state. Shanyui divided Hunnu territory into three parts: Eastern, Western and Central.

He himself ruled the central part granting title and appointing governors for the western and eastern parts. He used the structure of tens in organization, which was later used during the Mongol Empire.
Twenty four powerful aimags were included in the structure of the Hunnu state, and the leaders (the of aimags ruled a cavalry of up to 10.000 soldiers. Hence their name: the rulers of 10.000 the 24 rulers of 10.000 appointed heads of cavalries comprising 1000, 100 and 10 soldiers. The border of Hunnu territory reached Lake Baikal in the north, the Great Wall or China in the south Tarvagatai ridge and some cities of Turkestan in the east and Korea in the west. The capital of the State- and Khan's Palace was settled in the basin of the Orkhon and Tuul rivers.
A number of Mongol Hamnigan and Tureg nationalities at various levels of social and economic development composed the structure of Hunnu. Socially Hunnu was a pre feudal, slave-owning state. Hunnus led a classically nomadic life of cattle breeding, agriculture and handicraft. The main animals were horse, cow, sheep and goat, and they also domesticated the wild camel, ass, donkey, antelope and horse to use them for transportation and trading. They grew wheat and millet.
Hunnus considered land necessary for the existence of the state. In the year 192 BC the Emperor of Han State sent a Treaty note to Laoshan Shanyui of Hunnu in which he stated that. "Han and Hunnu are equally powerful neighboring States... Nomadic subjects armed with bow and arrow living In the northern side of the Great Wall should obey Shanyui law but those who are wearing Tushmed's belt and hat dwelling in the southern part of the Great Wall. Should obey my rule."
The Hunnus had a military society, and while waging the war soldiers took their wives, children and households with them. Thus  the simple administrative structure of peacetime turned into the structure of an entire military state. They used bows, arrows and spears in war the soldiers were talented horsemen and skilled archers on horseback. But the Hunnu Empire was founded on the unstable base of a brittle union of aimags with different social levels and unfriendly relations with each other. So it couldn't last long and the dissident policy of its southern Han neighbor also played a big part. In 53 BC the Hunnu State split into two parts and the part ruled by Huhanie Shanyui fell under the subordination of the Han State that in the south Gobi north of the Great Wall. The other part ruled by Chjichjl Shanyui struggled on defending its independence but constantly harassed by the Han State. The majority of the Hunnus ultimately moved west to the Altai and eastern Turkestan, but a small number remained in their native land. Hunnus who left the country reached the Ural, Caspian and Black seas by the end of the fourth century BC. At the beginning of fifth century AD they invaded Mesopotamia and Asia Minor and finally passed through Central Europe. During the period of Atilla the Eastern Hunnu became very powerful and ruled a vast territory from the Don to the Danube, but after the death of Atilla the state scattered and disappeared. During the first century BC Asian Hunnus re-established their independent state by struggling against the Chinese Han State. At the beginning of fourth century AD they occupied some northern provinces of the Eastern Han State but soon they too disappeared.
The Hunnu was the first great empire of Central Asia composing a great number of aimags. Even though its epoch soon passed, later aimags and states inherited its socoi-economic and cultural achievements.