Tsagaan Sar Tsagaan Sar, the White Moon Month, heralds the end of winter and celebrates the new year and the start of spring. The color white is associated with health and happiness in Mongolian tradition. The proper welcoming of the new year will bring wealth and prosperity in the coming year. The date of the new year is timed to coincide with the new moon. Genghis Khan celebrated Tsagaan Sar as an official ceremony by wearing new clothes as he prayed to the gods and celebrated his own ancestors. He perhaps set the precedent for family visits by visiting his own mother at the beginning of the new year. The Great Khan gifted his subjects with gold and cloth from the public stores, and gave special recognition to those people over 120 years old. He also instituted a parole of prisoners in conjunction with Tsagaan Sar. Preparations for this holiday begin well in advance. Houses and outbuildings are cleaned from top to bottom, new clothing is procured. Any business left from the old year is concluded at this time, debts paid and differences settled. The fattest sheep are slaughtered for the feast and the women are busy with cooking. Bituun The day before Tsagaan Sar is the last day of winter and the night of the dark new moon. Called Bituun, meaning full darkness or closing down, it is celebrated with feasting, which begins when the stars come out after dark. Most families try to gather at the home of the eldest male member. Candles and incense are lit and the food is set out on the table - aruul, a dish of cream and curds; uuts, a boiled sheep back and tail dish; Ul boov, biscuits; buuz, meat filled dumplings; and a rice dessert with raisins called beresee. The tradidtional foods are mostly white and feature "covered" foods, such as the dumplings to represent the closing down. But before anyone can eat, tea is served. The host pours some into a drinking bowl and sprinkles it to the four directions. A second bowl is then filled and the host drinks from it and then touches the sacrum (the pelvic bone of the boiled sheep) nine times. When he has done, the other guests are served tea by the hostess, from oldest to youngest. The host then carves the leg of lamb and gives each guest a slice to represent the old year before breaking the bone and drawing out the marrow to symbolize the opening of the new year. The rest of the dishes are served in a proscribed sequence and it is necessary for each guest to taste all of the dishes, to ward off hunger in the coming year. Airag and more tea are served to everyone, but the strongest drink, arkhi, is reserved for those over 40. New Year's Day Before first light on the morning of the new year, everyone dresses in new clothes. Prior to going outside, a fire is lit and the orkh, the top window cover of the ger, is opened. When the first rays of the sun appear, everyone raises their hands skywards to greet the light. Next, each person must take their first steps into the new year. The direction of these steps has been predetermined according to a person's lunar horoscope and its relation to the current year. It is considered very important to the success of the coming year to start off into it in the right direction. After everyone in the family has taken their first steps, they return to the house to begin a ritualized new year greeting. The oldest member of the family sits in the north side of the ger and is greeted first by the next oldest family member who carries a blue silk khadag across their outstretched palms, along with a cup of milk in the right hand atop the cloth. Both of these are given to the elder, accompanied by the zolgoh greeting: "May you be healthy and happy!" The greeter then places his hands beneath the older man's elbows in a symbolic show of support for him, and the two exchange kisses on each cheek. The eldest male receives similar greetings from each member of the family except for his wife. The formal greetings then continue between all the other family members. Small gifts accompany these greetings. The most common gift to older people and to one's parents is the khadag which is a long narrow strip of silk in one of three colors. Blue symbolizes for eternity, respect and wishes for happiness. White is for purity of thought and yellow for longevity and prosperity. Snuff boxes, which express respect and friendship and extend wishes for health and wealth in the new year, are often exchanged between adults. Children are usually given sweets. The family members give and receive their presents first, and then the gifting extends to any guests who may be present. Another feast follows the gifting, which features foods similar to those of the night before. It is customary for the diners to eat a spoonful of rice with raisins before the host serves the meat to each one, starting with the eldest. During this meal, each guest is supposed to drink three small cups of either airag or arkhi. After the family meal, everyone goes to visit their friends and neighbors, giving and receiving small gifts and eating and drinking. Everyone makes certain to take a gift to all the oldest people in the neighborhood. At each visit, more food and drinks are served. Singing is also a part of the merriment. A host will serve drinks to each of his guests in turn with the expectation that the one receiving the cup will begin a song. The rest of the company join in and it is a breach of etiquette to refuse to sing. On the first evening of the new year, games are played. A number of dice games are played with bone shagai. Khorol is a game akin to dominoes. (If you look quick, you can see some photos of the khorol pieces on ebay.) This visiting of family and friends continues until the fifteenth day of Tsagaan Sar month, when the first full moon of the new year marks the end of the celebrations. Other Traditions In Mongolia there are rock cairns called ovoos, a remnant of the ancient shamanistic traditions. These are constructed on mountaintops and at crossroads to honor the old spirits of the land. Everyone who passes by an ovoo is supposed to circle the cairn clockwise three times and add a rock to the pile before going on their way. In certain locales, the inhabitants take plates of food to these shrines druing Tsagaan Sar. Other offerings may be left, such money, milk or vodka, or a blue khadag tied to a branch and then stuck in a crevice. The Daur Mongols of the northern steppes made an offering to the sky and to honor their household ancestors on the eve of Tsagaan Sar. This ritual is called Seven Stars, which are representative of seven old men. They move a small table outside their dwelling and on this they place lit sticks of incense and nine bowls of water. Then they build a huge bonfire to produce smoke hot enough to "melt the icicles on the whiskers of the dragon" in the heavens. The Daur shaman holds a communal purification and protection ceremony at his house at the beginning of the new year. He places colored stones and a mirror into a pot of water which is then boiled to produce the sacred arshan water. With this he first splashes his own body and then those of his clan members. The Buryats, a Mongol ethnic group from northern China, now live mainly in Siberia. Many of them practice Lamaism, or Tibetan Buddhism. On new year's eve the monasteries burn their trash to honor the Lama and as a symbolic eradication of the past year's sins. Some families make special religious paintings on canvas bordered with silk at this time of the year. These are displayed with burning oil lamps and incense and turning prayer wheels in front of them in honor of their ancestors. Sources: Mongolia Festivals Mongolia Today, Issue No.2 A Fire on the Steppes Mongolian Escapade

Courtyard ~ Table of Contents ~ Tsubame Oshidori Tanchou Suzume Gosai Kiji Uguisu Mejiro Washi Mimizuko Orient ACTA 9-1-07 Orient GF ACTA Scribal Bio Orient ACTA 12-1-07 Orient ACTA 2-1-08 Naadam Suutei Tsai Beresee Airag Shimiin Arkhi Tsagaan Sar The Korean Mudang Orient ACTA 4-1-08 Orient ACTA 6-1-08