Mongolian Winter Holidays

It’s nearing the end of winter in the States. For those who don’t know, winter is a period in the calendar that spans the months of December, January, and February in the US, and the months of October, November, December, January, February, March, April, and May in Mongolia. In the US, winter is marked by cold temperatures. In Mongolia, winter is marked by extremely freezing, animal-killing temperatures.

When it is cold, dark, and gloomy, what better way to shuffle off those ‘Winter-Is-Trying-To-Kill-Me’ blues than holidays! Mongolia has two rather exciting holidays: New Years and Tsagaan Sar.

Mongolian New Years

Mongolia doesn’t really have Christmas. I’m not sure it ever did. New Years, as it is celebrated in Mongolia, combines elements of both traditional New Years and Christmas. While modern-day Christmas has deviated a bit from its original religious overtones, the rumor is that merging Christmas into New Years was an attempt to hasten this process, not by the Mongolians, but by the USSR, which occupied the country until the 1980s.

Being a decidedly communist nation, the USSR supposedly felt integrating Christmas into New Years would be a compromise: a way of letting people have their celebration while helping people move away from the evil influences of religion.

At least, that’s the rumor.

Mongolian New Years is now a combination of the two holidays. People decorate trees (which look a lot like Christmas trees) and put up motifs of reindeer and Father Winter, a tubby man with a white beard who gives out presents (sound familiar?).

However, New Years parties here have a distinctly prom-like feel. In fact, I would posit that New Years is the annual Mongolian prom: young women get their hair done, put on lots of make-up, find very bright prom-like dresses, and then cover themselves with glitter. Lots of glitter. It’s an excuse to get really dressed up; some women go farther than others. And of course, every man is nicely dressed.

Every New Years party is a little different. Every organization, business, school, etc. has a party for the staff, and there is always a lot of drinking (which you can often avoid if you are foreign, female, and sitting next to the pregnant lady [Thanks, Bilgee!]).

At my school’s New Year’s party, there were lots of songs, games, and contests—there was even a vote for Prince and Princess (of what, I’m not sure), the latter of which was won by yours truly. My prize was a Tigger Snow Globe. I would have preferred a tiara, scepter, and small kingdom. But the Snow Globe does light up.

Tsagaan Sar

Tsagaan Sar, or ‘white month,’ is arguably one of the most important holidays in Mongolia and is somewhat a combination of traditional New Years, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. Despite the name, the holiday lasts one to two weeks, and involves visiting family and friends, wearing traditional clothes, and eating lots of traditional foods (more on this below!).

Some of the male teachers at my school. From left to right:
Choijo, Byamba, Nymorchir, Altantsooj, boy-whose-name
-I-can't-remember, and Amaraa.

Teachers from my school doing the
traditional Tsagaan Sar greeting.

Tsagaan Sar usually falls in early February. I had to ask around a bit to find why Tsagaan Sar is celebrated at this particular time. It falls soon after the Chinese New Year. My counterpart told me that after Tsagaan Sar is generally when herders (of sheep, goats, cows, etc.) begin preparing for spring by breeding new offspring for the new year. Others have told me that it marks the end of the coldest part of winter and the beginning of spring. My favorite explanation, though, came from one of the students in our Speaking Club for secondary school students: “It’s like… yay, we’re not dead.” I suppose Tsagaan Sar can be seen as a celebration of life, of surviving the winter.

Because Tsagaan Sar is a traditional holiday, it is steeped in all sorts of ritual, both traditional and not. People greet each other in a certain way, share snuff bottles in a certain way, and receive food and gifts in certain ways. They create round structures made of havsee (a type of sweet bread), topped with arral (a kind of hard yogurt-like cheese), white candy, and sugar cubes (usually all things that are white or light in color). You can see a picture of these structures below!

The breads that make up the stack is havsee.

When you visit another person’s home for Tsagaan Sar, there is generally a lot of dumplings--buuz and/or bansh. The two are almost identical—both being types of dumplings—but bansh are smaller and less common (unless you live in Zavkhan). It is also traditional to down three shots of vodka, but if you’re an American, you can get around that requirement. Unless you don’t want to. But keep in mind you may be visiting 3 or 4 homes in one day!

The photogenic son of one of my school's teachers, dressed
in his deel. You can see various traditional offerings on the
table, including candy, bansh, meat, vodka, and milk tea.

Winter here has been cold, but bearable. It seems that every chilly day can be warmed by the generosity, humor, and optimism of the people around me. The Mongolians have spent their whole lives with winters like these, and their defense against it comes not only in what they wear and eat, but also in their positive attitude and unbreakable spirit.

I will post pictures soon; until then, you can find many on my Facebook page!

Cheers,

Karen