Becoming a Mongol: Gracie's venture into Mongolia: New years, round two; Tsagaan Sar

Tsagaan Sar = White Month

First off, in my last post I falsely stated that this is the year of the Dragon. I stand corrected, 2012 was the year of the dragon, but 2013 is the year of the SNAKE and as my Peace Corps weekly update enlightened me, “the year of the snake brings many disruptions and worries.” Well, snap. The year of the Dragon stated that it would be rainy and floods may occur, it didn’t lie. We had flash floods on my birthday last year and it tore up the streets in Erdenet. These predictions aren’t kidding.

Watch out for disruptions and worries. And hang on tight for 2014, the year of the horse, because it’s said to be rather disturbing as well. What? Who writes these? What a downer.

Anyway, you ask what is Tsagaan Sar? Well, it’s the celebration of the lunar New Year, and depending on the phases of the moon each year the Lunar New Years comes on a different day, between the end of January and early March. This year it was February 11th-13th.

Tsagaan Sar is the second biggest national holiday to Nadaam in Mongolia and it’s celebrated for at least three days, although some celebrate for weeks, or up to a month.

One volunteer recently described TS in Amerik terms as a combination of Halloween and Thanksgiving. I think that's pretty accurate as odd as it sounds. It’s like Halloween in that families visit a multitude of other family and friend’s homes during the three days. At each home they eat a huge meal like thanksgiving, and then receive gifts before leaving. In the countryside, it’s acceptable to just show up at someone’s home, and you’ll get the same treatment; a full meal, some aiirag (fermented mares milk), vodka, and a gift or two.

Every family prepares for about a week in advanced making hundreds and up to thousands of buuz per family; which are these steamed dumplings of mutton or beef:

They also buy or sew new deels and get rid of the old – kind of like a spring-cleaning. Basically, it’s a way to start the new years out right, organized, cleaned and well wished by all family and friends. It’s a really lovely holiday besides the pressure to eat a hundred buzz and take a hundred shots…

I celebrated with several families, for 4 days, I even got to go visit my host family up in Selenge – here’s a few pic’s and a little idea of what it’s like to celebrate Tsagaan Sar.

When you first arrive at someone's home you must greet them (oldest first) with this saying, and a traditional kiss on each sides of the face, in which people will smell not kiss you...

Amar bain uu? Saihan shinij bain uu? (Which just some good wishes and happy new year)