Mongolian New Year. Mongolian new year

Perhaps no other holiday has embodied the idea of ​​infinity and at the same time the cyclical nature of time as tangibly as the New Year. He is a milestone not only in the calendar. With it, in the life of every nation, whatever its level of development, the next cycle of seasons and the types of economic and social activities associated with it begins.

It does not have an exact, fixed date and is calculated annually according to the lunisolar calendar, which is accepted as the basis of chronology in many Asian countries. The holiday itself and the entire month of the year following it is called Tsagaan sar, which means "White Moon". The origin of the name is explained in different ways.

Some believe that the holiday is called so because these days everything around is white, covered with snow; others say that the holiday falls on the hungriest time of the year, when there is a revelry evil forces, and, to appease them, the month is called white, that is, happy; still others see the reason in the fact that it is in February that “white” dairy products are eaten, the Mongolian name of which is tsagaan idee.

One way or another, the name of the month is associated with the white color, which in the color symbolism of the Mongols is associated with the idea of ​​happiness. By happiness, the nomad meant, first of all, the abundance of livestock and everything that he gives - meat, milk, dairy products.

Until the middle of the 13th century, the Mongols celebrated the New Year in September. August was considered the green month, followed by the white month of September, when there was a massive processing of dairy products to create food stocks for the winter. Their abundance fully corresponded to the name of the month and the concepts of the Mongols about happiness.

Genghis Khan's grandson, Emperor Kublai Khan, suffered Chinese pattern the beginning of the New Year on February. Along with the holiday, the name of the New Year's month also passed to February. It became known as Tsagaan sar, still symbolizing the abundance of dairy products, although in fact there were already few of them at this time of the year: by the beginning of spring, winter supplies, as a rule, came to an end.

How was Tsagaan sar at Kublai's court, we know from the description of Marco Polo. On this day, all the subordinates of the emperor brought him gifts: gold and silver, pearls and gems, expensive white fabrics.

Folk Tsagaan sar went much easier. The night before they saw off old year: they ate meat, steamed meat pies, dumplings, drank tea with milk. The celebration of the New Year began early in the morning. The guests went from yurt to yurt. The younger ones went to the older ones and congratulated them.

Every gesture on this day is full of ancient auspicious symbols. Take at least a New Year's greeting: the younger of the guests, bending their elbows, put them palms up under the arms of the elders, whose arms are also bent at the elbows, but palms down. This gesture means respect for elders, readiness to help and support them.

Before greeting, each of the men pulled a knife from his belt and left it hanging on a chain - a sign of peace and harmony. The hosts greeted the guests standing on a white felt spread at the entrance to the yurt. The guests presented the hosts with a khadak - a blue or blue silk scarf. white color. Since ancient times, these colors have symbolized the wish for happiness. The hosts also tried to give gifts to the guests in return. It could be the same hadak, sweets or money, preferably brand new metal coins.

The magic of the first day of the New Year influenced the whole year as a whole - hence the abundance of white food and new money.

And then it started feast. The oldest and most respected guests were located in the northern part of the yurt, women sat in the eastern half, and men sat in the western half. Everyone was dressed in festive, bright clothes. On the table are dairy products (cottage cheese, foam, cheese, koumiss) and milk vodka archi, and fatty, sweet cookies (heviin boov), specially baked on the occasion of Tsagaan sara, shaped like the sole of a boot. And, of course, boiled lamb, laid on a large wooden dish according to all the rules of a traditional Mongolian feast. Above are the sacrum and head - the two most socially significant parts of the lamb carcass.

Usually the owner offered the oldest and most respected guest to taste a piece of meat from the sacrum first. Then everyone else was treated to them, trying to observe the order of seniority. At the same time, they drank milk vodka, and if koumiss has survived to this time, then it. The hostess regularly poured drinks to the guests. And from time to time, she also put on the table a dish with freshly cooked, steamed meat pies - buuzas.

special New Year's dish rice porridge with milk was considered. However, rice appeared in the Mongolian food system relatively late, therefore, it seems that this dish, with all its double white symbolism, is also quite late.

Guests left, new ones appeared to replace them. The feast lasted all day and stopped only at night. And the next morning it all happened again. And so for several days.

On the first day of Tsagaan sara, the age of all people and animals increased by one year. It doesn't matter that one was born in July and the other in December. New Year happily equate all among themselves and in this matter.

On the first day of Tsagaan sara accepted guess about the weather, about the prospects for the future, about the offspring of livestock, about their fattening and, accordingly, about what depends on this and what is so important for the pastoralist - whether there will be enough food next winter. Divination methods were divided into folk (according to signs) and lamaistic (according to astrological books).

If the pipe smoked well, if the jasper snuffbox did not sweat in the hands, if the bulls in the herd did not butt heads, but behaved calmly, then the weather will be good, there will be no zud (lack of fodder) and loss of livestock.

Lama astrologers used to read books. For each person - depending on what year, month, day and hour according to the animal calendar he was born, what menge (birthmarks) accompanied him and which of the five elements (earth, water, air, fire, metal) gives him his special patronage - by the combination of all this it was determined what to expect for himself personally in the current year, what to fear, what to strive for.

And one more mass spectacle was associated with Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia for a rather short period of time. This yangou - funny carnival processions on stilts. At first, they were staged by Chinese theater artists in Urga, the capital of pre-revolutionary Mongolia. In make-up and costumes, they walked on stilts around the city, entered the courtyards of Chinese trading companies, and then the Mongol nobility, and played pantomime there from the life of different segments of the population.

After the victory of the people's revolution, the youth turned yanggou into propaganda spectacles. They were usually held on the streets on the third day of Tsagaan sar. Eight to ten pairs of actors in masks, costumes and stilts portrayed scenes from the life of old Mongolia, combining pantomime with dialogue. The scenes were very simple in content: a lama seduces a girl, a Chinese official beats up a simple Mongol, etc. The performance ended with a collective procession of masks in a circle, fireworks. Actors were traditionally invited to the house and treated. Some of these propaganda teams traveled to countryside and there they showed their performances.

The beginning of spring and the New Year according to the lunar-solar calendar is the most solemn and main holiday of the Mongolian, indigenous Arctic and some Turkic peoples.
Among the Mongols, it is called Tsagaan sar; among the Buryats - Sagaalgan, among the Tuvans - Shaga, among the Altaians - Chaga Bairam; among the Yakuts - Urun Yy, etc. It is a symbol of the renewal of man and nature, openness and purity of thoughts, hope and good expectations.

The name of the holiday comes from the Mongolian words tsagaan - white and sar - month. "White month" was originally considered a holiday of dairy products and was celebrated in autumn. At this time, the preparation of dairy products for the future was over, which they consumed on holidays.
The celebration of the New Year according to the lunisolar calendar has ancient national and religious roots.

The grandson of Genghis Khan, the great Khan of the Yuan dynasty Kublai, moved the time of New Year celebration from autumn to the end of winter under the influence of Chinese astrology. Thus, the Mongolian Tsagaan Sar was timed to coincide with the beginning of the year according to the twelve-year cycle. The court “white holiday” was described in the following way by its witness and contemporary of Khubilai, Marco Polo:

“Their year begins in February; the great khan and all his subjects celebrate like this: according to custom, everyone dresses in white, both men and women, as anyone can. They consider white clothes to be happy, that’s why they do it, they dress in white so that there is happiness and prosperity throughout the year ... They bring him great gifts ... so that the great khan has a lot of wealth throughout the year and it would be joyful and fun for him. I will tell you more, princes and knights, and indeed all the people give each other white things, hug, have fun, feast, and this is done in order to live happily and kindly all year.

On this day, you know, more than a hundred thousand glorious and expensive white horses are presented to the Great Khan. On the same day, five thousand elephants are brought out under white blankets, animals and birds embroidered; each elephant has two beautiful and expensive caskets on his back, and in them are the dishes of the great khan and a rich harness for this white gathering. Many more camels are brought out; they are also under blankets and loaded with everything necessary for the gift. Both elephants and camels pass in front of the great khan, and such beauty has never been seen anywhere!

... And when the great sovereign reviews all the gifts, tables are set up, and everyone sits down at them ... And after dinner, magicians come and amuse the courtyard, which you have already heard before; When it's all over, everyone goes home."

After the expulsion of the Mongols from China in the 14th century, the tradition of celebrating Sagan Sara at the end of winter was brought to Mongolia proper. Thus, the name of the holiday - "white" - has lost its original "milk" meaning, and acquired a more general meaning. The name "white month" reflects the color symbolism common to the Mongolian-speaking peoples, according to which the white color - a symbol of holiness and purity - is associated with happiness and prosperity.

With the beginning of the wide spread of Tibetan Buddhism among the Mongolian peoples in the 17th century, the Mongolian Tsagaan Sar included Buddhist rituals and mythology.
The main imperative of all Buddhist rituals associated with the meeting of the new year was to get rid of all the sins and filth accumulated in the previous year. The central ritual is still a penitential one-day fast (Tib. sojong), accompanied by the ceremony of burning the “litter” - a black pyramid, symbolizing the accumulated evil, sacrificed to the spirits of the area.

Buddhist popular mythology connects the Tsagaan Sar holiday - the beginning of spring - with the name of the Buddhist deity-dharmapala, the goddess Baldan Lhamo. According to legend, every year after another victory over the mongooses and saving the sun, swallowed by the lord of hell, Yama (Mong. Erleg nomyn khaan), she descends to the earth, warms it with her warmth, and spring begins. The cold is receding, winter starvation is leaving, a new season begins in the economic activity of cattle breeders. They count the losses incurred in winter and rejoice at the approach of the warm season.

The image of an angry Buddhist goddess sometimes coexists with the image of the White Elder, the traditional Buddhist embodiment of fertility and longevity.

Since the 19th century, with the assimilation of the Gregorian calendar, Tsagan Sar in Kalmykia was not celebrated precisely as the beginning of the calendar year, however, among the Volga Kalmyks, who migrated in 1771 from Russian Empire, traditional rituals have been preserved: their descendants living in Xinjiang (PRC) celebrate Tsagan Sar as the New Year. Strengthening the New Year's character of the spring celebration was facilitated by the fact that the Chinese celebrate the traditional New Year at about the same time.

In the 1930s, the celebration of Tsagaan Sara was banned in the USSR. The revival of the traditions of the celebration occurred only in the post-war period, the status national holiday received only in 1990.

Currently, the first day of Sagaalgan in the republics of Altai, Buryatia, Tuva, Khakassia, Yakutia and the Trans-Baikal Territory, as well as in the territories of the Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug and the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug is a day off
According to the Law of the Republic of Kalmykia dated October 13, 2004 "On holidays and memorable days in the Republic of Kalmykia", the Tsagan Sar holiday is a national holiday of Kalmykia.

Traditions and rituals of celebration
They prepared for the celebrations in advance, slaughtered cattle for the future, since it was forbidden to do it directly on the days of the holiday. The celebration took place in every house. They hung new outfits on a rope, shook out all the clothes. They cooked meat - lamb, beef or horse meat, prepared buuzas.

The traditional greeting was an important ritual with which two people who met that day addressed each other. The significance of this greeting is so great and the duration of its action is so long that, for example, Tuvans could not greet each other for a whole year, arguing that they had already greeted each other during the White month. Kalmyks at a meeting asked: “Did the members and livestock safely leave the wintering?”
Nowadays, the home celebration of Tsagan Sara is no different from the meeting of the Christian New Year - people give gifts to each other, gather at the laid table.

Since this holiday is called the "White Month", according to tradition, white dishes should be on the table, for example, from milk or sour-milk products.
During the festive dinner, a special lamp-goblet is lit - the Zulu, which drives away evil spirits and, together with oil, burns the sins of those sitting at the table. Alcohol in Buddhism is not welcome, so it is almost never found on the New Year's table during Sagaalgan.

The first day of the New Year is supposed to be spent in your house among the people living in it. Only the next day you can receive guests or go to visit yourself. If the children live separately, then they must come to their parents on the first day - honoring the elders is one of the foundations of Sagaalgan, which was once laid by Genghis Khan himself, who visited his mother Oyalun.

An indispensable element of holiday gifts was a bunch of wrestlers.
Bortsoks were made from rich unleavened dough and fried in boiling fat. Of these, sets were made - for offering the "first portion" to the Buddhas, as well as gift ones - for presentation to relatives during holiday visits. The shape of the wrestlers included in the sets had symbolic meaning: figurines in the form of animals expressed the wish for the offspring of the corresponding livestock; in the form of an occasion - good luck, etc.

Early in the morning on the day of the holiday, the ceremony of sprinkling was performed: having crossed the threshold of the house, the owner sprinkled around the first cup of freshly brewed tea as an offering to the ancestors and the White Elder.

Astrological forecast for 2018
According to the astrologer of the Ivolginsky datsan, Namsrai Lama Dashidondokov, this year will be fruitful in all areas and, unlike the previous ones, will be calmer.

February 16 is the new year lunar calendar. We are entering the Year of the Dog, the element of the year is earth, the color is yellow, and like every even year, 2018 is masculine.
This year will be fertile in all areas, unlike previous years, it will be calmer, everything will gradually stabilize. The year will be very favorable for people who are sensitive, have endurance and show resourcefulness.

Earth - the active element - is presented as a crystallizing, gathering together force that works slowly but powerfully. This element carries stability and makes everything clear, definite, concrete. The qualities of the Earth are fertility and abundance.

The Earth element brings wisdom and prudence into people's lives, endows them with such properties as practicality, methodicalness, logical judgment and prudence, fortitude, willpower, friendliness. And although people will be a little slow, but having specific goals and firm aspirations, they will systematically move towards them. Enterprising and practical, they can be selfish and possessive, attached to material things.

A dog is the embodiment of loyalty and honesty. She is intelligent, endowed with a strong sense of justice, and is a conscientious worker. She is an obligatory friend and cannot help but help.

The dog does not tolerate hypocrisy and malevolence, but her anger caused by her high moral character, short. The dog is not playful, in life it is too serious. She talks and analyzes so much that sometimes she falls into pessimism. He has good intuition, feels danger in advance and sometimes exaggerates it, which makes him restless, even panicking. A deceived dog can become cynical. Her life is a heavy burden, and if she continues to take everything seriously, then she will have few opportunities for happiness. A dog's love can last a long time if he manages to cope with his pessimism.

Weather. Spring promises to be long, rainfall is expected at the end of spring. There will be rains in summer, and towards the end of summer - drought, fires are possible, but despite this, the harvest will be good, a lot of grass and an abundance of berries. The cattle will be well fed and will breed well. Strong winds at the beginning and end of the year.

influence of the year. The Year of the Dog is very favorable for young people, good for children, older people need to pay attention to their health.

If to speak about people who were born in different years, then the year of the Dog is good for those born in the years of the Chicken and the Monkey. For those born in the years of the Dog, as well as the Dragon, Sheep and Cow, this year is not very successful. They are advised to be vigilant and careful, sincerely do good deeds, help the needy, orphanages and homes for the disabled and the elderly. In this way it is possible to avoid various obstacles in the coming year. This year will be changeable for those born in the years of the Tiger and the Horse. It will be good for those whose patron is the Mouse, Rabbit, Snake and Pig.

The very similar peoples of the Great Steppe, Kazakhs and Mongols, have one fundamental difference. Kazakhs are Muslims and Mongols are Buddhists.

During Soviet times, the New Year in Mongolia was celebrated on January 1, like in all Soviet republics - with a Christmas tree and Santa Claus. And the traditional for the Mongols Tsagan Sar, fell on the Day of the breeder. After the collapse of the Union in Mongolia, the New Year is celebrated twice:

• according to the Gregorian calendar - January 1,
• according to the lunar calendar - in early February.

How to celebrate the New Year in Mongolia

The traditions of celebrating the first New Year (January 1) are not much different from the traditions of most countries. Already in early December, city streets are decorated with illuminations, lanterns, bells and New Year's wreaths, dressed up fir trees, figures of Santa Claus and other New Year's characters are installed everywhere.

By the way, the Mongolian Grandfather is very outrageous - he is a real shepherd in a shaggy fox hat, a whip replaces his staff, and a waist bag is a bag with gifts. My name is Grandpa Uvgun Uvlin, he lives with his family in Ulaanbaatar, and he is almost a hundred years old.

On New Year's Eve, it is customary to gather with family and friends at the festive table.

After midnight, large noisy companies pour out into the street to blow up firecrackers and admire the fireworks. The morning of January 1 begins with the unpacking of gifts. Traditionally, sweets, clothes, dishes and alcoholic drinks are given to each other. Spouses often receive "paired" gifts: a set of cups, pillows, decorative elements, etc.

Many residents spend the first days of the coming year at the races - the main Mongolian entertainment. Experienced riders, along with their zealous horses, compete for the title of the most dexterous and skillful. Also no less popular are yangou - spectacular theatrical performances with the participation of thousands of colorfully dressed residents. Such processions are held on the main streets and squares in all Mongolian cities.

Tsagan Sar

This holiday is associated with the ancient traditions of the Mongolian peoples. "Tsagaan Sar" in translation means "White month". It is believed that this is a symbol of purity of thoughts, kindness and renewal of a person.

The white color among the Mongolian peoples is a symbol of purity and holiness, associated with well-being and happiness. For the Chinese, by the way, red has the same meaning.

Traditional celebration of Tsagaan Sar

On the eve of the holiday, they put things in order in the yurts in order to meet the New Year in cleanliness. It was customary to break something old to make way for the new. The next morning, the guests began to visit each other and arranged feasts. It was believed that the more abundant the table on the first day of the year, the more satisfying the whole year would be.

Traditionally, on the table were boiled lamb, cottage cheese, cheese and milk moonshine, where without it. After the host of the feast cut the lamb and personally treated each guest, he, in turn, had to drink vodka and koumiss so as not to offend the host. This was the end of the official part of the holiday and the fun began with songs and dances.

In addition to Mongolia, the holiday is also celebrated in a number of subjects of Russia - in Altai, Kalmykia, Tuva and Buryatia.

As you know, the celebration of the classical New Year has its traditions since Roman times, when the so-called Julian calendar. In Russia, the New Year began to be celebrated on January 1 from the introduction by Peter I in 1700 of the chronology from the Nativity of Christ, before that, years were counted from the creation of the world. Buryats, Mongols, Kalmyks, Tuvans celebrate Sagaalgan (Tsagaan Sar), many Turkic peoples celebrate Novruz Bayram.

New Year seems to be the oldest holiday in the history of mankind. It is all the more curious to trace the identity of dates in the most different peoples world - say, the Xiongnu and the ancient Celts, Iranians and Buryats.

March 1, September 1, January 1

Until the end of the 15th century, the New Year in Russia fell on March 1. In principle, like many peoples, this was an echo of pagan ideas about the time of the beginning of spring field work. In pre-Christian Russia, the New Year fell at the beginning of January. March 1 did not take root in Russia, since the spring field work here differed from those in the Mediterranean, the birthplace of the Julian calendar. However, the new date - September 1, also did not take into account the climatic features of Russia. The reform of the calendar system was carried out without taking into account the working life of the people, without establishing a connection with agricultural work.

The September New Year was approved by the church, following the word scripture; establishing and substantiating it with a biblical legend. By the way, the Julian calendar also did not circulate. In 1700, Peter I put it into effect and set the New Year on January 1. In 1917, after the revolution, was introduced Gregorian calendar. The church still uses the old Julian calculus, so all the dates have shifted by 13 days, let's say an Orthodox xmas and the "old" New Year.

Church influence on the festivities, however, practically disappeared in Soviet time. There were attempts to completely abolish the New Year, until in December 1935, Stalin's ally Pavel Postyshev published an article in the Pravda newspaper, where he proposed returning the New Year tree to the children. Since then, many families have preserved the tradition of putting a red star on the Christmas tree instead of the golden one of Bethlehem.

Xiongnu and New Year

According to Chinese historians, the Xiongnu people, the forerunner of the Mongolian and Turkic peoples, knew the New Year. Nomads widely celebrated this holiday, gave gifts. And that was 3000 years ago. It was the Xiongnu among the Asian peoples who were the first to decorate Christmas trees and put gifts under them. Spruce was intended for the god Yorlu, who came to the yurt through the chimney, and it was placed so that it would be more convenient for him to go down. To appease the deity, the tree was decorated with food and silver. Gifts were placed for children - bows and arrows for boys, spindles for girls.

The New Year was celebrated on the day of the end of the cattle drive to the winter roads and fell on October 14th. According to popular observations, at this time the moon (“Һara”) converged in the phase of fullness with the constellation Pleiades (“Tengeriin basagaduud”, i.e. “heavenly girls”).

It is noteworthy that this date was also celebrated in pre-Christian Russia, later this holiday became the day of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God.
Later, when the Xiongnu and then the Avars invaded Europe, they, according to some researchers, brought the tradition of decorating Christmas trees.
The end of the harvest was also celebrated by the Celts (October 31), whose New Year was called Samhain.

Nowadays, European and Asian neo-pagans are trying to revive the tradition of celebrating the New Year at the end of field work or driving cattle for the winter. But there is no unity among them, as many tend to celebrate the New Year on other dates.

It's December 21st

The holiday of the winter solstice, which falls on December 21, is also considered by many peoples to be the New Year. The ancient Germanic tribes on this day expected the revival of the Oak King, the Giver of Life, who warmed the frozen earth and awakened life in the seeds stored in its bosom all the long winter.

The Vedic-Zoroastrian god Mithra was also, according to legend, born on December 21st. On the longest night of the year, the god of light and truth appeared, whose cult, in many ways, was reflected in many religions of the world.
At Slavic peoples On this day, the Kolyada holiday was celebrated, when “the sun turns to summer, and winter turns to frost. No matter how cold the frost is, it will warm the cheerful holiday warmer than the stove.

Everyone remembers the noise around the world caused by the date of December 21, 2012. In fact, the day of the winter solstice, calculated by the ancient Maya, accounted for the end of the 5200-year cycle of transition from one side of the galactic ecliptic to the other.

Thus, a more progressive calculation of the New Year began, depending on the Sun, Moon, stars, and not depending on the end or beginning of field work or migrations. The end of December was also accepted as the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, although it is not known whether he was born on December 25th. However, many peoples have adopted the date of the vernal equinox as the New Year.

Ahura Mazda and Hormusta Khan

In the 5th century BC. the prophet Zarathustra, on the basis of ancient Persian and Vedic beliefs, compiled his works and founded, in fact, a new religion. The year according to the Zoroastrian calendar was calculated according to the Sun and consisted of 12 months. Each month was 30 days, and was called the name of a particular god or saint. The remaining five or six days were called "weeping days." This calendar was very perfect for its time. In many ways, many other European and Asian reckonings originated from it.

New Year in Zoroastrianism fell on March 21-22, on the day of the vernal equinox. Later, this date will also pass into the solar Turkic calendar as the day of eating syrts - the backbone of the year.

Thus, it became a tradition for the ancient Turks and Mongols to celebrate the New Year with the advent of spring. But over time, the calendar has changed. So, the current Turkic peoples, along with many Muslims, celebrate Novruz Bayram on this day, a holiday that appeared in Islam, but has its roots in Zoroastrianism. But not all Turkic peoples celebrate on March 22, for example, among the Yakuts, due to natural and climatic features, the New Year was shifted to May 22.

The contribution of Zoroastrianism to the culture of Asian peoples is enormous. It spread from the Persian Gulf to Lake Baikal, it was transmitted by Turkic kams and Mongolian shamans. In the Geser epic there are deities Hormusta (Khan-Khurmas tengeri) and Atai-Ulaan, whose names are borrowed from the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda and Ahriman.

Turkic animal cycle

Among the ancient Turks, the so-called "animal cycle" became widespread. It was a kind of calendar, at the junction of Persian and Chinese, with Xiongnu echoes. It was based on the monthly revolution of the Moon around the Earth, the annual revolution of the Earth around the Sun, and the period of rotation of Jupiter around the sun. According to the names of animals in the calendar, it was almost identical to the Chinese - rat, bull, leopard, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken, dog and pig.

There was also a 12-hour cycle per day, also according to these animals. The unit of measurement for the month was the time between two new moons. The month was divided into two periods: "ay nazly" ( new Moon) and "ai cards" (old moon). Later, in the Middle Ages, each month began to have a certain name and its signs.

The Turks divided the year into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In addition, the year was divided into 24 seasons of 15 days each. Each season consisted of three minor seasons, each with five days. This division further detailed weather signs.

But the Turkic calendar was sunny, and the establishment of the New Year on March 21 or 22 was more or less understandable. But over time, among the Turkic and Mongolian peoples, the solar calendar began to be replaced by the solar-lunar calendar, and after that, some of them introduced the Muslim, and others - the Buddhist lunar calendars.

Sagaalgan - is it a Buddhist New Year?

Many mistakenly believe that the Tsagan Sar (Sagaalgan) holiday appeared among the Mongolian-speaking peoples under the influence of Buddhism. In fact, this New Year, as we see, was also celebrated by Tengrian shamanists. Northern Buddhists (Lamaists) thoroughly revised the calendars of the Turks and Chinese, and compiled their own based on them, based on more accurate astronomical data and adapting the onset of the New Year to our natural and climatic conditions. Therefore, the Chinese and Mongolian New Years do not always coincide.

One way or another, the tradition of celebrating in late winter has distant roots. But the lunar calendar has its own characteristics. To match the solar month, 13 months are added to it every three years - “iluu”. Due to the discrepancy between the calendars, it turns out that every year Sagaalgan falls on different dates of the solar calendar.

It is curious that in one of the variants of the Buryat calendar, the year of the Monkey (“bishen”) was named the year of the Star (“mushen”). Apparently, this was due to the fact that the Buryats did not know such an animal, and gave this year a consonant name.
Finally, it is worth recalling once again that in 2014 the Year of the Blue Horse will come not on January 1, but on January 31. And the residents of Buryatia will rest for three days.

East Asian countries also celebrated the New Year from time immemorial, however, unlike our solar calendar, they used a different one - the Lunar calendar. Therefore, the time of the New Year and the traditions of the holiday are quite different compared to European ones. In 2015, Mongolia will celebrate the New Year on February 19, 2015.

Mongolian New Year- the holiday of the shepherds, called Tsagaan Sar (Tsagaan Sar, or in the literal translation " White moon”) and is the first day of the new year according to the Mongolian lunar calendar. The Lunar New Year Festival is celebrated not only by the Mongols, but also by their closest neighbors, the Kalmyks and Buryats. The White Moon Festival is celebrated 2 months after the first new moon after the winter solstice. Tsagan Sar is one of the most important holidays of the Mongols.

New Year begins in this country in February. According to custom, the Mongols dress in white or national clothes. White robes symbolize happiness, so that the whole next year In addition to wearing them, happiness and prosperity did not leave. It is customary to give horses, goats and food.

Characteristic features of the holiday

Burning candles on the altar symbolize enlightenment. Mongols greet each other with "Amar bayna uu?", which translates as "Did you have a good rest?". Families visit friends and parents' homes. Traditionally, young families meet at the home of their father or grandfather. During the exchange of greetings, at a meeting, among the Mongols, it is customary to grab each other by the elbows. The father is greeted by every member of the family, with the exception of his wife. At the welcoming ceremony, family members hold long pieces of cloth called khadag in their hands. After the ceremony, everyone eats rice with cottage cheese, dairy products and exchanges gifts.

Mongolian Santa Claus

The traditional Mongolian Santa Claus, Uvlin Uvgun, is the most important shepherd among the Mongols, from which he comes to the holiday in traditional Mongolian cattle breeder clothes. He wears a fox fur cap on his head. He holds a whip in his hand, and a bag with tinder and flint is attached to his belt.

Uvlin Uvgun, Mongolian Santa Claus

Officially, Uvlin Uvgun was born on December 31, he is 90 years old and lives in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. He has a family - Zazan Ohin (Snow Girl) and Shine Zhil (New Year). When he appears in public, he pronounces the phrase “Zul sariyn bolon shine ond mend devshuulye!”, Which is translated into Russian as “Greetings to the month of January and the New Year!”.

Mongolian New Year's Eve

New Year's table in a traditional Mongolian family is not complete without favorite traditional national drinks. Mostly they drink Tsagan Tsai (milk tea with salt) and Airag (Mongolian koumiss). The male population will not bypass archi-milk moonshine. Also, the word "archi" refers to factory-made Mongolian vodka, in which the proportion of alcohol is 38% of the total volume.

Like the Buryats, the inhabitants of Mongolia will be happy to cook and eat steamed manti (buza) on New Year's Eve. It will not do without a bortsok - an elongated piece of dough deep-fried from animal fat. In addition, there will be cheese (bislag) on ​​the table,

From meat dishes on the New Year's table, the Mongolian can be seen: goat meat baked in the stomach of an animal - bodog, horkhog, khar shul, tsuivan, blood sausage hottorgoin shukhan and pasties khushur.