Customs of Mongolians

The traditional means of transportation for Mongolians are mainly two kinds of animals and vehicles. Horses and camels are the main beasts of burden, and the vehicles are lele carts.

Horse herding

Mongolians are known as horseback people. In ancient times, children and old men used horses as a means of transportation. Horses are not only a means of transportation for Mongolians, but also an important part of Mongolian culture. Mongolians are familiar with the nature of the horse, and usually use the rough grazing horse. The Mongolian horse is divided into several series, including the Urumqin horse, Shangduhe horse, Uttarakhand horse, Sanhe horse, and Horqin horse.

The Mongolian grassland is vast and rich in pasture, very suitable for horse breeding. Horses are good at sports, so eat a lot of food, small stomach, fast digestion, while eating defecation, most of the time a day to keep eating grass. Summer heat mosquitoes, horses in the daytime to avoid mosquitoes, to avoid the heat, so mainly at night to eat grass long fat.

Mongolians have grown up on horseback since childhood, and the horse is the cradle of the Mongolians. Mongolians believe that the horse is the most perfect and understanding livestock in the world. Mongolian horses are strong and tough, but they are very loyal to their masters. Mongolians regard the horse as a herdsman's friend, the horse to the head for the honor, Mongolians are strictly prohibited to hit the horse's head, not allowed to abuse the horse, not allowed to two people riding a horse, not allowed to ride a horse in the fall of the long fat period of running wildly so that the horse sweating. Horseman, rider to carry scraping horse sweat board, horse brush, at any time for the riding horse brush body, scraping horse sweat, for horse stretching, relaxation of muscles, to eliminate fatigue, at the same time, this is also the master and the horse close to enhance the feelings of the way.

The horse has been y integrated into the spiritual world of Mongolians. The Mongolians have countless hymns, fables, aphorisms, folklore, folk songs, music, art, sculptures, and so on, which are based on the theme of the horse. Mongolians also have many horse-related festivals, such as: Horse Racing Festival, Pony Festival, Horse Milk Festival, Divine Horse Festival and so on. Genghis Khan Mausoleum on the Ordos Plateau, enshrined a Genghis Khan's sacred horse Windugan Chagan and two Genghis Khan's white stallion.

In the modern period, China's Mongolian horses have gradually lost their productive, living and riding roles, both in urban and pastoral areas, and the number of Mongolian horses is rapidly decreasing. Mongolians realize that the Mongolian horse has become less and less, the society has begun to establish a variety of organizations related to the Mongolian horse, the study of the Mongolian horse, rescue the Mongolian horse work is being carried out on the Inner Mongolia grassland.

The camel

The camel is gentle, easy to tame, resistant to hunger and thirst, cold and heat, good trekking, and can carry heavy loads. Both milk, meat, fleece, and can be used in service, a combination of four uses, is not as good as other livestock. Western Inner Mongolia, a lot of camels, the Mongolian language, it is called "Temo", is an indispensable means of transportation for herders. Can ride, can carry goods. It is two or three meters tall, very long legs, take a step up to more than a meter away, can travel one or two hundred miles a day. Long-distance trekking is durable, and the negative gravity is quite large. Can carry two hundred kilograms of goods, equivalent to the weight of a stallion and two bullocks. Since ancient times, there is a "boat of the desert" reputation, is the main freight transportation in the desert area. In the desert area of western Inner Mongolia, a team of camels are often loaded here traveling. Exploration team to examine the desert, sand team green desert, tourism team travel to the desert, only camel is their faithful partner.

Lele car

Lele car, the ancient name of the "windlass car", "Luo Luo car", "cattle car", etc., is the northern grasslands on the ancient transportation tools. This car body is small, but the wheels are tall, the diameter of the general are about one meter five or six. Can be made entirely of birch or elm, without iron, simple structure, easy to manufacture and repair. The whole car is generally divided into two parts of the foot and the foot. The lower leg consists of wheels, spokes, axles. Wheel manufacturing is generally the first hardwood carving 12 rims, the 12 rims linked together to form a round wheel, supporting the wheel spokes generally have 36 or so. The upper foot consists of two carts and 10 carts. The length of the carriage is about 4 meters, and the middle is fixed with 10 car supports. A lele weighs about one hundred pounds, can carry five or six hundred pounds to more than a thousand pounds. Sacrifice Tengri Khan

Tengri Khan means "Heavenly Emperor" in Mongolian.

One of the Mongolian concepts of shamanism. Refers to the upper world, i.e., heaven; also refers to the master of all natural phenomena, "the first lord"; also contains the meaning of "fate".

The Tengri Khan festival is one of the most important ceremonies for Mongolians. Sacrifice to the sky in the traditional dairy offerings of the "white sacrifice" and to slaughter the blood sacrifice of the "red sacrifice" two sacrificial method. In recent times, the eastern alliance flag folk festival activities, more in the seventh or eighth of July. Fire

Mongolian herdsmen, hunters worship fire, because their ancestors believe in natural attributes and the concept of spirituality of shamanism, that fire is the separation of heaven and earth produced, and so the "Ward Kara Khan - Eh" (fire goddess mother) more reverence. The fire festival is divided into annual festival and monthly festival. Annual festival held on the twenty-third day of the lunar month, under the auspices of the elders will be butter, white wine, beef and mutton and other offerings into the fire, thanks to the God of Fire's blessings, praying for the next year, livestock and prosperity, a good harvest, good luck. Monthly festival is often held on the first and second day of each month. In addition, there are a lot of taboos about fire to reflect the Mongolian people's respect for fire, such as can not throw water on the fire, can not use a knife, stick in the fire pounding, can not spit into the fire and so on.

Sacrificing Ovoo

Sacrificing Ovoo is a religious custom passed down by Mongolians since ancient times, and it is held every year when the water and grass are abundant.

Ovoo is the meaning of stone pile. That is, in the open ground, beautiful scenery of the mountain highland, with the stone pile a round solid tower, the top of the standing tied with the scripture cloth or livestock hair horns of the long pole.

On that occasion, cooked beef and mutton are offered, the host delivers a prayer, and men, women, and children worship and pray for good weather and the safety of people and animals. After the ceremony, often held horse racing, archery, wrestling and other athletic activities.

Ovoo festival is the Mongolian people to commemorate the birthplace of the Erguna mountains and forests and the formation, expressed their attachment to their ancestral land and unlimited reverence for their ancestors. This belief in shamanism when the most important rituals, has evolved into an annual festival . 1, daily life taboos: Mongolians riding a horse, driving close to the yurt, avoid heavy riding fast, so as not to alarm the herd; if there is a fire in front of the door or hanging red cloth and other signs, said that the family has a sick person or a woman in labor, avoid outsiders to enter; guests can not sit on the west kang, because the west is the direction of the Buddha; taboo on eating the meat of the dead animals and donkey, dog meat, white horse meat; avoid the red and white in the funeral, avoid black and yellow in the wedding; taboo! Roasting feet, shoes, socks and pants etc. on the fire pit; prohibiting smoking, spitting and touching Dharma vessels, classics, Buddha statues as well as loud noises while visiting the temple's scripture halls and offering halls, as well as no hunting near the temple.

2, fire taboo: Mongolians worship fire, fire god and stove god, that fire, fire god or stove god is to drive away demons and evil spirits of the holy things. So after entering the yurt, it is forbidden to bake your feet on the fireplace, and even more forbidden to bake wet boots and shoes next to the fireplace. You are not allowed to cross the stove, or stomp on the stove, or knock on the stove with a tobacco bag, drop things, or throw dirty things on the stove. You may not pick at the fire with a knife, stick a knife into the fire, or use a knife to remove meat from a pot.

3, water taboos: Mongolians believe that water is a pure deity. Taboo in the river to wash their hands or bathe, more not allowed to wash women's dirty clothes, or put unclean things into the river. Grassland drought water shortage, grazing by water, no water can not survive. So the herders used to save water, pay attention to keep the water clean, and regard water as the source of life. Marriage system: Mongolians have two marriage systems, namely robbing marriage and hiring marriage. Robbery marriage is a form of marriage in the slavery society. Before the thirteenth century A.D., the Mongolian society was mostly robbed marriage system. Such as genghis khan's father also speed that put a bald child and the marriage of Mrs. Hahoelein, is the form of marriage. Hire marriage is a form of marriage in feudal society. After the thirteenth century A.D., Mongolia into the feudal society, that is, the universal implementation of the bride price system. But there are still remnants of the bride price system. In the inter-tribal wars, robbing or plundering marriages are still common.

Courting: Before a young man and woman are betrothed, the man has to court the woman. Before the founding of New China, it was usually the parents of the man or a commissioned matchmaker who went to the woman's home to ask for her hand in marriage, and if the woman's family agreed, she could be betrothed. According to the traditional Mongolian marriage customs, the man has to ask the woman's family for marriage several times to get the promise of the woman's family. The Secret History of Mongolia, Volume 1, records that: Yasukai put the A baldy to lead his son Temujin (i.e., Genghis Khan) to the De? Xuechan's family to ask for marriage. De Xuechan said, "Duo Duo is the most important person in the world. Xuechan said, "If you ask a few times more before giving, you will be honored; if you ask a few times less before giving, you will be despised." Later a Mongolian proverb was formed: "If you ask more, you will be honored; if you ask less, you will be belittled." After the agreement to seek marriage, the male party to bring khata, milk wine and sheep five fork or the whole sheep to the woman's home "set". Female family invited friends and relatives to drink with the guests, said the formal betrothal.

Bride: young men and women betrothed by the man's home to the woman's home gifts, also known as bride price. Bride price of how much by the male family's economic situation. Agricultural areas more gold and silver jewelry, cabinets, clothing for the bride price; pastoral areas often cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock for the bride price. Herdsmen regard "nine" as an auspicious number, bride price to "nine" as a starting point, from "one nine" to "nine nine", up to Not more than eighty-one head, take "nine" for the meaning of longevity. If the poor herdsmen do not have nine number of livestock bride price, you can also choose an odd number of less than nine, to three, five, seven head of livestock as bride price, but never choose an even number.

Dowry: the dowry is a gift from the woman's family to her daughter. The Mongolian people are very particular about the dowry. How much the man sends as bride price, the woman has to send the corresponding amount of dowry. Usually, the woman's dowry is more than the man's gift to the woman's family. Therefore, there is a Mongolian proverb: "You can afford to marry a daughter-in-law, but you can't afford to hire a girl."

Choice of auspicious day: one of the Mongolian wedding customs. It is also known as choosing a happy day. Before the liberation of the two men and women are engaged, first of all to ask the lama divination, choose the auspicious day, to determine the date of marriage. After choosing the auspicious date, the male family sent a matchmaker and friends and relatives with gifts such as khata, wine, candy, etc., to the female family, with their parents to discuss marriage matters. After the negotiations, the two families began to prepare for the wedding. Generally is to clean the happy room, or new yurt, slaughter cattle and sheep, prepare bride price, dowry and other wedding supplies, notify both sides of friends and relatives, come to congratulate.

Marriage: one of the Mongolian wedding customs. In the past, the Mongolian marriage was very grand, and retained the traditional marriage custom of the man going to the woman's home to stay and marry her. Marriage is usually the day before the wedding day. Groom in the joyful atmosphere, dressed in colorful Mongolian robes, waist tie colorful belt, wearing a dome red tasseled hat, high leather boots, wearing a bow and arrow. The best man is also dressed in festive attire. Together on horseback, carrying a colorful car and gifts, to the woman's home to marry. When the bridegroom arrives at the woman's home, he first goes around the yurt for a week and presents the woman's home with one "Bumper Sheep" and other gifts. Then, the bridegroom and his best man hold the khat and wine in their hands, and make a toast to the bride's parents and elders one by one and perform the prostration ceremony. After the ceremony, the bridegroom and bride's family into the meal. In the evening, and set up sheep five fork feast. And hold the traditional ceremony of asking for the name of the geng. The next morning, when the bridegroom set off, the bride by the uncle or aunt to hold on the colorful car. The groom will ride around the bride riding the colorful car three times. Then the bridegroom and the bridegroom take off together.

Wedding: Mongolians pay great attention to the wedding ceremony, although the different regions, the form of different, but are very grand, lively. General pastoral wedding custom is: when the marriage back to the male family, the bride and groom do not get off the horse and cart, the first three laps around the yurt. Then, the bride and groom, the bride and groom through two piles of fire, to accept the God of fire dust washing. It indicates the purity of love and the prosperity of the new life. After the bride and groom enter the yurt, the first worship Buddha sacrificial stove, and then see their parents and friends and relatives. After the ceremony, the bride's hair is combed by the combing forehead. After the grooming and dressing, wait for the start of the wedding banquet. Wedding banquet is usually set up sheep back or the whole sheep seat, a variety of milk food, candy everything. Wedding banquet, the groom silver pot, the bride held a silver bowl, to the elders, friends and relatives, one by one, offering Hada, toast. The boys held high silver cups, openly drink; the girls accompanied by the Ma Touqin, singing. Wedding banquets often continue for two or three days, friends and relatives to leave one after another. And the female relatives to stay with the bride to stay one to three days. Sometimes, the bride's mother also sent relatives, to live more than ten days. Separation, mothers and daughters embrace, weeping, expressed reluctance to part.

Fire worship: an important ceremony in the Mongolian wedding. Although the form of fire worship varies from place to place, it is indispensable in a wedding. But in the wedding are indispensable content. Bride married to the groom's home, the first to hold a fire ceremony, the bride and groom from the two piles of fire between the two pass through, accept the baptism of fire, so that their love is more pure, unswerving, life is full of happiness, and grow old together. Dulbert Mongolian fire worship ceremony is unique. When the bride into the in-laws, the yard was based on a pile of fire, the groom and the bride to the fire together to sprinkle milk wine, and kneeling kowtow. Standing on the side of the master of ceremonies chanting "fire hymn": the Holy Lord Genghis Khan found the flint, Mrs. Hahoelem mother preserved the fire, with white khaddar, milk wine offerings, the fire of the nation from ancient times to the present day. Please pray for the bride and groom! The divine fire is the witness of your marriage; please bride and groom bow down! The Buddha's light passes on for you.

Seeking the name and asking for the geng: one of the procedures of Mongolian marriage. Asking for the bride's name. Also known as asking for the seal. It is an interesting theater activity. Married in the female family to stay the night, to be set up in the bride's boudoir sheep five fork or the whole sheep feast, also known as asking for the name of the feast. The groom and the bridegroom, the bride and her brother and sister-in-law, sisters, all peers, to participate in this feast. At the banquet, everyone teased the groom, forcing him to kneel or half kneeling, asking for the bride's milk name or milk name. The bride is too shy to say anything, or deliberately does not answer. The bride's sister-in-law and sisters also do not answer, intentionally delaying the time. At this point, the male celebrant and the woman's sister-in-law to answer each other, and sing songs, until the woman said the real name of the breast, the name of the feast is over. Ask the name of the geng, in fact, is an intellectual competition, as a way to express the Mongolian young men and women's wisdom and intelligence.

Diao hat: also known as grab hat. In the past, the Mongolian people in the marriage on the way to marry, marrying and send the bride to the horse, chasing each other, all want to compete to home first, to become the winner. To this end, both sides on the way to Tiuhat competition. Usually the bridegroom to find ways to marry the hat to snatch over, pick on the whip, or thrown to the ground, forcing the groom to get off the horse to pick, in order to affect the line speed. The bridegroom to cover each other, and do not allow the bridegroom to snatch the hat.