Traditional festivals of Mongolians Important traditional festivals and customs of Mongolians

Introduction: Mongolian is one of the ethnic minorities in China, and it is highly recognized among 55 ethnic minorities. Presumably, in everyone's impression, Mongolians will ride horses, drink goat's milk and eat mutton. So, do you know what traditional festivals the Mongols have? The following is my introduction to important Mongolian traditional festivals and customs. Come and have a look.

Mongolian traditional festivals

1. Sacrifice to Aobao (April 13th or July 13th of the lunar calendar)

On this day, Mongolian men and women, old and young, in droves, led sheep and brought wine to Aobao (a round mound of earth and stone about 8 feet high), presented Hada, fragrant paper and animals, and then gathered near Aobao for a picnic and went home happily in order to pray for disaster relief. Then, the lamas burned incense and lights, chanted prayers, and the masses made three turns from left to right around Aobao, hoping to usher in a bumper harvest year for animal husbandry.

2. Nadam Convention (the fourth day of the sixth lunar month)

Nadam, which begins on the fourth day of the sixth lunar month every year, is a grand gathering of Mongolian people. The contents of the Nadam Congress mainly include wrestling, horse racing, archery, horse riding, playing Mongolian chess and other traditional ethnic events. In some places, there are track and field, tug of war, basketball and other sports.

This is a cultural and sports entertainment conference held by people to celebrate the harvest. "Nadam" means entertainment or games in Mongolian. There are thrilling horse racing, wrestling, admirable archery, competitive chess and fascinating songs and dances at the Nadam convention.

The "Nadam" conference is also an exposition of agricultural and animal husbandry materials. In addition to industrial and agricultural products, there are ethnic diets, such as beef and mutton and their smoked products, cheese, milk powder, cream, milk bumps, milk tofu, yogurt and so on.

3. Temple Fair (May 13th to 17th of the lunar calendar every year)

Celebrate the Lamaism Gelugpa Enlightenment Festival. At that time, the Mongolian people in Fiona Fang, hundreds of miles away, dressed in bright national costumes, will help the elderly and bring the young, ride horses, ride cars or walk, and gather in Meidai to give alms and catch the meeting. At the beginning of the temple fair, it was Joan who suppressed evil first; Then dance tea-horse dance, commonly known as jumping ghosts; There are lamas chanting in the Hall of the Great Hero, and the Buddha riding a yellow satin sedan chair with flowers and trees around the temple on the wall, praying for people and so on. After the founding of New China, the superstitious content of temple fairs was gradually eliminated, and activities such as visiting scenic spots, material exchange and cultural performances were increased.

4. Horse Milk Festival (end of August of the lunar calendar)

Every year at the end of August in the lunar calendar, Mongolians hold a one-day horse milk festival. This festival is a traditional Mongolian festival, which is more common in Xilin Gol grassland in Inner Mongolia. In this harvest season, in order to wish health, happiness, auspiciousness and human and animal prosperity, herders named this festival after Baima Milk. In order to celebrate the bumper harvest and bless each other, besides preparing enough kumiss, we also treat guests with "hand-grilled meat", hold horse racing activities, invite folk singers to sing greetings, and present gifts to the elderly of Mongolian medicine.

5. Lantern Festival (October 25th of the lunar calendar)

Lantern Festival is called "Zule" by Mongols, and it falls on October 25th of the lunar calendar. This is a small-scale religious festival. It is said to commemorate Zong Kaba, the founder of Yellow Sect. On this evening, every family set up a wooden frame on the high slope and put on homemade lamps. The wick of this lamp is made of Achnatherum splendens. The number of grass in Ying Ying is determined according to everyone's age. The head of Achnatherum splendens is covered with cotton or wool coated with butter or sheep oil. After lighting the lamp, people turn three times from left to right (if there is a Lama, he will lead), and then sprinkle wine to worship the heavens, kowtow to the Buddha and pray for the Buddha's long life and peace. In each yurt, a small oil lamp made of dough is lit all night, which symbolizes that the world is always bright and people live long.

6. Torch Festival (Lunar 65438+February 23rd)

Mongolia has the custom of offering sacrifices to fire since ancient times, which is a prelude to the Lunar New Year. Before the fire sacrifice begins, the whole family will go to the yard (some in front of the fire pit, some in front of the stove), and the chief priest (the elders in the family) will first put up sacrifices to burn incense. Then take a bundle of firewood and light it, and throw sacrifices such as butter, white wine and meat (beef and mutton) into the fire. Led by the elders, the whole family kowtowed to the fire.

The priest also prayed: Thanks to Vulcan's blessing, some unclean things were thrown into the fire. Please forgive Vulcan, and bless the harvest of crops, the prosperity of people and animals, and good luck and happiness in the coming year. Worship of fire is an ancient tradition of Mongolians. In the eyes of Mongols, fire is sacred. A family offering fire is inheritance, and it is necessary to offer fire when getting married for the New Year. There are a series of rituals and taboos around braziers and stoves.

7. Other festivals

There are many traditional festivals in Mongolia, including Mongolian New Year, Maidel Festival, Taklegan Festival and so on. They all have rich festival celebrations and festival cultural connotations, involving various fields, including all aspects.

Important Mongolian traditional festivals and customs

Jessica Beinecke

Mongolians used to call the Spring Festival "White Festival", but now they call the first month of the lunar calendar "Bai Yue". This is because Mongolians admire white. White day is the biggest festival in a year. The time of the festival is roughly the same as the Spring Festival. The lights don't go out day and night Before eating, you should worship your ancestors, and then the whole family will eat together. Usually, you should eat and drink more. The more wine and meat left, the better. This symbolizes the wealth of the new year. On New Year's Eve, the younger generation should propose a toast to their elders.

After dinner, we will hold various activities, such as playing chess, telling stories and dancing. On the morning of the first day, get up early, set tables and offerings outside the door, kowtow to the sunrise and worship the sky. Then I went back to my house and kowtowed to the Buddha. Children pay New Year greetings to their parents and elders. After all this, sit down by age, drink tea and propose a toast. Having eaten the New Year's Eve dinner and dressed in festive costumes, they mounted their horses and went to visit relatives and friends in droves.

Nadam Fair

This is the biggest festival in Mongolia. "Nadam" is a transliteration of Mongolian, meaning game entertainment. The "Nadam" conference is usually held in July and August of the lunar calendar. At this time, herdsmen, regardless of gender, age, put on festive costumes and came from all directions by car. At the conference, traditional sports competitions will be held, such as archery, wrestling and horse racing. In addition, there are various chess competitions and various song and dance performances. Nadam usually lasts five to seven days.

Nadam originated in 13 century. At that time, Nadam's main events were archery, wrestling and horse racing. Today's "Nadam" has added many new contents such as material exchange and cultural performances. Make this traditional national activity more festive, auspicious, joyful and effective. Wrestling is the main content of Nadam, and Nadam can't be called without wrestling. Wrestlers can be more or less, with a maximum of more than 1000, regardless of region and weight.

Mongolians attach great importance to the "Durham wrestler" in history, which is a lifelong honor. At the ceremony of awarding the honorary title, the wrestler who won the title of "Dahan" put on the full costume of the competition, sang three wrestling songs, and then jumped into the arena to perform. Badges, certificates and souvenirs were given to the leader who presided over Nadam, and he was invited to drink a bowl of milk wine and fresh milk according to national customs. At this time, the winner of "Durham" chose a most promising wrestler, took off his wrestling suit and gave it to him, volunteered to be an amateur coach, then hugged each other and jumped out together.