Eagle hunting became a very famous festival in western Mongolia. Researchers believe that the tradition of eagle hunting originated among Central Asian nomads about 7,000 years ago. Mongolia is the best country to preserve this tradition. This time, we spoke with B.Dalaikhan, a resident of Altai soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag, a representative of the eagle hunter who is contributing to the development […]
Shiyijian was the last prince of the Tuoba Dai state and ruled from 338 to 376 when Dai was conquered by the Former Qin. He was the son of Tuoba Yulu and the younger brother of Tuoba Yulu and the younger brother of Tuoba Yihuai, whom he succeeded in 338. He was estimated as the […]
Rouran Emperor or Khan, also known as Jarun. When his father Wengedi (in some records, it says he was the son of Hedohan) died, he got support from his uncle Pihuoba, but broke his trust and attacked him when he was off guard and became the Khan. Since then Rouran pastured north of the Gobi […]
Chinese Emperor of the Han Dynasty. The original name is Liu Che. Was born in 156 BCE and passed away on March 29, 87 BCE. During his reign, the influence of Daoism and the authority of Han increased much trans-border. He was attacked by Xiongnu by the stage-by-stage plan and the war continued for almost […]
Fighting between Xiongnu and Han army near the Talas River in autumn and winter of 36 BCE, present Taraz city of Kazakhstan. Zhizhi Chany is headed by Gang Yanshou and Cheng Tang. Xiongnu army consisted of 3000 Xiongnu, 10000 Kangju warriors, and the Chinese army consisted of 40.000 land forces, a few numbers of cavaliers, […]
Military conflict between Xiongnu and Hun dynasty. Held in the territory of today’s Shanxi province, in 200 BCE. The main combat was held in the Baideng Mountain, near Datong. In this combat, the Xiongnu was commanded by Modu Chanyu and the Han by the Gaozu emperor. Xiongnu had 400.000 cavalries and the Han had 320.000 […]
A walled settlement of the Xiongnu period, located in a place named Baruun Duruu, in distances of 7 km in the east of the Bars Hot-I and of 5 km from the Kherulen River, Tsagaan Ovoo Soum, Dornod aimag. This wall was first discovered by Kh. Perlee in 1951 and has been explored and partially […]
A well-known ruler of Western Xiongnu who is recorded in history. His name is noted like Valamir or Balamber. In 370, the western Xiongnu crossed the Volga River, broke up the Alans in the North Caucasus, and entered Eastern Europe. In 371, they defeated the Gots on the north coast of the Black Sea and […]
In Greek Hephthalite, in Indian Huna, There are always discussions on their origin, but some scholars believe they are related to Xiongnu. The core group of White Xiongnu was warrior nomads, but most White Xiongnu were farmers. The earliest reference about them is from 125 CE, which says that they lived in the desert of […]
A military commander of Western Han. Since his sister became a concubine of Han Wudi Emperor, he had a chance to enter the Palace. Moreover, he was paid the attention of Wu Di Emperor and opened the way to become a military commander. When Xiongnu mounted an attack on Shanggu district in 129 BCE, Wei […]
Xiongnu second Great Chanyu. This is the title granted to Xiongnu Chanyu whose real name was Jizhu. His official title was “Xiongnu Chanyu, the supreme leader, blessed by the Sun and Moon, and conferred by the Sky and Earth”. He was the son of Modun Chanyu and his successor. During his reign, Xiongnu became a […]
Xiongnu Chanyu. After the death of Wuyanjiudi Chanyu in 60 BCE, an internal disorder rose up in Xiongnu, and five Chanyus reigned at the same time. In history, this period was named “The troubles of five Chanyu”. Then it ended with a quarrel between brothers Huhanye and Zhizhi for the throne. In 54 BCE, Zhizhi […]
The Xiongnu rich musical culture consisted of different musical instruments and types of singing and dancing. According to historical records, Xiongnu was being played an instrument, throat singing, musical and dancing. Some Chinese source indicates that they had a drum, lure; whistle a six-stringed fiddle (Kunhou), blower, and transverse flutes. However, these musical instruments have […]
Great Chanyu of Xiongnu. Grandgrandson of Maodun Chanyu. Son of Ichise Chanyu. the 8th great Chanyu after Modun Chanyu. His brother, Guilihu, the 7th Chanyu during his only one year reign, was killed in a battle to seize back the land with Shoufan fortress in Ordor from a state. During Qiedihou Chanyu, aggressive attacks from […]
Hunnic Empire consisted of Xiongnu people who came from Central Asia, and the local peoples of Ugr and Sarmatian origins between the 2nd and 4th century CE. In the 70s of the 4th century CE, the Xiongnu people all together moved into the west that caused start the “The Great Migration of People”, as noted […]
Afujilo (492-496). one of the rulers of Tele. A subject of the Rouran Empire initially. Even though he frequently asked Deulun, an emperor of Rouran, not to make a fight against tabgach Wei dynasty, he did ignore his warning. So Afujilo mounted a campaign and moved to the Irtysh River leading his tribes. He ruled […]
Since Tuva separation from Mongolia, border disputes between Mongolia and Tuva had arisen. When Molotov arrived in Ulaanbaatar as an Ambassador in July 1957, he re-opened the border problem issue between Tuva and Mongolia. A Stubborn Avarzed In November 1957, a decree from the Politburo of the MPRP to approve the government commission […]
Choibalsan had been thinking a lot about Great Mongolia. He seems to have been deeply imbued with the idea of uniting it while was in a close relationship with Rinchino. However, he saw with his own eyes how the USSR would hinder this vision. Even the territory of Buriat-Mongol had been divided by the Russians […]
It was very difficult for Stalin tossed either to Japan or China the lands in which he had invested so much effort, time, and money. He especially could not afford to lose Mongolia to Chiang Kai-shek’s China, which had become an enemy right after the end of the war. outer Mongolia was indeed a reliable […]
The fate of Mongolia, which as far back as 1907 had been the subject of confrontation between Russia, China, and Japan, had to be resolved once and for all. With its defeat in the war, Japan was out of the race. Although Russia and later the Soviet Union had recognized Chinese suzerainty and them. […]
By 1944 it became clear to everyone that Nazi Germany had very little time to live, and the war would soon end in Europe. Although the future of Europe was unclear, it was evident that Nazism and Fascism were on their deathbed. Europe’s future was in the hands of the British, Americans, and the Soviets. […]
Every time Choibalsan returned from Moscow, he brought with him a list of people who were to be eliminated. this time, several days after he arrived back in Ulaanbaatar, Party Chief Baasanjav and Union of Revolutionary Youth Chief Sengedoij were among those arrested. A Vacancy Opened Up This was a mop-up operation to […]
Stalin held a special grudge against the Buriads and the Kazakhs who had left the USSR for Mongolia. The Buriads who had survived the Lhumbe case were rounded up and, by 1939, in Selenge aimag only ten to twenty males were left among the Buriads community there. In 1940, in the Dashbalbar sum of Dornod […]
The Great Purge became a routine. Stalin stepped back from the control of the details in Mongolia once he felt that fear was sovereign. Among those who had fallen were twenty-five persons from the top leadership of the party and government, 187 persons from the military leadership. Thirty-six of the fifty-one members of the Central […]
Genden realized that with the New Reform Policy, his country was heading in a new direction, while Stalin realized that Genden couldn’t become the “Mongol Stalin”. The two met on November 15, 1934. Genden Gets Corrected Judging by the tone of the discussions, Genden didn’t seem to realize Stalin wanted all the lamas, […]
The first People’s Hural (Assembly) convened in November 1924, in Ulaanbaatar. The Hural’s main purpose was for the “people’s representatives” to ratify the new constitution and start building a state apparatus in accordance with the new arrangements. Prior to the Hural, aimag assemblies had been held, from which seventy-seven people were elected to go to […]
Ever since the Soviets and Outer Mongolia had signed a bilateral treaty in Moscow on November 5, 1921, the issue of Mongolia had been a bone of contention between the young Soviet Union and China. Soviet’s Attempt to Persuade China On May 1, 1922, the Beijing government lodged a protest against this treaty […]
On April 27, Japan’s Cabinet addressed the issue of China and South Asia. The Japanese Cabinet sent urgent instructions to the Kwantung Army in Japanese Manchuria. The instructions called for strengthening the Manchuguo-Soviet and Manchuguo-Mongolian borders and establishing firm military bases in Manchuguo, Inner Mongolia, Northern, and Central China. They also mandated a display of […]
The widespread genocide had ended. In late 1939, Choibalsan left again for Moscow to report on the work he had accomplished and to seek advice on his next move. He took with him Tsedenbal, about whom Stalin had enquired a couple of months earlier. Tsedenbal, who had graduated from Irkutsk in 1938, spent several months […]
Stalin had no intention, nor did he have any plans, to allow the Mongols free will. In Mongolia there were two groups whom Stalin hated: the Buriads, who had drifted away from Russia after the October revolution, and monks, who had launched an armed uprising, opposing the new Soviet-Style structure. This was a hatred that […]
The first action of the New reform was to calm and pacify the people. Those who had participated in the counter-revolutionary uprising were released, and the cases of those accused of hiding their property were concealed. the people whose death sentences had not yet been implemented were instead given ten years imprisonment or were pardoned. […]
The issue of the armed revolt was presented to the Political Bureau of the Soviet Bolshevik Revolutionary Party (BHK) by the end of May. By that time it had already spread more or less throughout the whole of Mongolia. After discussing the situation in detail, the Politburo decided to make a temporary Lenin-style […]
The great experiment of social engineering naturally had a heavy impact on the minds of the people and the Mongolian began to express their refugees. Some fled, some rebelled, and some looked for outside help. The fight was the simplest form of protest. Starting from 1920 there was a nationwide flight across the borders of […]
The main goal of the Soviets was to launch the class struggle in Mongolia and follow Stalin’s model of the “complete elimination of the kulak class”. The Soviet planned to create a united front or poor people against the lamas, noblemen and other feudal and chose the MPRP and the Mongolian Union of Revolutionary Youth […]
Soviet influence in Mongolia involved more than terror and class struggle, though the terror touched the lives of virtually every family in the land. But in spite of the terror, as a result of the Soviet presence, this isolated land was introduced to modern medicine, art, and education. According to the agreement of 1929 signed […]
Mongolians were not taking the “revolutionary work” seriously. In 1925, from the 4161 members of the Party, 384 were noblemen and 364 were lamas, while from 700 organizations only 400 were cooperating with the party. In 1928, from the 259 noblemen of the images and banners, 47 were taij, 88 were officials leftover from the […]
In the meantime, the Mongolian leaders were not as enthusiastic about the world revolution as the Soviets and the Guomindang. ever since the Kyakhta Treaty, Prime Minister Tserendorj and Foreign Minister Amar had been dealing directly with both Russia and China and they were well aware of their real intentions. Although in Russia the Bolsheviks […]
Declaring Mongolia a republic was a single matter. Two days after Soviet representative Alexei Vasiliev said that the “Comintern would salute the proclamation of Mongolia as a republic”, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party’s (MPRP) Central Committee made the proclamation. On June 7, its plenary meeting decided to seize the Bogd Khan’s seal, transform Mongolia into […]
Under the Bogd Khan and autonomous governments, the Mongols, on their own initiative, attempted many reform policies, notwithstanding that they lacked organization and commitment. The Mongols had learned from the experiences of the past ten years that until the basic foundations of their society-the old, obsolete and traditional state structures were overhauled, reform could not […]
In mid-September 1921, a meeting of the People’s Government of Mongolia considered the issues of establishing friendly relations with the Soviet Union and substituting it through legal treaties and documents. It also decided to send an official delegation of the Mongolian People’s Government to Moscow headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, and member […]
After Xu Shuzeng and Urgern were driven out, the number of Chinese peasants in the north of Mongolia dwindled drastically. In 1911 they numbered almost one hundred thousand but dropped to eight numbers never approached the 1911 level. In other words, after this disorganized attack, the Mongols achieved what they had always wanted. Outer Mongolia […]
On June 16, 1921, the Political Bureau of the Bolshevik Party, without much hesitation, approved the “revolutionary onslaught” plan. On June 28, a unit of the Fifty Army, commanded by K.Neiman and G.Chereinisinov, crossed the Mongolian border not far from Kyakhta, where they were joined by Sukhbaatar’s troops. Together they advanced towards Huree, and arrived […]
While Urgern was in power in Huree, the delegation sent to Omsk to ask for Soviet help continued on its way. As luck would have it, the invasion of Urgern eventually caused the mission to be successful. The delegation, led by Danzan, went from Omsk to Moscow where they even met with Chicherin, […]
At this time Baron Roman von Urgern-Sternberg, also known as the “Mad Baron” and the “Bloody Baron”, “began his bloodbath in Mongolia. Urgern’s invasion of Mongolia immortalized his name and altered the course of Mongolia’s destiny. The Baron’s Faulty Calculations It still remains a mystery whether Semenov knew that Urgern, commanding his troops, […]
The next, and perhaps much more important, items on the agenda of the Consular Hill Group and the East Huree’s Group meeting were the question of seeking assistance from Russia to achieve independence and selecting Party representatives to go to Soviet Russia. Present at the meeting was Sorokovikov, the man who would help secure such […]
The noblest thing, which symbolizes a stable state fire-hearth, was a “Tulga” or Trivet. Early the Mongols had used three stones to support a cooking pot and later used the three-legged trivet. In this regard, it was a customary that a trivet should be placed on the hearth with one leg towards the door and […]
According to Mongolian Shamanist consideration, any fire, a family-hearth (in Mongolia Gal Golomt) in particular, is sacred and revered as a symbol and source of good things. Even in the thirteenth century, it was taboo to touch the fire or anything cooking on it with a knife, or even to chop wood […]
The Shamans consider that an Ongon’s entering a Shaman and the Shaman trance involves a meeting with the spirits of their Shamans who died years before. In April 1991, shamaness Tsegmid of the Red Huular conducted offerings for Agar’s Hairhan (Deity)” in Bayanzurh soum, Hovsgol. At the end of her service, she said, “I was […]
The main place where the Shaman Ongon or spirits are located and transferred is the “Darkness” or “Space of Shaman Ongons”. As mentioned above on the subject of darkness, this place is only visible to Shamans who are in a Shaman trance. Moreover, there are many geographical sites where the Ongons shelter and their ranges […]
The relationship between a Shaman and an Ongon An Ongon or spirit is most important to a Shaman, who communicates with it during Shamanist rituals. In this way, the shaman becomes the attendant, guide, and messenger of the Ongons of Darkness for the people of the Sunny world. The communication between Shaman and […]
As academician B.Renchin observed, sometimes, if someone was suddenly and severely frightened, their soul would leave the body. Te shamans say that this soul has escaped. In such cases, the soul flees through the ring finger of the right hand of its master. Thus, the Mongols put a ring of precious metal such as gold […]
The Mongolian Black Shamanist conception concerning the Sunny and Dark World was directly related to the rejection of the idea of rebirth. It is fundamental to Shamanist belief that humans and animals alike are born, have a period in the Sunny World and then when they die, the soul remains forever in Darkness. According to […]
Mongolian shamans consider that people and animals have not one, but three kinds of souls, an idea first talked about by B.Renchin in his aforementioned conversation of 1965: Every person has three souls. Two of them are mortal, but the remaining one is immortal. According to Shamanism, they are the three spirits or deities of […]
Everything has its own Soul Apart from the three main tenets of Queen Earth, King Heaven, and the Deities of the Earth and Sky, the Soul is the fourth major concept of Mongolian Shamanism. According to Ch.Dalai, “Only Shamanism considers that the soul of a dead person continues to exist invisibly”. In this regard, H.Buyanbat […]
The invocation of Baamyn Dulam, a shamaness of Chonos origin, who was born in 1909 in Javzandamba Hutagt’s Darhad Shavi |Disciples|, said: Your Majesty, by spreading incense to the Cosmos summit, By sprinkling pure milk-wine as a banquet for you, By making smoke of Hangay taiga’s juniper to Blue Sky Space, By raising up Higher […]
The Yellow Shaman conception of the “Intermediate realm” and “Dark World” is rather confused, both appearing to be the same place and the home of departed spirits. However, the Black Shaman view of the ‘Sunny or Light” and “Dark” is of two contrasting places. So in their callings and invocations said: “Light nice world”, “Charitable […]
Yellow Shaman Conception of Dark and Intermediate world The Shaman belief in the “dark” or “Intermediate” world has been long held by the Mongols. It is their answer to the question of where the spirit goes after death. Doctor G.Suhbaatar concluded that, since the Hunnu period, nobles were buried in double-walled tombs and that this […]
Chinggis and his relatives of a supreme or Tenger origin, who had glorified their own Heaven as “Eternal Heaven”, were considered as sacred, or angels, with white bones and bodies. So they were protected from lightning. Moreover, other people, who worshipped any holy spirit of Chinggis Haan or his relatives, or who worked closely with […]
According to the Secret History of Mongolia, many powerful enemies of Chinggis Haan were defeated by psychological pressure despite the superiority of their forces. For example, in 1201 a large army of many Mongolian tribes, under the banner of Jamukh, fought Chinggis and Wan Han. They were defeated because mainly by rain and flood allegedly […]
Heaven’s Lord as a Heaven Since the prehistoric period, Mongolian shaman has explained the origin of their tribes, clans, and people in relation to Upper Heaven and with the animals, such as wolf, white goose, and Gua Maral |Siberian stag| who were related to it. They worshipped these animals as Heaven’s Master/Lord or totem. […]
There are numerous references to Heaven in sources such as The Secret History and Rashid-ad-Din’s Sudaryn Chuulgan, but there is no mention of the number and level of Heavens. Perhaps the Mongols of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had no specific beliefs in this respect. However, through analysis of Nanai’s shamans, A.B.Smolyak became […]
The Mongolian shamans believed that the sky neither solid nor liquid and was, therefore, untouchable. The shaman invocations related to the location of a shaman Ongon call: The ones with etherial mantle, The ones who pass from cloud to cloud, The ones with ghostly silhouettes, Watch them all vigilantly, Listen to them carefully… […]
Worshipping the Heavens One of the main aspects of Mongolian Shamanist belief is the idea of “Blue Heaven”, which was just as important as beliefs about the creation of the world. After Dorje Banzarov, a number of foreign and native scholars have analyzed the belief in Blue Heaven. Among them, D.Mansan made a thorough analysis […]
The late Mr.Seded was son of Tseveen Zayran of white Huular origin, an official of the former Western Otog of Javzandamba Hutagt’s Darhad Shavi. He explained that ancient people had an excellent remedy for a throat disease which involved swallowing a total of 21 biles |7 of squirrel, 7 of fish, 7 of marmot|. On […]
Lus and Savdag This is one of the three main aspects of the Mongolian Shamanist belief. The majority of researchers are agreed that the Mongols have respected and worshipped Land and Water because their Shamans considered that land and water have their own Spirit of Masters. To my mind, the tradition of praying […]
Despite the powerful, positive and negative influences of Lamaism and Shamans of neighboring regions |such as the Tuvans of Tureg descent|, the Shamans of the north and northwest, including Renchinlhumbe, Ulaan-Uul, Bayanzurh and Tsagaan Nuur soums of Hovsgol aimag, were the most successful at protecting and maintaining the ancient forms, customs, and beliefs of Mongolian […]
The ideas of Mongolian Shamanism concerning the formation and structure of the Earth are explained in two ways. The belief in the Three Worlds has attracted the attention of most researchers. Based on the world conception of the shamans from Mongolian Hovd province, the area surrounding Ulaanbaatar and Inner Mongolia, Ch.dalay wrote: Shamanism divides the […]
The Origin of the World The least adequately studied aspect of Mongolian Shamanism has long been Shamanist beliefs concerning the creation and development of the earth and water, or world, as the three major spirits of Shamanism. These spirits are “queen” Earth, king “Heaven” and “prince” Water. Dorje Banzarov wrote than in ancient […]
The shamans who had lost the original content of Mongolian Shamanism and made its ritual in a formal manner in the name of Yellow Buddhist amulets were called Yellow Shamans. Dulamyn Gombo Zayran of Alag-Erdene soum, Hovsgol aimag, who was born in 1926, made his Yellow Shaman rituals on behalf of the Gombo and Dalan […]
Even though Mongolian Shamanism struggled valiantly against Lamaism by diverse means, they were gradually falling under the influence of Lamaism. eventually, the Black and White Shamans became divided into the Black and Yellow Shamans. Counting the Choijins and Gurtems or Lama-Shamans of Red Buddhism, who existed before the spread of Lamaism in Mongolia. Mongolian Shamanism […]
the effort of Haans, kings, and priests to spread Lamaism in Outer Mongolia met fierce resistance from Shamanism. The Shamans of Outer Mongolia countered the spread of Lamaism in many ways, of which the following are but a selection: Firstly, they used their own natural gifts and miraculous talents against the Lamas, about […]
As a result of the factors mentioned above, by the sixteenth-century Shamanism had declined to the point that it could no longer satisfy the demand and needs of Mongolian society. It was unable to prevent internal conflicts and rebuild national solidarity. Therefore, Tumed’s Altan Haan |1577| and Halha’s Abutay Sayn Haan |1587|, turned to Lamaism […]
These spread of many religions such as Lamaism, Christianity, Nestorian Christianity, and Islam by sending their priests to Mongolia, raising awareness of their Holy Scriptures, setting up places of worship, conducting their religious activities and popularizing their ideology clearly had an immense impact on Shamanism. For instance, “They Lamas began to spread so-called “Gurtem” and […]
The influence of other religions was more significant in Uighur and Tureg, for they had closer ties to Central Asia, India, and other nations during the sixth to ninth centuries. Since that period, the influence and pressure of various religions began to imagine the Mongolian nomadic lifestyle and were gradually accepted by the Mongolian Haan […]
According to the results of Dr.Suhbaatar’s study, the earliest sources for Lamaism influence upon Mongolia were a golden idol of Buddha, which belonged to the Tuguhani aimag of the Hunnu Dynasty and was taken away by the soldiers of U-Di, the fifth emperor of the Han in 140 BC. Moreover, the original territory of the […]
Since the second century B.C., Mongolia came under the influence of Buddhism from the South. As a result, the beliefs of Northern Shamanism existed side by the side with Buddhism. This was the start of the third historical stage of Mongolian Shamanism. Henceforth, there was an ideological rivalry between Buddhism and Shamanism; the former aiming […]
The Shaman Religion During the rule of the states that succeeded in the Hunnu Dynasty, Shamanism became the main religion of the Haan states. Great sacrifices, similar to those of the Hunnu period, was carried out by Tanishihuay Haan of the Sumbe nation |131 to 181| on the Jaole-gol and by the Turegs in the […]
The Shaman religion, in a society of Shaman adherents, played a coordinating role in the establishment of public order, protection, unification, and spiritual orientation of the people. In other words, they regulated society and its interaction with nature and other peoples. A major component of the shaman ideology in regard to this was the respect […]
The Black Shamans Therefore, Shamans were labeled according to the direction from which they drew their power. The Ongon of a Shaman who was supported by Black deities and spirits was known as a shaman of the Black side. The Shamans of this side worshipped their own ancestors in the period of tribal […]
Firstly, then, it is necessary to discuss our ancestors’ general conception and understanding of the universe, in particular, the matters of “direction” and “color”. Researchers of this explained their understanding by dividing the directions into “good” |West and South| and “bad” |East| sides. Thereafter, some of them attempted to provide more detailed explanations […]
Tengrism is considered that its foundation dates back to a period many thousands of years ago, that is, to the era of primitive systems. However, there remain a variety of different opinions concerning precisely when and where the religion originated. Ch. Dalay, in his Brief History of Mongolian Shaman Worship, considered, “Religious beliefs […]
The Development of Mongolian Shamanism Several scholars have divided Shamanism into historical stages, according to Mongolian history. In 1985, H.Buyanbat analyzed the distinctions made in 1959 by Ch. Dalay between ancient and medieval phases and proposed his own five-stage periodization: Foundation of Mongolian Shamanism including its historical stages from the Matriarchy to the seventh century […]
It isn’t easy to imagine the pioneer of Hunnu rock, The Hu band, without their instruments. P.Baigalijav is the person who crafted their uniquely designed instruments, a combination of traditional and modern style, symbols of nature, sky, and fire. He spent his 31 years of life for crafting traditional music instruments to craft over 40 […]
During the 1950s and 1960s, Mongolia’s nomadic community experienced and intellectual explosion. Since almost all the intellectuals had been killed during the repression of the late 1930s, Mongolian intellectual life has been devastated, and it was in his vacant space than an entirely new intelligentsia was formed on the Western model. Among the 50,000 professional […]
A Blessing in disguise There is no denying that, for a backward nomadic country like Mongolia, building socialism meant the introduction of twentieth-century civilization. Human civilization as a whole has been progressively changing over several thousand years, while Mongolia had seen minimal low-level changes in its social structure, living standards, customs, culture, and civilization. Since […]
Nomads, who lived remotely, were never really exposed to any infectious diseases since they lived many kilometers away from each other. Earthquake, flood, fire, and sudden natural disasters were not a threat to the nomads, as they were not a threat to the nomads, as they were not living in the city. However, among the […]
In January 1966, Leonid Brezhnev visited Militarist Mongolia. The delegation included Andrei Gromyko, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Marshal Malinovsky, Minister of Defense. This was the first time a group of such high-level Soviet representatives had visited the country. The main purpose of the visit was to station a large contingent of Soviet troops in […]
Although historians argue about the exact date of Genghis Khan’s birth, many agree on the year 1162. The 800th anniversary of the birth of Genghis Khan occurred, then, in 1962. At that time in China, where there were more Mongolians living than in Mongolia, a movement to commemorate this date sparked off. Moreover, because there […]
The meeting of the three great superpowers of the time – Britain, the Soviet Union, and the USA – to discuss the future of Europe, was held in Teheran on November 28, 1943. China was deliberately not invited to this meeting since in that case, the problem of Soviet-Japanese relations would have become awkward. However, […]
The Mongols could not tolerate the suffering of the communist experiment anymore. Some of them fled the country and the ones who stayed were burning with so much rage that they were ready to explode at the slightest provocation. But documents of the time indicate that there were no preliminary preparations, plans or agreements for […]
Mongolia was drawn into a number of Stalin’s campaigns such as “collectivization”, “industrialization”, “neutralize” the kulaks and class enemies,” and the “fight against right-wing deviants.” Immediately after the Seventh Congress, the newly-appointed leaders of Mongolia received a “top secret” Comintern letter, number 2452, addressed to the MPRP Central Committee and the government. The letter demanded […]
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, and at 12:10 midnight on August 9, the First and Second War Eastern Fleet of the Red Army, the South Baikal Front, the Pacific Fleet, and the Amur Fleet invaded northern Manchuria and Korea. The Soviet army numbered 1,685,000 with 5,250 tanks and 5,200 […]
On June 22, 1941, Hitler betrayed Stalin and, in violation of the Non-attacked the Soviet Union with enormous force. Hitler’s blitzkrieg plan, Barbarossa, was into motions and within a few months, Hitler’s army reached Moscow (World War II). World War II It had become apparent that the world was to be divided into new spheres […]
Buryats fled from the Soviets in great numbers resettling in Mongolia and Manchuria, bringing an informal and sophisticated transnational network of relations into being. Apart from the Great Purge, the NKVD managed to achieve quite a lot in the Far East. After 1933, the Trans-Siberian Railway was upgraded to become a two-way route, and the […]
On March 12, 1934, a Soviet-Mongol Protocol of Mutual Assistance was signed in Ulaanbaatar. The Protocol, valid for ten years, provided for various forms of assistance, including military assistance, in the event of a threat from a third party against either of the two countries. This was what Genden and Demid had hopelessly been trying […]
In accordance with Comintern directives, the policy of overthrowing foreign capital began. This meant establishing a complete monopoly of Soviet non-capitalist ventures and driving out other influences. At that time foreign capital constituted 67 percent of Mongolia’s trade turnover. In 1929 those capitalist petty merchants accounted for 9.8 percent of imports and 26 percent of […]
On August 25, 1921, an organization called the Union of Young Revolutionaries (Boshgyg Halah Zaluuchuudyn Evlel) was set up in Ulaanbaatar. One of its key figures was Choibalsan. The Soviets, not long before, had given a similar name to a Chinese youth terrorist organization and the Mongolian version was a direct translation of the ideas […]
A duguilan is one of the traditional forms of protest and struggle of the Mongols and was especially widespread during the reign of the Qing Dynasty. The form of struggle was used against the ruling circles of the court; those taking part in would secretly or semi-secretly from a group and discuss problems from all […]
Xu Shuzeng was not satisfied with the abolition of autonomy. In order to immortalize his feat, he planned a show to commemorate the event. The Act Which Sparked Fire of Revenge A ceremony marking the abolition of the autonomy of Outer Mongolia was organized for January 1920. Soldiers lined either side of the road in […]
Meanwhile, in Northeast Asia, Japan’s interest in the Mongolian issue grew significantly. the Japanese warlords had realized that the creation of one large united Mongolia would help exert pressure on China and create favorable grounds for the Japanese occupation of the Russian Far East. The Japanese had at their disposal the half-Mongolian ataman Semenov. Together […]
The Beijing government-appointed High Commissioner Chen Yi arrived in Huree in October 1915, four months after the Kyakhta treaty was signed. The treaty had made an important but unwelcome concession to Chinese suzerainty over Mongolia by allowing the Beijing government to appoint a High Commissioner to Huree and Deputy High Commissioners to Uliastai, Hovd, and […]
At the time of the treaty of Kyakhta, Outer Mongolia had a territory of almost one and a half million square kilometers and a population of between six and seven hundred thousand. It was a nomadic, livestock – herding country, lagging far behind twentieth-century civilization. The Mongols raised sheep, cattle, goats, horses, and camels, numbering […]
China was alarmed at the news of the treaty between Russia and Mongolia, considering it a covert encroachment on its territory. Anti-Russian revolts took place in Beijing and Qingdao. A popular Opposition movement spread demanding that the Chinese government send troops to Huree. Hope and faith In November 1912 the Mongols tried to widen their […]
The Russian had never taken the 1912 agreement with the Mongols very seriously. For them, it was diplomatic fiction, a political lever with which to demonstrate to the Chinese their determination to secure their minimum agenda in Mongolia. The Mongols’ independence was unrecognized, and therefore Mongolia was merely a Chinese region for Russia to claim. […]
Not only Beijing nu St.Petersburg also shamelessly told the Mongols that they were incapable of governing themselves once they were again independent. The Russian Foreign Minister Sanazov stated that historically “the Halhs had never governed themselves independently”. He suggested that the inability of the Mongols to govern themselves might eventually compel Russia to establish Mongolia […]
Uriankhai was a strategic region, full of natural resources that Russia was determined to gain. Although Russia had taken Buriad Mongolia under the 1727 Sino-Russian Treaty of Kyakhta (Buur), Uriankhai, like the other Mongol aimags, was under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, which prevented Russian involvement. After 1761, the western Tannu Uriankhai were governed […]
Russia’s Negotiation with Japan Russia and Japan were worried about Mongolia’s declaration of independence in the midst of the Chinese revolution. It was clear to both of them that it would be unwise to give the Mongols this much freedom. On August 4th, 1911, the Russian government reached a decision to implement a “gentle” policy […]
The Qing Dynasty had its envoys stationed in four places in Mongolia. The (Manchu governor) in Huree was responsible for Tsetsen Khan and Tusheet Khan aimags, while the amban in Uliastai oversaw matters in Sain Noyon Khan and Zasagt Khan aimags. These four aimags were called the Halh Four. The amban in Hovd was responsible […]
The Mongols had been waiting two hundred years for the overthrow of the Manchu and his revival of the nation’s independent status. While waiting, and in their opposition to the New Administration, the pro-independence forces had become united and organized. They had also enlisted the support of Russian forces. Naturally, the masses who were unsure […]
In 1907, Sun Yat-sen setup a revolutionary organization called Tongmenghui, or United Alliance. Two years later he issued a manifesto espousing three principles: nationalism (regaining China from the foreigners), popular democracy (establishing a republic), and the people’s livelihood (granting the right to equal land ownership). Sun Yat-Sen, in protest against the Manchu rulers, cut short […]
From the beginning, Mongol feudal princess opposed Empress Zixi’s new program, the “New Administration Policy”. Although Mongolia had rid itself from more than two hundred years of subjugation and taxes levied by the Qing, the policies did affect the princes rights and privileges. In addition, the law banning the resettlement of Chinese subject in Mongolia […]
The disgraceful defeat and the enormous loss of territory suffered in the Sino-Japanese war aroused the determination of new thinkers. Underground societies sprang up everywhere, the most prominent of which was the China Self-Development society, founded in Beijing in 1895, which proclaimed: “Today, we are faced with enormous danger as we are under attack from […]
The Mongols had a new neighbor in the north. In 1558 Tsar Ivan IV [Ivan the Terrible] gave land west of the Ural region, including the Kama River basin, to a merchant by the name of Grigorii Stroganov. Setting his lands with very kind of trader and peasant, Stroganov gradually expended both his territory and […]
With the weakening and eventual disintegration of the Qing Dynasty, by 1680 the destiny of Asian countries surrounding China had begun to take a different turn. First of all, under the impact of the Taiping rebellion, the mutinies of Nian and the Muslims erupted one after the other. The Taiping Rebellion Around 1850, […]
Due to its poor relations with the Mongols, Russia then began seeking direct contacts with Qing China and the Dzungar Khanate. On August 27, 1689, Romanov’s Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty signed a treaty at Ford Nerchinsk on the Nevchuu river. It was the first document of its kind in the history of Russo-Chinese […]
The Mongols, this spirited people who for generations had led lives of wars, victories, and defeats, began to degenerate. Where once they had gone big game hunting to maintain their combat skills even in peaceful times, they now indulged in idleness and entertainment. They shot at motionless targets from motionless positions, and the tips of […]
The monasteries that had sprung up in every corner of the country not only satisfied the spiritual needs of the Mongols but also served as centers of commerce and exchange of commodities. Every monastery, then, had either a small branch of a Chinese trading company or a commercial agent, which would collect raw material from […]
Now that the Manchu were in control, they began carrying out administrative, military and economic reforms in Mongolia. A Beijing based government agency called Ih Jurgan or Mongol Jurgan assumed responsibility for the newly annexed territory. It was composed of six divisions for official investigation and rehabilitation, “penalty and vindication” and others. Through its offices […]
Amarsanaa’s plans had not included the annexation of the Dzungar Khanate by the Manchu. What he wanted, it seems, was to take revenge on his old friend and recent enemy Davaach, and to become, if possible, the Dzungar khan himself with the help of the Qing. When China unleashed its army on the Dzungar Khanate, […]
Although the Javzandamba and the Emperor claimed that Halh had become a Chinese vassal, Galdan Boshgot’s Mongolia, with its capital on the Herlen River in Halh, remained free and independent. In order to defend his nation of the United Halh and Oirad, Galdan Khan needed the strength to withstand the imminent onslaught of the Manchu. […]
By this time the Halh, though not the Oirad, were effectively controlled by the Qing, as is evident from the case of a Mongol noble named Tengis Van. The Sonid, earlier the subjects of Setsen Khan, became Qing vassals in 1639. The Setsen Khan Sholoi tried to regain control of his former subjects, finally inciting […]
During the 17th century the central Asian nomads were ruled by the Dzungar Khanate of the Oirad Mongols. Baatar Huntaij (or Prince Baatar) was a leader who devoted his life to unifying the Oirad. On his death his fifth son Senge, with the help of his mother, seized the Oirad throne and occupied it from […]
The Sakyapa school, which had been approved by Khublai, had all but died out. Geluk, or yellow, Buddhist was looking for foreign military aid and moral support. Mongolian feudal rulers and Tibetan yellow Buddhists found each other. The Beginning In 1578, Altan Khan welcomed the Tibetan yellow Buddhist leader Sonam Gyamtsho, and so […]
Gaining control of the southern part of Mongolia had not been much trouble for the Manchu. But it would take them more than fifty years to do the same with the Halh, and more than a hundred years to subjugate the Oirad. The Manchu army alone could not conquer Mongolia. Therefore, the Qing, in addition […]
In the 17th century, as the Mongol Empire disgusted, the person of the all-Mongol throne was Ligden Khan who, so far, had gained nothing except that seat. The unruly princedoms dissented as ever, with some of them recognizing his khanate as a mere formality, others ignoring him and still, others were hostile. Being the head […]
In the early seventeenth century the three-hundred-year-old Ming dynasty lapsed into a deep military-political and economic crisis. Its decline became most pronounced during the time of Emperor Chongzheng whose reign was plagued by numerous revolts. Drought, famines, and high takes combined to impoverish the population, which bred unrest and mutiny. The largest rebellion was led […]
Dayan Khan’s youngest son Gersenzed assumed command of the central heartland of Mongolia, which to is called Halh. After his death, his widow divided Mongolia among her seven sons, which brought about the so-called doloon Halh hoshuu (referred to in historical literature as “seven halh bunners”). A hoshuu is a territorial division, sometimes translated “banners”; […]
It was to this time that the distinction between Halh and Oirat Mongols can be traced. Mongols were now split into two parts, the Halh, and the Oirat. Western Mongolia received the name of Dorvon Tumen Oirat or, Dorvon Oirat. The origin of the word oirat is still unclear. While some claim that is derived […]
In the centuries after Genghis, Timur once again reminded the world of the terrible might of the nomads’ sabers. Just when Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty collapsed and the banished Mongols were defending their native lands and being beaten info disunity, Timur Khan, was terrorizing all around him, having built his powerful and uniquely aggressive state […]
Western civilization is the youngest of all world civilizations. Scholars suggest that it originated around 700-800 A.C. The Western civilization found its true form during the 15th century in Southern Europe and was founded on the ruins created by the Mongols. After the collapse of the great civilizations of Greece and Rome, Europe went through […]
The Altaic nomadic societies of Asia played a key role in the expansion of the Islamic world. The Turkic people who originated from Central Asia favored Islam. They assimilated in three waves into the Islamic world, a process which lasted four hundred years. The first wave was conducted by the Seljuk Turks (1055-1092), the second […]
The descendant for Genghis Khan’s second son Tsagaadai, Babur conquered India and founded the Mogul Empire that survived till the British colonization of that country. The Great Mogul Empire When Babur became the Emperor of Samarkand, his interest in India grew. Babur was the descendant of Genghis Khan on his mother’s side and […]
The Direct descendant of the Byzantine culture, the Eastern Slavs, established the Rus’ empire in 998. In truth, they are more Ukrainians than modern Russians. Kievan Rus’ dispersed to Novgorod, and to the northwestern, northeastern and southwestern areas. By this time Bat Khan’s army united all of Russia, built the Golden Horde and established Sarai […]
Today there are 1.4 billion Han nationals. However, it is hard to perceive these people, who speak six completely different languages, who follow three or four different religions and vary in ways such as clothing and food, as a united nation. Chinese people consider themselves as Han. This is the name of a powerful empire […]
Free Trade In his famous work Libertarianism: A Primer, the free market economist David Boaz stated that it was the Mongols who initiated, supported and developed free trade. They brought peace, even for a moment, to the lands they burnt to the ground and soaked in rivers of blood, and after the peace came free […]
The Chinese called the Great Mongol Empire Da Chao, a direct translation of the Great Empire. Later they called their empire, ruled by a Mongol king, Da Yuan or Great Origin. The names of all Chinese dynasties originated from Chinese feudal province or geographical locations. Even the non-Chinese Kitans named their dynasty Liao, after Liao […]
Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis and second only to him among the great Mongol khans for his resounding fame, was born in Mongolia on September 23, 1215, just when his grandfather was be signing Beijing. Kublai was the first of the great Mongol Khans to boat of education, he left the native steppes of […]
At the turn 1256, Hulagu Khan, who had been commissioned in Karakorum to bring law and order to the west, crossed the Amu Darya with his tens of thousands of soldiers and entered Iran to be met by the false smiles of the rival Seljuk Sultan and many other kings and princes, who barely managed […]
During the time, Christianity was emerging as the predominant faith in the region. The Christian sect of Nestorianism had strong roots in this territory long before the birth of a unified Mongol state. It was no surprise, then, that the Hereid and Naiman women whom Genghis had brought as wives for his sons were all […]
Somewhat ignorant of European geography, the Mongols chose not to proceed westward. After the death of his eldest son Jochi, who had been in command of the western campaign, Genghis bequeathed to Jochi’s sons Orda and Batu Khan all the lands that Mongol horses could reach beyond Siberia. The Two Hordes Orda settled […]
During Ogedei Khan rule from 1229 to 1241, the Empire continued to swell in all directions. In 1231 he sent to the south an army led by his brother Tului and Genghis best general Subeedei to complete the war which his father had started against the Jin dynasty. After three years of fighting, the Jin […]
The peace enforced by the ancient Romans in the lands under their control was often called Pax Romana. Likewise, the tranquility that set in for some time in Eurasia after the bloody Mongol conquests could be called Pax Mongolica. During this time, trade and religions flourished. European Guests Because of the Mongols’ tolerance […]
Although nomads historically adhered to shamanism, they had traditionally been tolerant towards other religions. while waging wars, snatching others’ lands and ruling different nations, they realized that if they would gain nothing except unceasing resistance. in fact, shamanism was not a monotheistic religion that worshiped one God, but it allowed for each to revere his […]
Genghis Khan organized an admirable system of communication in his vast empire, namely the horse relay. Station located along the main roads at intervals of about thirty kilometers offered rest and fresh horses to emissaries, and though these communication lanes vital military, economic and political information was disseminated at an amazing speed. Although The Secret […]
Genghis Khan had the best organized and best-equipped army of his time. The numerous maneuvers and stratagems described in modern military textbooks as originating with the Mongols had been in use prior to Genghis, but he improved and formulated them as a warfare doctrine and successfully applied them on a large scale. Organization […]
Genghis Khan left behind four sons to inherit his throne. All of them became renowned warlords in their own right, and also fathered many gifted gifted and khans. Jochi His eldest son, Jochi, whose legitimacy was doubted by his brothers and other relatives since was born soon after his mother was rescued from […]
Having built a unified state, Genghis Khan now turned his energies toward several nations which directly and indirectly bordered on Mongol lands. These were the Golden Kingdom, or the Jin Dynasty, the Xi-Xia of the Tangut and the Kara-Khitan Empire, and the Khwarazmian Empire of the Sartuul. Conditions were growing ripe for the Golden Kingdom […]
Becoming the Khan of the Mongolian Empire was the start of Temujin’s astounding feat of conquering half the world. His immediate objective was to unite all the nomadic nation between the Altai and Khinggan Ranges. A political of rare aptitude in the history of mankind, Genghis shrewdly used the perpetual hostility of nomadic princes towards […]
The rise of Habul, the Khan of the Hamag Mongol, and the subsequent fall of his lineage could be viewed as a sort of “warm-up session” before the emergence of the leader of the nomads. Habul’s descendants suffered hardships and humiliation as members of a demoted tribe. Although Habul Khan’s son Hutula had been proclaimed […]
In the early thirteen century the native land of the Mongols- a vast territory stretching from Lake Baikal past the great Gobi and from the Khinggan mountains to the Altai Mountains- had no integrated system of administration, and was inhabited by independent tribes who were constantly at war. These tribes, mostly of Mongol, […]
Perhaps no one could have imagined that one day Mongolians would drum upon the world with the beating of horses’ hooves and build one of the largest empires known to history. How the Mongols in the 12th century, mocked by the neighboring nomadic tribes for their weakness and limited manpower, suddenly rose to power and […]
The central Asian nomads built their Turkic Khanate, a steppe empire spread over a territory stretching from the Great Wall to the Black Sea. While Tumen Khan was fighting and easily defeating the Jujuan (also known as the Nirun), his brother Islami was expending their domain by invading the Amu Darya region and attacking Persia. […]
Apart from the northern Hunnu(Hun Empire), badly beaten and driven out from their lands by their southern relatives, gathered under the banner of Shanyu Jiji. They allied themselves with a tribe called Kangu and set out westward in the late fourth century, entering history under the name of the Huns. It was these eastern barbarians […]
The first unified Chinese state, the Qin, survived for only fifteen years, but Qin Shi powerful state of nomads appeared in central Asia under the name of Hunnu(Xiongnu). Likewise, the northern Hu was also disunited tribes, who took turns raiding and looting the self-ruling kingdoms of their sedentary neighbors. the stretches of walls that formed […]
Uighurs were the first nomads to give up the shamanistic worship of Heaven and convert to Islam, perceived as the religious of the civilized world. From the time of the Huns up to the end of the Mongol era, central Asia was one of the vital political centers of the world, and so for two […]
The northern barbarians, who incessantly raided and looted China, depriving it to peace and forcing the building of the Great Wall, were a nomadic people. Though covered with thick taiga in the north, most of their land was a vast expanse of arid steppes and deserts, unsuitable for farming. According to J.Murdoch, 90 percent to […]
The Origins and relations between nations can be determined by studying linguistic families. The Altaic language family is spoken by most of the inhabitants of Siberia and Central Asia. About 150 million people speak one of the Altaic languages, a group consisting of many languages, such as Turkish, Kazak, Azerbaijan, and Avar. […]
Who were the Mongols? The Origin of the Mongols is unclear but archeological evidence indicates that people lived in the vast territory of present-day Mongolia about 30,000 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic Era. Important archeological evidence Pertaining to these times includes the finds from the Cave of Gurman Tsemher in Hovd aimag (province). The […]
The ritual for summoning prosperity is a symbolic ritual to bring out the bounty of life and nature. During this ceremony, the peculiarly patterned cloth sack or wooden box containing grains, confections and sweets, samples of various minerals, and a piece of gold and silver are prepared. They are mostly made of pieces of silk […]
The Tsam dance (mask dance) is an assembly of religious dancing by wrathful deities. The characters of tsam dancing are the fanciful figures of Buddhist disciples in their dreamy meditations. The dancing characters seek to drive out evils by their outer appearances and jumping. The dancing is not performed on any fixed day but rather […]
The original birthplace of the Mongolian Camels(Bactrian) was the great Gobi. Mongolians domesticated wild camels and bred them. Since then many centuries have passed. The Bactrian camels of Mongolia are the best of the herd of camels. The chest of the Mongolian Bactrian camel is deep and broad; these animals have two humps and their […]
Naadam The most important celebration for the Mongolian people since ancient times was and is the traditional three manly sports (naadam). During this important celebration there is wrestling among men, which tests men’s strength and wit. Archery tests the skills of marksmanship. The horse race tests the racers’ swiftness and hardiness. They are performed according […]
Mongolians carefully maintain knowledge of their genealogies, which can stretch back to ancient times. Accounts of the descent of their relatives and children help to define families as a unique social unit and as a site for a process of biological and social inheritance. That is why they carefully examine the genealogical and intellectual character […]
New Ger-Warming Feasts There is a saying: “A hearth starts from the smoke of the trivet, a ger starts from a hut.” Erecting a new ger is part of the marriage ceremony. Some families renew their gers. This is very common among the people. During the ceremony dedicated to the raising of a new ger, […]
Mongolians consider childbirth as a good omen. We say that when a child is born, its food is predestined, that is why childbirth is an exceptional event in our life. So we perform an ablution to the child in order to honor the one who has adapted the form of a precious human body and […]
One of the traditional ceremonies among the Mongolian customs is the birthday celebration. This celebration can be divided into two types. One is a child’s birthday celebration, another is aged people’s birthday celebration. The one year birthday celebration is arranged as a feast among the child’s parents, their relatives, and close friends. In recent times, […]
Wedding Ceremony The Mongolian wedding ceremony is basically a confirmation of the marriage of a young couple and a chance to wish them a happy life together. This is also a chance to show the high trust in them from their parents, relatives, and communities. All those who attend the wedding ceremony wish […]
The customs Mongols have for greeting and showing respect toward others is traditionally quite rich. When guests arrive at someone’s ger they say nokhoi khori (hold the dog) before getting off the horse. Thereafter, when someone comes out and holds the dog, the guest takes his khet khutga (knife) from his belt and gets off […]
First hair cutting ceremony of children is commonly celebrated in Mongolia and named differently among the Mongols, such as khüükhdiin üs avakh (cutting the child’s hair) or örövlög ürgeekh (clipping the child’s crest), the main content is the same. The custom is practiced for boys when they are at age 3 or 5, and for […]
Mongolian Funeral Practices The internment of the body in Mongolia customarily belongs to kings and nobleman, saints, and shamans. The dead body of ordinary (common) people is traditionally left exposed at an open countryside places. But the honouring of remains is common and mongolian funeral proceedings are almost the same. According to tradition, the dead […]
Herders have also long supplemented their foodstuffs with agriculture as well as hunting. According to archeological findings, historical documents, and notes of ancient foreign travelers, it is proven that in Mongolia farming dates back to the Stone and Bronze Ages. Our tribal states continued and developed these traditions. Taria (grain), budaa (rice), arvai (barley), guril […]
Young animals are castrated at the beginning of summer. This is a traditional method to maintain the balance of male and female domestic animals. The methods to castrate animals differ depending upon the flock or herd. The general ceremony of castration is the same. For instance, in order to castrate flocks, a felt rug or […]
1. Custom of Shearing Sheep Mongolians have a long standing tradition of manually processing the wool and hair of the five kinds of animals for use in their daily life. At the end of spring and the beginning of summer, the animals have grown fat on the fresh green grass and start to shed their […]
There is a specific ritual that is done in a tuneful utterance when a new mother rejects its newborn or when a newborn becomes orphaned. This ritual is believed to encourage the mother to allow the newborn to nurse. Our ancestors have long paid attention to animal behavior, character, and the sounds they produce. In […]
Mongolian livestock-breeders move from place to place throughout the four seasons in search of new pastures, which for centuries served as the source of their way of life. The pastureland is subdivided into seasonal camps. Certain regulations are followed depending on whether it is the beginning, middle, or end of the season. Livestock-breeders have a […]
When the weather becomes colder in autumn, the horse-breeders have a custom to set the mares and foals free of their halter and hobbles and to celebrate the feast of “Foal branding”. From ancient times, the feast used to have the name of the “Feast for foal branding”, due to the custom that horse-breeders used […]
With the arrival of spring and mild weather, livestock is emancipated, but pasture grass is still usually rare. Animals typically give birth in the spring, however, despite these conditions. This is the busiest and hardest period for livestock breeders. There is the Lunar Month festival which celebrates the passing of winter safe and sound. The […]
Mongolians undertake milk libation ceremonies to honor the heaven, earth, and mountains when spring arrives, the weather turns warm, and the snow and ice melt. This is also the period when young animals are born and milk products become available. Milk libation symbolizes the arrival of these young animals and the dairy products. It venerates […]
Mongolians celebrate the Lunar New Year (Tsagaan Sar) / Lunar Month/ as a passing of one year and a welcoming of a new one. The first day of the New Year is traditionally a popular festival. It is celebrated on a broad nationwide scale. This is the celebration of the passing of the severe winter […]
Mongolian Shamanism is one of the oldest forms of religion. It has been developed on the basis of the belief in totemism and dates back to 300 to 400 BC. The Huns, ancestors of the Mongolians, worshiped shamanism and made it the state religion. Since then the people of Mongol origin, who lived in the […]
Customs related to the household and human life include social events that occur in the life of a family or community. Oral poetry and traditional customs express a family’s or community’s feelings of respect, well-wishing, or sorrow for a person or persons. Benedictions and songs are performed to a great extent in the celebrations of […]
Mongolians hunt for stronger and bigger herding animals in hunting teams, but for smaller animals such as sable, marmot and squirrel hunt alone. Mongolia is a country that consists of the wide-open steppe lands, forests, rivers, mountains and deserts, and each has its own types of animal species. Therefore, from ancient times Mongolians have traditionally created […]
AIRAG Mongolians start tethering foals and colts on the tiger day of summer. We stop tethering foals and colts on the dog day in autumn. There is a feast for fermenting mare’s milk within three days after tethering foals and colts. There is also feast for when we stop tethering foals and colts in autumn. […]
As deer is one the most revered and sacred animals for Mongolians and an important source of their livelihood, Mongolians created a variety of games and toys named ‘buga’ (deer), such as, Deer Jirgens, Bald Deer, Mountain Deer, Steppe Deer, Mountain and Steppe Deer, Mongol Deer, Four Deer, Tibetan Deer, and so on. Different shaped […]
Khorol(Zendmene) is one of the ancient games played by Mongolians. It is known as ‘Khorol’ in Western Mongolia. Khorol is crafted with square wood blocks, sized and shaped similar to ancient dominos. There are a total of 60 figures drawn on the blocks, representing 4 from each of the 15 figures, each with different powers. […]
Board games include shatar (Mongolian chess), draughts (checkers) and the deer game. These are very ancient games. Mongolian Chess Shatar or Mongolian chess is considered to be the king of the board games. It needs keen intelligence, creative thinking, and patience; chess is a type of intellectual sport. There is even a folk saying that […]
Requiring solid thinking and problem-solving capacity, brainstorming games have a long tradition in Mongolia. These kinds of oral games are popular among people even today and contribute to developing creative thinking. Here are some examples of these types of games: How Can You Cross The River? One person wants to get grass, a sheep, and […]
Breaking the chain and Dropping a handkerchief game has become known among Mongolians since around 1960s and mainly school children play them during their break time. Two groups of children stand hand-in-hand, resembling a chain at a distance of five meters from each other. Someone on one side shouts, “Break the golden chain!,” and another […]
From a very young age, Mongolian children in nomadic societies grow up involved in the everyday herding activities of their families, such as stopping lambs and calves from going to pasture, keeping lambs away from their mothers during milking, and learning the practice of herding animals based on actual practice. Before riding horses, Mongolian children […]
One of the Mongolian traditional games is the disentangling game. Without a doubt, this must have been originated from a nomadic livestock breeder’s livelihood as a demand to untie and disentangle difficult knots, ties, and entangled things. Consequently, parents took much care to train their kids to learn how to disentangle things and created a […]
Shagai (Anklebone) games are an important part of Mongolian traditional games. There are myriad kinds of anklebone games which attract both children and adults. Researchers identified 80 variations of Mongolian ankle bone games, such as “Catch Ankle Bones”, “Flick Anklebones”, “Horse Race”, “Wrestling”, “Set Four Difficult”, “Calculation”, “Guessing”, “Comply Four Colours”, “Construct A Star”, “Cat […]
Finger games hold an important position among the popular Mongolian traditional games. The diversity of finger games found include “Finding Middle Finger”, “Sümber Mountain”, creating shadow images by finger movements in front of a light, “Dembeedekh” (a finger-guessing game with singing),and “Khuruudakh” (a game of sticking out a finger), and so on. Having no need for […]
During the long winters, livestock herder’s children play word games indoors. Word games are highly important for teaching the players proper expression, rich vocabulary and understanding the deep meanings of the words and developing creative thinking. Word games have endless diversity, such as quizzes, tongue-twisters, breath expanding expressions, humorous verses, and quizzing contests. Breath Expansion […]
The most popular materials from which to make Mongolian traditional games are different types of stones varied by colour, size, and shape. Assembling a Ger Game Since ancient times, Mongolian children have played the game in which they assemble a ger. Players collect stones with different colours, sizes, and shapes and assemble a ger by […]
Mongolians have a rich tradition of games and toys. There are many different types of Mongolian traditional games. According to historical records, the ancestors of the Mongols, the Hünnü people, played games like “Blown rumen shooting” or “Rabbit Hunting” (in which riders carry a blown rumen fastened with a string while others shoot at it […]
One of the precious and rare cultural heritages of the nomadic Mongolians is contortion. Apparently, contortion is a form of traditional art created to display the beauty of the human body. It is based on the flexibility of Mongolian girls and women going through various breathtakingly dramatic bending, folding and flexing positions, all of which […]
Tsam dance is a part of secret tantric rituals. Although its origin is traced to Tibet, the tsam dance is enriched with various Mongol cultural elements, namely the creative imagination and aesthetics of Mongol craftsmen, the roles of heroic figures of folk myths and epics, and elements of shamanism,and archaic religious phenomena. These Mongol elements […]
It is very important for your left hand fingers to be able to touch exactly the right place on the strings so that you play every note in perfect tune. The fingering system on the morin khuur is probably different to other instruments you may have played, so lots of practice is essential, no matter […]
The Morin Khuur produces a wide range of rich sounds, and this illustration shows the main positions for the fingers to produce the notes. There can be no exact guide as to where your fingers should be, as the size of each morin khuur varies, and the position varies with the instrument size. You simply […]
1. The First exercise for a Morin Khuur learner is with the right hand. It aims to teach use of the middle of the bow, the tip section and “sawing” with the frog end. 2. The Second exercise is meant to teach the involvement of the arms. It involves “sawing” with the whole bow, “sawing” […]
How the Morin Khuur sounds “and how well you play it” depends very much on how you sit and how you touch the instrument. It is very important how you place the instrument. You need to be relaxed, with your arms and hands in the right position, smooth finger movements, with correct posture “all generally […]
Remember: the thinner string will be uppermost when you are holding the morin khuur ready to play. The string of the Morin Khuur are tuned to Bb(an octave and a tone below middle C) and F(an octave and a fifth below middle C). If that sounds complicated, it probably is! But don’t worry. Generally, concert […]
1. Deel is one of the Mongolian national costumes with thousands of years of history. National costumes are an important historical item of human society and it has been constantly changing for many years to find their final version. Deel designs are different by nationality. Regarding the material, they can be made of cotton, silk, […]
Souvenir products and toys are miniature forms of culture and represent the tradition of that particular country very well. Most Mongolian souvenirs are made of animal by-products and natural materials. Below I have found the Top 10 souvenirs and toys of Mongolia that are considered to be very unique by tourists and travelers. 1. Tsatsal […]
It is true that 42.7% of total Mongolian land is Gobi Desert, out of which only 5% is covered by sand. There are a total 33 Gobi Deserts in Mongolia and the biggest is called “Galbyn Gobi”. It is located in Khanbogd soum, Omnogobi province, and its 200 km long and 50 km wide. The […]
Nowadays people prefer to use more natural beauty products as they are less harmless and more organic. In Mongolia, the production of cosmetics is a relatively new sector, and in recent years, companies have been established to produce organic products without any chemical ingredients and waste, from pure natural raw materials. By 2021 there are […]