Festivals

During a year the Mongols celebrate calendar, public, religious, professional and family holidays. The main festival, the New Year, or Tsagaan Sar, i.e. the “White month” is celebrated on the turn of the autumn-winter and spring-summer seasons. It begins the spring and the year. This festival does not have a fixed date, but is most usually celebrated in February (per Chinese sample). It is celebrated for several days, and sometimes for a whole month. And, although, since 1924 January, 1st is the official beginning of a year, the Mongols still consider Цагаан-сар to be the real one.

The second large national festival in the Mongolian calendar is Naadam, the “three men’s merrymakings”. This sporting festival has existed since ancient times: it originated from old clan rituals which were later added to by military shows and recruitment of warriors for the khan’s armed forces. This sporting event includes three basic national kinds of sport: fight, archery and horse race. It used to be held in the end of summer; in modern Mongolia it is celebrated on July, 11th – the anniversary of the people’s revolution. Among the calendar festivals the most important one is the summer festival “Obo” – celebration of the local spirits. Before the revolution several dozens Buddhist holidays used to be celebrated; at present their number is sufficiently reduced.

Apart from these national holidays there is a number of smaller ones, called nairas. They mark beginning or end of different economic activities, such as the first koumiss, sheep shearing, branding horses, slaughtering cattle, etc. Nairas can also mark important family celebrations, like birth of a child, a wedding, a safe conclusion of the 81st year of life, etc. Such event is usually celebrated a whole day and is accompanied by songs, dances and a feast.

In the second half of the 20th century nairas which were connected with economic activities were replaced with public holidays and became obsolete.

Gorit. Mongolia. The Mongols.		Ritual music instrument. Mongolia. The Mongols.		Ritual musical instrument. Mongolia. The Mongols. 19th century.
Horsemen in medieval costumes. A celebration of the 800th anniversary of Mongolian state establishment. Mongolia. The Mongols. Rykin P., 2006.		Folklore concert.. Mongolia. Rykin P., 2006.