Mongolian customs and habits

Mongolian customs and habits include: Nadam, White Festival, Horse Milk Festival, Lantern Festival, Fire Worship Festival, Aobao Festival, Maidel Festival and Taklegan Festival.

Nadam: The five-day Nadam begins on the fourth day of the sixth lunar month every year and 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. Nadam convention is a traditional festival with a long history in Mongolia, which plays an important role in the material life of the Mongolian people. Nadam convention is held in July and August every year when livestock are fat. It is a cultural and entertainment convention held by people to celebrate the bumper harvest. There are thrilling horse racing, wrestling, admirable archery, competitive chess and fascinating songs and dances at the Nadam convention. Before the start of the conference, men, women and children rode horses and dressed in festive costumes, and came to participate in competitions and visits regardless of the distance. Nadam convention is also an exposition of agricultural and animal husbandry materials. In addition to industrial and agricultural products, there are ethnic foods, such as beef and mutton and their smoked products, cheese, milk powder, cream, milk bumps, milk tofu, yogurt and so on.

White Festival: Ancient Mongols called the Lunar New Year "Happy Engel", that is, the New Year. Some people call it White Festival or Bai Yue, which is closely related to the whiteness of milk. There are different views on the origin of Mongolian Spring Festival. First, according to the book "Questions and Answers on Black-and-White Calculation of the Fifth Dalai Lama", Genghis Khan took the Xixia capital in 1227 and held a banquet to celebrate it, which was the beginning of the Mongolian calendar, and the stars and moons were commonly called the first month. The month of the stars is from 65438+February 16 to 65438+ 10/0/5, which is one month different from the lunar calendar. The Mongolian calendar in Ordos region is based on Bai Yue, May and June. From this perspective, the first year of the Mongolian calendar should be April of the lunar calendar.

Horse Milk Festival: In order to celebrate the bumper harvest, Mongolian people bless each other. In addition to preparing enough kumiss, they also entertain guests with hand-grabbed meat, hold horse races, invite folk singers to sing congratulations, and present gifts to old Mongolian doctors.

Lantern Festival: Every year on October 25th of the lunar calendar, when night falls, people light butter lamps to celebrate.

Fire sacrifice: also known as fire worship festival. Mainly from the ancient Mongols' worship of fire. The ignition ceremony was held on the evening of February 23, 65438. 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 Tang Qian and the stove), and the priest (the elder 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 will also pray, and the general content is: 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. In the eyes of Mongols, fire is sacred. A family's sacrifice with fire has the meaning of inheritance, and it is necessary to sacrifice with fire for wedding activities and Chinese New Year.

Sacrifice to Aobao: On this day, herders went to Aobao in droves to offer sacrifices. They placed Buddha statues on Aobao, erected prayer flags and offered beef, mutton and milk in front of Aobao, hoping to usher in a bumper harvest year for animal husbandry.

Maidel Festival: Maidel Festival is a festival to commemorate Maitreya Buddha, which is celebrated on the 15th day of the first month and has a strong religious color. On the day of the festival, Maitreya statues are hung in every yellow temple, and nearby herders come to the temple to offer offerings, burn incense and worship. If there is a living Buddha in the temple, it will be presided over by the living Buddha, and if there is no living Buddha, it will be presided over by the Dalai Lama. After worshipping the Buddha, everyone, under the leadership of Gu Zida, who was the flag bearer, carried out traditional Mongolian entertainment activities such as archery, horse racing and postscript.

Taklegan Festival: Taklegan Festival is a large-scale activity of offering sacrifices to Aobao, which is held by Mongolians every summer. Aobao is generally placed on hills rich in aquatic plants. The worship of Aobao may come from ancient mountain worship, which is the expression of Mongolian worship of nature. When offering sacrifices to Aobao, herders from the same tribe rode horses and camels and brought wine and meat to the mountain where Aobao was located. At that time, people will present Hada first, and then the living Buddha or the Great Lama will lead the people to chant scriptures around Aobao (women are not allowed to attend at this time). May God bless the world and give people peace and security; If there is drought, pray for rain, so that the earth will be rich in water and grass, and livestock will thrive. After Aobao Sacrifice, traditional Mongolian folk entertainment activities such as horse racing, wrestling and archery began.