Tsagaan Sar officially began Wednesday, Feb 22 and ran until Feb 25th, but preparations began far in advance. I noticed a busy shopping season a week earlier, and lots of frantic last minute shopping in the days right before the holiday. Everyone was stocking up on gifts and food. Me and Holly also stocked up on food after being tipped off that all the stores and markets would be closed during the holiday. Holly braved the mean streets of UB and went to get us eggs and bread. During the hour she was out someone tried to steal her wallet, and then a drunk guy tried to steal her groceries! With things getting a little crazy outside we planned to hole up in our apartment until the holiday was over, but invitations to Mongolian family's homes ultimately drew us out.
Tuesday I went to my host family's home for Tsagaan Sar eve, known as Bituun, which means "to be full". On this day you spend time with your family and feast on side dishes such as potato salad, khuushuur (deep fried mutton pancakes), and creamy or fermented milk products in preparation for the ungodly amount of mutton dumplings you'll be eating over the next few days. I think the point of this day is to expand your stomach. At Bituun I tried a Mongolian food I had never had before, called aarts. It is a slightly fermented soft cheese curd. It is more well known in its dried form, aaraal. In this case it was served steaming hot in milk tea that was sweetened with sugar and raisins. It was a bit strange at first but I actually really liked it! It was definitely Mongolian comfort food.
The next day we got up early. For Tsagaan Sar you go around to all your relatives' houses in order of age, first visiting grandparents or even great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, then aunts and uncles, then cousins, and even some more distant relatives if you are close or if you have time. We waited at home for the first guests to arrive and then did some visiting of our own. Look at these pictures!
Danzka and Muugii's family's Tsagaan Sar spread. Notice lots of side dishes and the centerpiece, a tower of boov, fried dough, and decorated with aaraal, sugar, tos, and candy.
The family's little centerpiece. Here you can see the black and yellow tos. Tos was also a new food I tried. Essentially, it's a paste of butter, flour, sugar, and raisins. I was a big fan, it was like sweetened pie dough with more butter! The black tos used some sort of rye flour I think. It was also tasty, with a nuttier flavour.
Host dad posing in front of the centerpiece and uuts, the back and sides of a whole sheep that is traditionally served on Tsagaan Sar. The oldest man or woman sits at the head of the table and receives the guests first.
A third, tiny centerpiece was erected at the altar where pictures of ancestors and buddhist iconography are displayed. Oil candles and incense are burned, and milk is offered.
A huge piece of mutton, some orom, or fatty boiled milk skin (yum!) and candy.
A guest greeting the dad in the traditional way. I also took part in this ritual greeting. As I was younger than 90% of the people I was greeting, I held their elbows, and they held my shoulders, we sniffed each other on each cheek (instead of kissing) and said "amar baina uu", which sort of means "happiness be with you".
Then the men would exchange snuff bottles, as Danzka is demonstrating. You don't actually take any snuff, you just sniff the top of the bottle, nod your approval, and hand it back. I also got to receive snuff bottles and hand them back, and I went to a family where the woman of the house also had a petite snuff bottle of her own.
Host bro and sis Danzka and Muugii! aka Danzaa and Munkho... aka Danzanravjaa and Munkhjargal... Mongolian nicknames are confusing! But almost no one goes by their given name. Everyone personalizes their name a little in their nickname.
Of course a blog post involving my host family wouldn't be complete without an update on Bambi. She's getting biiiiig and filling out a lot! She's very happy with the host family which is all for the best, since she seems to not have gotten over the bath I gave her, and tries to give me a good nip everytime I walk by.... Perhaps she doesn't remember all the food I fed her either! Ah well, I've completed my puppy community service in any case.
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