The traditional dress of the Mongols has a rich history spanning many centuries. It is closely connected with the Mongolian way of life and the country. The costumes are used in different situations; somebody rides on horseback over the steppe, he sits at home in his ger (yurt - round felt tent), or he dances at a national festival. The conditions of climate excert influence on the kind of dress, the costumes for the seasons of the year. In summer the Mongols wear a light coat or frock, the "Terleg" (deel - summer coat), in spring, autumn and winter a wadded coat (row cotton), the "Khovontei Deel", or a lambskin coat, the "Khurgan Dotortoi Deel", in winter they wear a sheepskin dress reminding of a fur coat, the "Tsagaan Nekhii Deel".
The Mongolian national costume is a robelike garment called a deel, that, like the Tibetan robe, has no pockets. The deel is worn with a thin silk sash several yards long tightly wound around the waist. Attached to the sash are essential objects such as the eating set, tinder pouch, snuff bottle, and tobacco and pipe pouches. Mongols, like the nomadic Tibetans and Manchurians, use an ingeniously designed eating set incorporating a sharp knife and a pair of chopsticks, and sometimes also includes a toothpick, ear scratcher, and a tweezer. They are made of precious metals and embellished with semi-precious stones.
The dress reflects the age of the wearer. The costumes of elderly people are, as a rule, modest and plain. The female dress shows differences between the attire of the girls and that of married women. The latter is decorated and adorned more splendidly with ornaments and jewellery. The design of the garments, the combination of colours as well as the decorative ornaments speak of an old tradition. The national costumes were mostly brown and dark blue. The Mongols wear the coat with the oblique border, the "Tashuu Engertei Deel", and the coat with the rectangular border, the "Durvuljin Engertei Deel". The materials from which the dresses were sewn were either produced by the people themselves, such as "leather, wool, and fur", or dresses have been made from silk, cotton, wool, and brocades and were richly decorated with jewellery and ornaments of gold, silver, corals, pearls, and precious stones. Every nationality has its own headdress (i.g. the "Toortsog", "Yuden", and "Zharantai"), hence there are many different kinds of caps and boots. The master (male or female) was able to glue, quilt, and stuff with wadding; he knew the symbolism of the ornaments used on the dresses, the symbolism of the colours and their combination.
The largest group, the Khalkha, lives in Central and Eastern Mongolia; the Bayad, the Durvud, the Khoton, the Altai-Uriankhai, the Torguud, the Uuld, the Zakhchin and the Myangad live in the West; in Eastern Mongolia live the Dariganga, the Barga, the Uzemchin, the Buryat and the Khamnigan, and in the North the Khotgoid, the Darkhad, the Khuvsgul-Uriankhai, the Tsaatan and the Khakhar. Also the Kazakhs, who are Muslims, live in the Altai.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
How did they live?
Tribes: They did not live in towns. The Mongols were nomads. They traveled in small groups composed of perhaps only two or three families. You might travel 20 miles before you ran into another family group.
They used camels and oxen and carts to travel.
Their homes, called yurts, were odd looking, portable, and very comfortable. These people received their nickname - the felt tent people - from their unusual homes.
Their clothing was very colorful, and their food just the opposite - they are famous for white food and salty tea.
Although the Mongols were nomads, they still had a royalty of sorts - chieftains, and later khans. These were the leaders of various tribes. In ancient times, a tribe did not necessarily travel together. But they did get together at festivals, and in times of need.
Toys: Puzzles were popular. Games included archery, horse racing, wrestling, and guessing games.
Kids played many bone games - games they made up using the bones of animals. Bones were used as targets. Bones were used in races. Bones were used as a guessing game - kids guessed how many bones were in a pile.
Mongol Kids: From a very early age, kids were taught to respect their parents. They were taught survival skills - how to collect dry animal dung for firewood, how to milk cattle, how to use a bow and arrow, and how to cook and sew.
Good Behavior: The most important things Mongol parents taught their children had to do with behavior. Everything they did, including the toys they gave their children, and the stories they told, were designed to teach their children to be ethical, honest, and skilled - to have good behavior.
dentification. Genghis Khan banded the Mongolian tribes together for the first time in 1206 and formed a unified state. The steppe empires and nomadic culture created by the ancient Mongols hold a unique place in world history, and modern Mongols are very proud of this particular heritage.
Location and Geography. Mongolia is a large landlocked country in Central Asia, and is bordered on the north by the Russian Federation and on the south by the People's Republic of China. Measuring 604,100 square miles (1,565,000 square kilometers) in area, the country is larger than Western Europe, encompassing several geographical zones: desert, steppe, and mountainous terrain. Mongolia's climate is extreme, with low precipitation and long harsh winters where temperatures can dip to -50 degrees centigrade. The capital city is Ulaanbaatar, meaning "Red Hero."
Demography. With only 2.6 million people as of July 2000, Mongolia is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries. The nation also has an extremely young population, with over 70 percent of people less than thirty years old.
Linguistic Affiliation. Khalkha Mongolian is the official language and is spoken by 90 percent of the people. Minor languages include Kazakh, Russian, and Chinese. Khalka Mongolian is part of the diverse Uralic-Altaic language family, which spread with the ancient Mongol Empire and also contains Korean, Manchu, Turkish, Finnish, and Hungarian. Each of these languages features a highly inflected grammar. Khalkha Mongolian may be written in traditional Uighur (vertical) or Cyrillic script.
Symbolism. The national symbol is the soyombo, featured on the Mongolian flag. Each aspect of the complex design is meaningful and there are components representing fire, sun, moon, earth, water, and the yin-yang symbol. The soyombo dates to at least the 17th century, and is associated with Lamaism.
Who were the Mongols?
Around 500 BCE, a tribe of nomadic people called the Mongols lived in Asia. The Mongols were traders and herdsmen. They herded sheep and traded horses with the ancient Chinese and Persians.
In the summer, they moved with their herds across the vast steppes of Asia, seeking fresh pasture land. They used dogs to help them herd the cattle. Archaeologists have found rock paintings that show nomads and dogs protecting their sheep.
The ancient Mongols are sometimes called The Felt Tent People because their homes were round tents made of felt.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)