Mongolian home customs

 

Mongolian home customs

 

On a meadow on the bank of the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, Burmese musician Dorje and his Naypyitaw Song and Dance Troupe Mongolian Dance Team temporarily built two yurts on the meadow. Here he met Agu Demba, A Zhuo, Chu Sanxing and other friends. His daughters Yadan, Dawa, and Xiang Qima started busy making dinner.

Dorje stood outside the yurt with Agudengba, Azhuo and Chu Sanxing and chatted about Mongolian folk customs and marriage stories.

Dorje said:

Liu Bingzhong of the Yuan Dynasty designed and planned two capitals for the Yuan Dynasty: Yuan Shangdu and Yuan Dadu. Shangdu in the Yuan Dynasty is generally called a grassland city. The overall design of Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty basically follows the principle of "craftsmen run the country" in "Zhou Li·Kao Gong Ji" and the concepts of "Xiang Tian Set Capital" and "Yin Yang Bagua" in "Zhou Yi". The royal city planning of "Craftsmen run the country" completely adopts the square grid system of the well field system. It uses "hu" as the basic grid, "well" as the basic combined grid, longitude and latitude Tu (Qianmo) as the coordinates, and the middle latitude and longitude are Axial approach to urban planning. The streets of major cities have uniform standards. The intersection of north-south and east-west streets forms residential areas in a checkerboard format.

Agudemba said: In my impression, Marco Polo once praised it.

Dorje said: Yes. Marco Polo said, “It is so beautiful that it cannot be expressed in words.”

Dorji pointed to the two temporary yurts and said: The traditional residence of the Mongolians is the yurt we are familiar with. A yurt is a canopy-style dwelling with a rounded spire. Usually covered with one or two layers of wool felt. Yurt is the Manchu name for the housing of Mongolian herdsmen. There are two main types of yurts, one is a transfer type used in summer in pastoral areas, and the other is a semi-fixed type used in winter camps. There is a skylight at the top of the yurt, which allows ventilation and lighting.

He added: The temporary yurts built in front of us are summer transfer yurts in pastoral areas. Our song and dance troupe builds this type of yurt when we go out to perform.

Dorje and several friends stopped in front of a nearby crossbar. There are some wind flags hanging from the crossbar.

Duoji pointed to these flags and said: These are the Luma wind flags. In the vast Ordos grassland, the five-color Luma style flag is hung in front of almost every Mongolian household. The Luma wind flag fluttering in the wind conveys good luck and blessings, and is filled with rich grassland customs. "Luma Fengqi" is called "Heimole" in Mongolian, which means "horse of destiny". It has been a long-standing custom of Ordos Mongolian herdsmen to fly the Luma style flag at their homes. It is not only the historical accumulation of the ancient Mongolian culture, but also the carrier and content of the unique sacrificial culture of the Ordos Mongolian people.

Duoji said that the Luma wind flag in front of us said in Mongolian, "The horse of hope gallops and leaps. May our nation be prosperous and prosperous." "We believe that horses have magical power, so we printed the galloping horse on the flag. The Luma wind flag hanging in front of the door, fluttering in the wind, brings us good luck and peace, and means that life and career are getting better and better."

He also said: "The sacrifice of the Luma Wind Flag is the spiritual sustenance of the Mongolian people in Ordos. If you are a guest at the home of a Mongolian herdsman in Ordos, if you are riding a horse, you must not pass between the Luma Wind Flag and the house. Every New Year's Eve, A brand new Luma style flag must be hoisted. When hoisting the Luma style flag, it must be hung from the blue flag, then the red, yellow, white, and green flags in order.”

A gust of wind blew by, filling the air with the fragrance of green grass.

At this time, several Mongolian dance team members had temporarily built a temporary stove on the meadow.

Dorje said that this stove is called an altar in the eyes of Mongolians. Altars are usually made of bricks with ceramic tiles on the outside. When I was a guest at a friend's house in Ordos, the "Eight Horses" was inlaid on the north and south sides of his altar. On both sides of the altar are erected "Sulede", with blue, red, yellow, white and green Luma style flags hung on the middle crossbar. Each flag has nine galloping horses printed on it. There are four animal patterns on the four corners: lion, tiger, flying dragon and phoenix. Herdsmen on the grassland have their own understanding of the colors of the Luma wind flag. Blue symbolizes the vast sky, red symbolizes a happy and prosperous life, yellow symbolizes fertile land, white symbolizes white cloud-like sheep, and green symbolizes the vast and beautiful grassland. On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month every year, Ordos Mongolian people will light a fire in the fire pole outside the door, burn cypress leaves, grains, dairy products, etc. at the Luma Fengqi altar, place sacrifices, and light oil lamps. , to welcome the coming of the New Year. During festivals, weddings and funerals, some important ceremonial activities are held in front of the Luma Wind Flag.

At this time, Dorje's daughter Yadan, Dawa, and Xiang Qima were already busy making dinner.

Yadan was burning cypress leaves on the altar and sprinkling grains, dairy products, etc. on the cypress leaves. Green smoke lingers and the fragrance of cypress overflows.

Dorje said to Agudengba, Azhuo and Chu Sanxing:

Although the current Mongolian customs are neither rich nor complete, the customs and culture of the Mongolian people have been passed down for thousands of years. This can also explain from another aspect that the Great Mongolian Kingdom and the Yuan Dynasty once established by the Mongolian people not only It had a great impact on the politics, economy and culture of the society at that time. At the same time, it also has a certain influence on the history of Chinese civilization and the formation of folk customs in South Asia and other places.

In a happy atmosphere, Yadan and several members of the dance team danced Mongolian dance and sang "Beautiful Prairie":

 

beautiful prairie,

That's my home,

The white yurt,

Not afraid of wind and rain.

 

Let’s set out together on horseback,

We bravely venture into the world,

The horses are like colorful clouds,

The grassland is picturesque.

 

The spring breeze makes the water green and the grass fertilizes,

Colorful butterflies are flying among the flowers,

Cattle and sheep are like pearls;

Strewn with green grassland.

 

We sing loudly,

White lotus in yurt,

That's our home,

Colorful wind flags fluttering.