2665 MONGOLIA - A lama boy

Buddhism in Mongolia derives much of its recent characteristics from Tibetan Buddhism (of the Gelug and Kagyu lineages), which combines elements of the Mahayana and the Tantric schools with traditional Tibetan rituals of curing and exorcism, sharing the common Buddhist goal of individual release from suffering and the cycles of rebirth. Westerners use for Tibetan Buddhism the term "lamaism" (literally, "doctrine of the lamas": lama jiao) to distinguish it from a then traditional Chinese form (fo jiao).

1036, 2456 MONGOLIA - The Traditional Naadam festival (UNESCO ICH)

1036 Camp of Naadam in Mongolia

Posted on 17.03.2014, 12.04.2016
Naadam (literally "games") is a traditional festival in Mongolia (but also in China, in areas in which live Mongols), termed locally Eriin gurvan naadam (the three games of men), which exist, probably, for centuries. The biggest festival (Naadam of the Country) is held in the capital Ulan Bator during the National Holiday from July 11-13, in the National Sports Stadium. It begins with an elaborate ceremony featuring dancers, athletes, horse riders, and musicians, after that follows the competitions in the three games, directly linked with the lifestyles of the Mongols: Bökh (Mongolian wrestling), horse racing and archery.

2456 Bökh (Mongolian wrestling)

 

Bökh (which means "durability") is the most important of the Mongolian culture's historic "Three Manly Skills". Genghis Khan considered it to be an important way to keep his army in good physical shape and combat ready. There are several different versions: Mongolian, Buryatian, Oirat and Inner Mongolian. The goal of a match is to get your opponent to touch his upper body, knee or elbow to the ground. There are no weight classes, age limits, or time limits in a match. The rank of a wrestler can only be attained during the Naadam festival, and is determined by the number of rounds won, being held for life.

1312, 2240 MONGOLIA - Women in traditional clothes

1312 Two young mongolian women in traditional clothes

 

Posted on 23.10.2014, 24.01.2016
Mongolian dress has changed little since the days of the empire, because it is supremely well-adapted to the conditions of life on the steppe. The deel, or kaftan, is the Mongolian traditional garment worn both on workdays as well on special days. Each ethnic group has its own deel design distinguished by cut, color, and trimming. Before the revolution, all social strata had their own manner of dressing. The deel is a long, loose gown cut in one piece with the sleeves; it has a high collar and widely overlaps at the front. It is girdled with a sash, which isn't simply adornment, but serves as a soft corset facilitating long riders on horse back.

2240 A mongolian women in traditional clothes

 

The deels always close on the wearer's right and traditionally have five fastenings. Modern deels often have decoratively cut overflaps, small round necklines, and sometimes contain a Mandarin collar, which starts at the neckline and rise vertically few centimeters. The deel has wide, cup-shaped sleeves nicknamed "hooves", which protect the hands from the cold and from injures while doing hard work. There are basically three types of deels, each worn during a particular season. The Dan Deel is made of light, thinks bright materials and is worn by women during the late spring and summer. The Terleg is a slightly more padded version worn by both men and women. The winter deel is serious, padded tunic lined with sheep skin, or layers of row cotton.

1857 MONGOLIA - The Nine Base White Banners

The state banner flown by the Mongols, the "Yöson Khölt tsagaan tug" or the "Nine Base White Banners", is composed of nine flag poles decorated with the tail hair of 1000 white stallions from all over the country, hanging from a round surface with a flame or trident-like shape on the top. It was a peacetime emblem used exclusively by the Khans in front of their yurt, while a black banner was for wartime. The central banner is larger in size than the rest and is placed in the center of the other eight. The modern Mongolian Nine White banners are kept in the Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar.

1633 MONGOLIA - Kids

Throughout the Mongolian countryside, the population is mostly nomadic, living in a type of transportable home known as an yurt. About 46% of the population of the country practices nomadic pastoralism, an economy that is ideally suited to the landscape and climate of Mongolia and one that has persisted at least since the Bronze Age. According to ancient tradition, the Mongolians refer to their five major groups of livestock as the five "snouts": sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and camels. Interestingly, the ratios of the five major types of livestock have remained essentially the same since the 13th century. Mongolians have always maintained very close ties to the land and their animals.

1415 MONGOLIA (Bulgan) - Uvgun Khiid on Khugnou Khan Mountain

Located at 280km southwest of Ulaanbaatar, Khugnou Khan Mountain (1967m) was considered by locals since immemorial times a sacred place. The mountain and its surrounding is special because it represents forest, mountain steppe and desert zone in a single area. Rich in wild animals, it keeps also many historical items such as ancient tombs, burial mounds, rock inscriptions, monasteries and ruins of cities. At its base there are the ruins of Erdene Khamba Khiid (Erdene Khamba Monastery), which was o­ne of the most beloved sanctuaries of Zanabazar, the first Mongolian Buddhist saint, and also the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism for the Khalkha Mongols in Outer Mongolia. In its thriving years the monastery was hosting over a thousand lamas at a time.

1379 MONGOLIA - Tsaatan people

The Tsaatan (named also Dukha, Dukhans or Duhalar) are a small Tuvan (Tozhu Tuvans) Turkic community of reindeer herders living in northern Mongolia. The North Taiga band was organized under the Qing Dynasty as part of Uriyankhai banner. With Mongolian independence in 1911, the banner became part of independent Tuva, which was annexed by the Russians in 1944, leaving only North Taiga band on the Mongolian side of the frontier. The South Taiga group of the Tsaatan and other Uriankhais fled over the frontier from Tuva to avoid conscription in the 1930s. At first, the Mongolian government repeatedly deported them back to Tuva, but in 1956 finally gave them citizenship and resettled them at Tsagaan Nuur Lake on the Shishigt River. Only 44 Tsaatan families remained, totaling somewhere between 200 and 400 people.

1210 MONGOLIA (Arkhangai) - Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake

Known also as White Lake and located in the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia, in Khorgo-Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur National Park, Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake is an astonishingly beautiful lake with crystal clear fresh water. Torrents of lava issuing from the Khorgo volcano, situated near the eastern end of the lake, blocked the north and south Terkh rivers, so forming the dammed lake of Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur at an altitude of 2.060m above sea level. The lake is 16km wide, 4 to 10m deep and 20km in length, a total of 61 sq.meters. The Suman River springs from lake, which supports pike and other fish, and also rare birds,

1169 MONGOLIA (Ulaanbaatar) - The statue of Sükhbaatar in Ulaanbaatar

The central square of Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, is Sükhbaatar Square, named after the equestrian statue of Damdin Sükhbaatar, located directly in front of the Saaral Ordon (Government Palace). Sükhbaatar (literally meaning "Axe hero") was a founding member of the Mongolian People's Party and leader of the Mongolian partisan army that liberated Khüree (then called Ulaanbaatar) during the Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921. Enshrined as the "Father of Mongolia's Revolution", he is remembered as one of the most important figures in Mongolia's struggle for independence. He had close relations with the last Khaan of Mongolia, Bogd Gegeen, and didn't intend to spread Bolshevik ideas in Mongolia. Therefore, his death at only 30 years old aroused suspicion. The words he apparently proclaimed at the time are engraved on the bottom of the statue: "If we, the whole people, unite in our common effort and common will, there will be nothing in the world that we cannot achieve, that we will not have learnt or failed to do."

1110 MONGOLIA (Övörkhangai) - Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape - Erdene Zuu Monastery (UNESCO WHS)

For many centuries, the Orkhon Valley, located in Central Mongolia, some 320 km west from the capital Ulan Bator, was viewed as the seat of the imperial power of the steppes. The first evidence comes from a stone stele with runic inscriptions, which was erected in the valley by Bilge Khan, an 8th-century ruler of the Göktürk Empire. Some 25 miles to the north of the stele, in the shadow of the sacred forest-mountain Ötüken, was his Ördü, or nomadic capital. Mountains were considered sacred in Tengriism, but Ötüken was especially sacred, because the ancestor spirits of the khagans and beys resided here. Whoever controlled this valley was considered heavenly appointed leader of the Turks and could rally the tribes. Thus control of the Orkhon Valley was of the utmost strategic importance for every Turkic state.

1071 MONGOLIA - A child jockey to a horse racing

Nowhere are horses more central to daily life than in Mongolia. Mongolia is known as the land of the horse, and Mongols have a reputation for being the best horsemen on Earth. Over the centuries, using chariots as well as mounted warriors, nomadic armies of Mongols struck south of the Great Wall and into the heart of Europe. The legendary thirteenth-century warrior Genghis Khan established an empire that extended from Hungary to Korea and from Siberia to Tibet. Known in Europe as “Hell’s Horsemen,” Mongols could ride up to 80 miles a day, across deserts and mountains considered - until the arrival of these mounted armies - to be impassable.