If you’ve ever traveled outside the developed world and wanted to find a way to give back to your host country, try springing for a meal at the Lotus Blanc Restaurant on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Winter Moon, Summer Fun and Games
In the great white north of Mongolia, residents will celebrate the New Year and the coming of spring next week on February 22. Known as “Tsagaan Sar” or “white moon,” the date of the Mongolian New Year falls on the second new moon following the first new moon after the winter solstice. Faithful obser-vance of ancient traditions is believed to ensure a happy and prosperous year.
Mongolians wear their traditional best for Tsagaan Sar and Naadam. Photo: Anna Griswold
First among these is a hearty feast on bituun oroi, New Year’s Eve, including meat dumplings, milk products and milk tea. This is not the occasion for dainty appetites, as the more you can eat, the better your fortune in the coming year. Before sunrise on the first day of the new year, Mongolians go outside and bow to the four cardinal points, starting to the east and the rising of the sun. Offerings are made of airag (fermented mare’s milk) or cow’s milk, before the family returns to the ger (yurt) to light the first fire of the new year. Younger adults express support and esteem for their elders with zolgokh, a ceremonial arm-hold greeting. Gifts are bestowed and games played with wooden dominoes and the anklebones of livestock, as fun and laughter are believed to please the spirits that bring good luck.
You would need to be a hearty traveler indeed to participate in the festivities of Tsagaan Sar, as temperatures at this time of year fall way below 0˚ F and blizzards sweep the steppes and mountain ranges. Fortunately for you festival enthusiasts, another major Mongolian celebration falls in mid-July. Naadam features competitions in the three “manly sports” of wrestling, horse racing and archery. The hospitable Mongolians welcome foreign visitors to these contests and the surrounding festivities of feasting, parades and the performing arts.
A wrestling match during Naadam. Photo: Anna Griswold
Guests on Asia360˚’s Epic Mongolia trip (July 3-21) this summer will spend two days at Naadam, cheering on the competitors and attending concerts of traditional dance, throat singing, and horsehair fiddling. The Mongolian natural world presents its gentler aspect this time of year, with soaring blue skies girding the mountains, rivers, lakes and canyons you will explore via jeep, horseback and on foot.
Make 2012 your lucky year by spending three weeks of it in majestic and congenial Mongolia.
Written By Lisa Poppleton.
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