MONGOLIA
The country of the blue skies!
Mongolia
The horror of the Mongolian hordes and the myths surrounding them survive seven hundred years, that is, from the 13th century, during which the largest empire "without a way out into the sea" has spread and flourished to this day. This empire started from China, reaching up to Asia and the so-called small dynasties to Eastern Europe. The Mongols, however, are a peaceful people who are trying to change their pastoral-nomadic way of life according to the programs of industry or at least the agricultural products industry that the two opposing communist systems, Russian and Chinese, have chosen for both parts of modern Mongolia: the External (Independent People's Democracy, with solid political and economic ties created after the October Revolution between MOSCOW and ULAN BATOR, capital th People's Republic) and the Interior, which is an autonomous part of the People's Republic of China. The political-administrative structures of Mongolia show and characterize the tragic national adventure of which the Mongolian people were not the protagonist but rather the "object" of external initiatives. "Shepherd Communism" has replaced the "steppe society" in a competitive field of land between China and the Soviet Union: in a "paradise under the shadow of the missiles", a phrase that is the contemporary performance of the corresponding old "under the shadow of the spears". In Mongolia, the transition from feudalism to communism (or better in the transition period from socialism to communism) took place outside the established theoretical formations: there was no intermediate point of capitalism. Although the political-constitutional framework has undergone radical changes, Mongolia's socio-economic infrastructure remains, in essence, intact. The factory chimneys and the brick-built structures of the new urban facilities look like an intruder on the uniform landscape of the temporary settlements, which consist of jars. The jars are large circular tents made of felt, with a frame of reeds and wooden slats, with beds that rest on the walls and separated by a paravan, and with a circular opening in the middle of the roof, serving as a luminaire and simultaneously allowing the smoke to escape from hobbies and stoves. Family life takes place in the central part of the yurt, in the kitchen. As soon as one comes in, he immediately observes a kind of iconostasis resting on a shelf, in a distinct place where the holy images alternate with the portraits of dead relatives or relatives who are far away. Eight Mongolians live in jars: these women are cooking the soup of lamb meat (one of their favorite foods), they make the "bush" with mare milk, which finally ends up with yogurt, cheeses, boiling tea leaves, weaving, treating the skins of animals, sewing the brashmanic clothes and making crocheted boots. Outside the jars, if the weather is good, men deal with their animals, fix the tools and shake the guns. Whenever the "shaman", a magician priest, visits the yurt, he falls into ecstasy. Thus its humble inhabitant can come in contact with the deity and with the "superior powers" or with the help of the magical abilities of the magician, a priest who exorcines illnesses. But in the last few years, the influence of shamanism has been declining. |
The process of political and social development of Mongolia was very difficult: in 1921, with the help of the Soviets, Communist Sue Bator put an end to the old "order of things," proclaimed the socialist popular regime. He held, however, as the authority of the state the "Big Han" Bhuddo-Ghegen, a "living Buddha", who at least formally preserved the political-religious leadership.
Mongolia is light, open space and silence interrupted only by the screaming of the antelope and the frogs. Nothing explains better than this landscape the character of the Mongols, their habits, their past mythical achievements, implied by their name which means "the courageous"
A wide face, sloping eyes and robust bodies are the external features that even today distinguish the descendants of the Tsars who invaded the plains of Europe. Many other things have remained unchanged since that time: modern nomads wear the same clothes as the Genghis Khan soldiers, The Mongols are pure, simple, cheerful, hospitable and honest, but at the same time they are lazy, cruel and superstitious. But the most characteristic aspect of their temper is the indomitable spirit of freedom.
Traditional dances usually represent scenes of battles that took place in antiquity. Dance is often accompanied by a choral song. Wonderful are the popular ballets, even if they have suffered the degradation of modernism. The Mongols use more of their hands to perform dancing scenes because, due to their much riding, the trunk and their lower limbs have been burdened.
The culmination of the celebration is the sporting spectacle, among which the "boi-barydon" occupies the most prominent place. They all gather at the stage to cheer their champions. Only the best athletes participate in the ULAN BATOR competitions, following a strict selection made in the provinces among hundreds of wrestlers. There is no young Mongol who has not confronted the fight with his peers outside the jury
Mongolia is light, open space and silence interrupted only by the screaming of the antelope and the frogs. Nothing explains better than this landscape the character of the Mongols, their habits, their past mythical achievements, implied by their name which means "the courageous"
A wide face, sloping eyes and robust bodies are the external features that even today distinguish the descendants of the Tsars who invaded the plains of Europe. Many other things have remained unchanged since that time: modern nomads wear the same clothes as the Genghis Khan soldiers, The Mongols are pure, simple, cheerful, hospitable and honest, but at the same time they are lazy, cruel and superstitious. But the most characteristic aspect of their temper is the indomitable spirit of freedom.
Traditional dances usually represent scenes of battles that took place in antiquity. Dance is often accompanied by a choral song. Wonderful are the popular ballets, even if they have suffered the degradation of modernism. The Mongols use more of their hands to perform dancing scenes because, due to their much riding, the trunk and their lower limbs have been burdened.
The culmination of the celebration is the sporting spectacle, among which the "boi-barydon" occupies the most prominent place. They all gather at the stage to cheer their champions. Only the best athletes participate in the ULAN BATOR competitions, following a strict selection made in the provinces among hundreds of wrestlers. There is no young Mongol who has not confronted the fight with his peers outside the jury