The Mongol Culture By: Shawn Lynch
The Mongolians
Location
Location In 1990 the total of Mongol people living in China was 4.8 million people The main population of Mongols live in the inner Mongolia Autonomous Region But there are Mongol communities scattered throughout China
History overview The term Mongol came from a tribe called Mengwushiwei It was changed for the first time during the Yuan Dynasty Mongol gradually became the common name for many tribes
History Overview The tribe leader of the Mongols, Temujun was a powerful man because of his ability to lead his army Because of him conquering other tribes he ended up with the name Genghis khan
Mongol Heritage There is a decent amount of Mongolian folk songs some that are popular in pastoral areas and some that are popular in semiomadic areas There is also a popular style of singing called Haolibao
Folklore There are large amounts of Mongolian myths but there is one very important one It pretty much states that a tribe called mongu survived for many years until they were finally defeated everyone died except for 2 woman and 2 men they soon married and grew the population so large they could not grow enough food to feed everyone, until they discovered a iron mine and then they survived by using the iron. So the Mongols smelt iron at the end of every year
Folklore
Clothing The clothing of the Mongolians depends on the season Even the Mongolian peasants were clothing that relates to the seasons.
Clothing
Food The traditional foods of the Mongolians include beef, mutton, and milk products Mongols drink the milk of horses, cows and sheep as well as tea and wine The peasants normally will eat rice and flour
Food
Major Holidays The Spring Festival is an important holiday for the Mongols, to prepare for this holiday the Mongols make new clothes and stock up on large amounts of food The feast of Genghis Kahn is also a pretty big deal for the Mongolians, in this holiday they commemorate Genghis Kahn by being involved with various amounts of activities
Major Holidays In June or July of each year the Mongols celebrate a special ritual called Aobao A Aobao is a shrine made of stone, straw, and adobe bricks The Aobao is believed to be the dwelling of gods
Major Holidays
Language The Mongol language belongs to the Altaic family The writing system was created in the thirteenth century This writing system has been revised many times
Religion Originally the Mongols believed in shamanism which is when everybody warships the shamin Lamaism entered the Mongolian society in the sixteenth century Since 1949 the Lamaism believes decreased dramatically
Religion
Living Conditions The Ger or Yurt is the traditional housing of the Mongols Both of these houses can be taken apart and put back together and can also be carried by horseback
Living Conditions The yurt is a round umbrella like cover, the walls are held together by leather lacing and the roof is a large hoop which the walls and roof poles can be connected
Housing
Living Conditions In agricultural areas the Mongols usually live in one story houses, but Mongols who live in cities and towns have largely adopted the way of life of the Chinese Also the Mongols have been recently using cars, bicycles and motorcycles instead of using horses
Employment Most Mongols work by breeding livestock such as sheep, cows and horses To Mongols there horses are very special they sink songs about them and they have a bond with horses since they are young kids
Farming
Education There are more than a dozen colleges and universities, more than 80 technical schools, about 5,000 and about 30,000 primary schools in inner Mongolia
Education
Family life In the Mongol household it is dominated by the man, but herders usually consult there wife's for major decisions or decisions about furniture or clothes
Crafts and Hobbies Snuff-bottles are treasured among the Mongols making these require a lot of ingredients such as gold, silver and other precious metals Another thing they like to make is called a pipe bowl which is worth a sheep as one of there sayings goes
Recreation Movies and tv have become very popular in the twentieth century Other forms of media are also becoming very popular in the Mongolian language
Sports
Sports There are three main sports in the Mongolian culture and they are archery, horse back riding, and wrestling After a days work teenagers might gather and wrestle or shoot bow and arrows
Government Mongolia is a republic with a multiparty system Mongolia used to be a communist country but it no longer has a role in the communist monopoly party The prime minister is the head of the Mongolian government
Way of life Traditionally all Mongolians where nomads who traveled with there livestock and lived in yurts, but since Mongolia became a communist country everybody started to become farmers Now since they renounced socialism Mongolia is a free-market economy
Cities
Cities The capital of Mongolia is Ulaanbaatar, this is also there largest city and it has a population of 750,000 people This city is home to many hotels, universities, museums and more Ulaanbaatar is the economic center of the country
The People
The People The Mongolian people are usually stock built people with short legs and there height rarely exceeds 5ft 6in The characteristics of the people are normally a round head, flat nose, black hair, and a flat face
The People The major portion of the Republics population is made up of Khalkha Mongols and the biggest minority groups are the Oyrats There were also Mongols called the Darkhad who were free of taxes because of there relationship with the leader of Mongolian Lamaists
Social Patterns The social structure before communism had two main classes: nobility and white bone Back then the bulk of the population were Arats or nomads who bread livestock and lived in tents and owed fealty to the princes
Social Patterns From the 16 th century Buddhism became very popular in outer Mongolia By the 20 th century a large number of males lived in monasteries and were lamas who devoted there lives to chanting and praying
Social Patterns The Arats mainly herded sheep, horses, cattle, goats and camel The nomads would depend on their horses to travel, the camels often transported goods which was a common sight in Mongolia
Culture
Culture The Mongolian culture is consisted of five main layers nomadic, Buddhism, Chinese, Czarist Russia, and Soviet Russia For millennia the nomads of Mongolia were close friends with farmers on the other side of the great wall
Culture After 1586 Tibetan Buddhism began to spread through Mongolia and the Tibetan language and Buddhist art and literature became more widespread The Chinese supplied goods for the Nomads and also helped with the architecture of some Buddhist temples, after this the Chinese language and education became a lot more common
Culture Czarist Russian began to influence the Mongolian society in the mid 19 th century Even before 1917 the Mongols learned how to speak Russia and some were even educated In Russia In outer Mongolian the Russians influenced the Buryat Mongols the most
Culture Soviet Russian influence was destroyed in the 1930 s due to the beginning of communism The Nomadic culture was also pretty much destroyed to due to communism, but some Mongols try to save the tradition culture
Mongolian Republic Mongolia which is also known as Mongolian People s Republic is located in east central Asia between China and Russian Federation When the country changed its name to Mongolia there was a massive change in education and socially
Mongolian Republic While the traditional Nomadic life declined the education and health increased Urbanization in Mongolia grow a lot, same as the capital which grew about 700,000 in populations
Mongolian Republic