The Nomad Who Ruled the World
Mongolia is a country well-known for images of untamed wildness, crystal-clear and fast flowing rivers, wild horses, nomads and Genghis Khan, the greatest Euro-Asian conqueror. As of recently, Mongolia is also well-known for Asashoryu Akinori, the famous sumo fighter, who in Japan carries the title of yokozuna.
Text & Photo By Sonja Lapatanov
Is there anyone who has not heard about them? Images of horseman galloping through the endless steppes as if they are one with their horses, proud Mongolian wrestlers and huge herds of animals that move across vast pastures. Of course, this is Mongolia, a country of crystal-clear sky, endless horizon, jurtas, round tents made of felt, wild horses, beauties with almond-shaped eyes, their longing songs and the famous Naadam festival known for its three ‘manly games’; archery, horse riding and wrestling. However, behind all this, there are much more: a completely fascinating and strange land with good and emotional people.
Those people of today’s civilization, who happened to stand on some of the peaks of this Central Asian country for just once, watching the vast wideness as far as their eyes could reach, not being able to resist desire to touch the sky with their own heads, have changed their view of life forever. One cannot be indifferent after seeing this beauty of untouched nature, therefore, it seems like there are no visitors who have not been attracted by its fatal beauty.
Mongolia is a country full of tenuous sensitivity and joy of life, but also of rough and immitigable struggle for surviving. Over hundred years, steppe nomads have been isolated because of the Siberian forests to the north and the Great Wall of China to the south. Because of that, these nomads have preserved and developed their specific way of life. Probably, this is the reason why Mongolia’s people are still innocent and know how to love and respect nature around them.
This country has become well-known for its interesting stories about Genghis Khan and his horsemen. The Mongolian empire founded by Genghis Khan, at the time of his death, covered the wide area from Hungary across Asia to Korea and from Siberia to Tibet. This area was wider than the Roman Empire and the Empire of Alexander the Great.
The status of a great national hero, Genghis Khan, was not expressed only by the mastodonic sculpture which dominates the entrance of the Mongol parliament or by portrait on the Mongolian bills or postage stamps, but also with the idea that on the 800th anniversary of the announcement of Karakorum as the capital of the ancient Mongolian Empire Karakorum becomes the official capital of Mongolia in 2020.
Today, the capital of Mongolia is Ulaanbaatar, which means "a red hero". Some people simply call it Ub. With a population of over million people, Ulaanbaatar, which is known as the coldest capital in the world, is the largest and also the only city in Mongolia, which is at the same time cultural, industrial and economic center of the country. Even though it is a city full of contrasts, it does not have a lot of points of interests. All significant monuments are mainly located at one central spot. One has to spend a lot of time in order to discover all magnificent things that this city has to offer. Every day, on the streets of the city, one can see an anachronism: nomads riding horses along with those who drive cars, then man dressed in traditional clothes together with those who wear modern clothes and fur, as well as shop signs which are written both in Cyrillic and Latin letter i.e. in English, Russian and Mongolian languages. The same thing happens with the comprehension. The city’s big square Suhbatar with the sculpture of a Mongol hero, general Suhbatar who led battle against Chinese soldiers in 1921, is located in a very heart of Ulaanbaatar. The square also includes the building of parliament, the Central Palace of Culture, the Academy of Sciences, the Opera, the National University, the main Post Office and the Mayor’s house. For those who like dinosaurs there is the Museum of Nature, then the Bogd Kan Winter Palace Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Choijin Lama Museum, or the Gandan monastery which is considered to be the most significant tourist attraction of the Mongolian capital.
In the most of suburbs in Ulaanbaatar one can see jurtas only. The jurta (ger) is a round tent, i.e a movable house and Mongolian "take away home" that has been used by Mongolian people for hundred years now. In the center of the ger there is usually a small metal stove, which smoke stack goes through the hole to enable lightning and ventilation during the fine weather. Fire is one of natural elements which represents the Shaman divinity which spreads around the space, kills demons and scares off all bad, dark and evil things.
Even though we usually imagine the ger as a round white tent, on the idyllic green meadow, one can see them very often in other large cities as well. These gers are usually not movable. They are surrounded by small gardens with fence and it is not unusual to see satellite antennas and solar plates on them. The interior of a ger can be very surprising. It can include television set, fridge, mobile phone, radio station or even computer.
In recent years, the ger became tourist attraction. For many tourists coming to Mongolia from all over the world, spending several nights inside one of Mongolian gers represents an unusual experience. Nomads seem to slowly but constantly change their way of life. They are forgetting their prairies and mountain pastures and start to move to cities. In comparison with the neighboring countries these changes are being made quite slower here. Over the past decades Mongolia has been investing in tourism. Today more and more tourists are coming to Mongolia. They usualy sleep over in one of many gers, ride horses along mysterious lakes, clear rivers and green pastures, or ride camels across the Gobi desert. They go to festivals, where they usually like to taste sheep fat just to see if they can digest it drinking airag, the light alcoholic drink made of fermented mare milk. The national Mongolian drink airig, or kumis for the most of tourists has an obnoxious smell and even worse taste. It is served in small bowls and offering this drink is a gesture of hospitality. A huge Mongolia has three million inhabitants and about 50 million heads of cattle that include: yaks, cows, sheep, goats, camels and horses. Mongolian people usually eat dairy products, milk or meat, however, they do not eat horse meat so often. Except for potatoes, carrots and onion, Mongolian cuisine does not include much vegetables. Instead of it they prefer rice and domestic pastas.
The Naadam Festival is the most important Mongolian holiday and a great opportunity to get familiar with the culture and people of this magnificent country. This festival dates back from the time of Genghis Khan, nomadic wedding ceremonies and hunting competitions of Mongolian army. The parade at the Central Stadium of Ulaanbaatar opens this festival which participants are sportsman, soldiers and Buddhist monks dressed in costumes pertaining to the time of Genghis Khan. The celebration continues with the three discipline competition including: wrestling, arching, and horse racing, which the Mongolian people enjoy very much. This competition takes place at the hippodrome fifty kilometers away from the city.
These competitions last two days together with the other accompanying programs outside of the hippodrome. On this wide area, usually with very loud music, one can buy many different things, eat various food, play cards, take photos, watch smalltime trickeries etc. Unfortunately, pickpocketing is quite often seen at such places. Altogether, this is one big fair and an unforgettable event which no one can resist.
