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Tsagan Sar

This collection hosts interviews with people who talk about Tsagan Sar as well as a Buddhist ritual videotaped in a temple in Elista.

The celebration of Tsagan Sar, or White Month, takes place two months after Zul on the first day of spring according to the lunar calendar. It is a celebration of the coming of spring when nature wakes up from its winter sleep. Because white symbolises purity and the beginning of life, the celebration is called White Month.

The preparation for the celebration begins with cleaning the house. All valuables kept in chests and drawers are taken out, cleaned and aired. People prepare their best clothes for the celebration. Both the house and the cattle-yard are purified with incense.

On the eve of Tsagan Sar all families cook traditional biscuits called bortsg, of various shapes, each of which has its own name and symbolic meaning. For example, tselvg or khavtkha symbolizes the Sun; togsh - a fence for enclosing sheep; jola - long life; khutsyn tolga - animal offspring; khorkha - fertility, etc. After the baking is done, Kalmyks light candles and place some biscuits on the family altar. The oldest members of the family perform a ritual called tsagana bortsg yoryallgn in which they utter well-wishes for the bortsg biscuits. Afterwards the biscuits are tied together with a thread pushed through them to form gift bundles. Each gift bundle must have a specific number of each kind of bortsg, that is one khavtha, six togsh, one khutsyn tolga, one jola, one moshkmr, three shor and one kit.

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Valentina Bevikova, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-01-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Koldaev, Tseren; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Sandzhiev, Artur
  • ItemOpen Access
    Tamara Bazyreva, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2015-11-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumov, Anton; Kovaeva, Bair; Churyumov, Anton
  • ItemOpen Access
    Svetlana Ubushaeva, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2017-07-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Koldaev, Tseren; Okonova, Altana; Churyumov, Anton
  • ItemOpen Access
    Sanal Dorzhinov, About Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2017-10-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Dzhavinov, Anatoliy; Bembeev, Aleksandr
  • ItemOpen Access
    Maria Mukhlaeva, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2014-12-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Terbish, Baasanjav
  • ItemOpen Access
    Ivan Ulyumdzhiev, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2017-08-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
  • ItemOpen Access
    Galina Mandzhieva, About Tsagan sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2015-07-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Terbish, Baasanjav
  • ItemOpen Access
    Boba Kokueva, About Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-11-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Sandzhiev, Artur
  • ItemOpen Access
    Zoya Moskina, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2017-12-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr
  • ItemOpen Access
    Yulia Naranova, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2017-07-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Koldaev, Tseren; Okonova, Altana; Churyumov, Anton
  • ItemOpen Access
    Vera Bembeeva, Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-01-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr
  • ItemOpen Access
    Badma Ochirova, About Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2015-12-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Babaev, Andrei; Kornyakova, Saglara; Shipeeva, Danara
  • ItemOpen Access
    Maria Beltsikova, About Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2017-12-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
    Maria says that when she was young, during holidays old people gathered first. Young people joined them later. During Tsagan Sar people hung out their clothes and visited their relatives and friends who lived in other nomadic settlements. On the first day of Tsagan Sar people woke up early to welcome the goddess Okn Tengr. The streets were filled with incense smoke.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Togtan Amunova, about national holidays
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-06-16) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
    Togtan says that birthday candles are made a day prior to Zul. Other preparations include buying sweets, making biscuits (khavtkha, togsh and khorkha varieties) and cleaning the house. The morning of Zul begins with putting the offering on the altar and preparing candlewicks for a ‘ritual to prolong one’s life’. As soon as the first stars appear in the sky, the candlewicks are erected on the candles, filled with butter and lit. All family members utter well-wishes and bow three times to the candle. The candle, which is made from dough, is fried and eaten by family members. On the first day of Tsagan Sar, the eldest in the family steps out of the house with his right leg and sprinkles tea to three different directions as an offering to gods and ancestors. Women hang their best clothes on a rope inside the house. The domestic altar is replenished with a sheep’s head and a leg. Afterwards, all family members take the sheep’s head from the altar and share it among themselves according to tradition. The tip of the sheep’s tongue, for example, has to be given to children. The domestic fire should also be fed with a piece of fat. On the outside, people burn sweets and butter as an offering for the local spirits of nature and ancestors. Urs Sar is also a sacred holiday, celebrated either in May or June. It is an auspicious time to have a wedding or give birth to children.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Nikolai Khatuev, about Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-05-05) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
    Nikolai says that during Tsagan Sar people make a variety of bortsg biscuits. Flat biscuits called tselvg symbolize the sun. Togshi, which has the form of a disc, symbolizes endless happiness. Other varieties are huts (meaning ‘a ram’), jola (meaning ‘horse reins’), shor beleg (it has the form of a bayonet), galun (meaning ‘a goose’), mornya kit (meaning ‘horse intestines’), shovun (meaning ‘a bird’), temyan (meaning ‘a camel’), khorkha (menaing ‘insects’), and moshkmur (meaning ‘twisted’). At the end of the interview Nikolai utters well-wishes that people say to each other during Tsagan Sar.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Nikolai Khatuev, about national holidays
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-05-05) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
    Nikolai briefly talks about how Kalmyks celebrate Zul, Tsagan Sar and Urs Sar: Zul is the birthday of the lama Tsongkapa. During this holiday people light candles and celebrate the coming of a new year. Zul is when men collectively add a year to their age. In the evening people ignite boat-shaped candles on their domestic altars. The candlewicks are made from grass stalks that should match the age of the person to whom it is dedicated. After the wicks burn out, the candle, which is made from dough, is fried as a pancake. Tsagan Sar marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People cook meat, make vodka, pay a visit to each other, sing and dance. The first portion of freshly fried bortsg biscuits are put on the altar. The rest is given to guests, children, or gets hung on the wall. People make a wide variety of biscuits. On the first day of Tsagan Sar my mother used to take all clothes out of the chest and hang them on a rope inside the house in order to air them. During Urs Sar, people do fasting and read prayers. During the whole month people abstain from slaughtering animals.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Narma Mergenova, About Tsagan Sar, Zul and Urs Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-06-16) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
    Narma says that in the past people began preparation for Tsagan Sar two weeks prior to the holiday. They slaughtered sheep, made biscuits and distilled milk vodka. The main variety of biscuits that people made was called khavtkha. Besides biscuits, people made bulmg for Zul celebrations. Bulmg is a dish made from flour, butter and sugar. The morning started with lighting a candle, and the people paid each other a visit. On the day of Zul people performed a ritual to ‘prolong their lives’ (nas avkh). For Urs Sar people also read prayers and lit candles. Some took vows and abstained from meat.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Nadezhda Tarancheeva, Tsagan Sar and Zul
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-05-05) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Sandzhiev, Artur
    During Tsagan Sar people make 12 varieties of bortsg biscuits which symbolizes the 12-year cyclic calendar. These varieties include kit (horse intestines), evr (ram's horn), baasn (chicken’s droppings), bamb tsetsg (tulip), khulgn (mouse), jola (horse rein), belg (gift), khavtkha (flat surface), khorkha (insects), nokhan keln (dog's tongue), and ukrin togsh (cow’s horn). Khavtkha is tselvg is the same biscuit. Biscuits dedicated to gods (burkhna bortsg) are made separately. They should be made from water, salt and dough only, and should not contain such ingredients as sugar, vegetable oil, and milk. These biscuits are tough to chew. We, Iki-Derbet people, celebrate Zul as a family celebration. In the morning we light candles, make tea and put offerings on the altar. In the evening we light our birthday candles.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Mingiyan Lidzhiev, about Tsagan Sar
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-05-04) Terbish, Baasanjav
    Mingiyan talks about how his family celebrated Tsagan Sar in his childhood: For Tsagan Sar we made various bortsk varieties: togsh, tselveg, khorkha, khuts, jola, djide and others. The biscuits were tied together with a rope to form gift bundles. Before that, we slaughtered a sheep, cleaned the intestines, and made blood sausages. We cut the sheep’s carcass in the joints, as we were taught by our father. In grade 5 I could already slaughter a sheep myself. We celebrated Tsagan Sar in a circle of five or six close-knit families. My father was the eldest son in his family, so everyone came to our house. When my father uttered a well wish, one of the young boys had to stand at the door holding a bowl filled with cooked meat. Then the meat was distributed among the people according to their gender, age and kinship position. For example, the shoulder was given to old men, whereas younger men ate the ribs. During Tsagan Sar, my grandmother read prayers early in the morning. She also woke us up to pray with her.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Valentina Badma-Ubushaeva, About Traditional Holidays
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-08-21) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
    Valentina talks about how people celebrated Tsagan Sar, Urs Sar and Usn-Arshan in Kazakhstan during the exile years. Valentina reminisces that during Tsagan Sar her parents used to take out their clothes and hang them on a rope. They also made bortsg biscuits and shared them with their neighbors. Since there was nothing else available, people did not drink vodka. Today Valentina pays a visit to her elders by taking biscuits, sweets, tea and butter with her. The elders offer tea and say well-wishes. During Zul Kalmyks add a year to their age. Valentina’s father used to go out on the street, make a small hill from sand and place a box on the top where their neighbors put their candles and read prayers. These candles were called dendr in Kalmyk. Each candle had wicks, the number of which matched the age of the person who brought the candle. An additional candle with 9 wicks was placed underneath the open roof of the yurt so that the skies could see the candle’s light. There was a holiday called Usn-Arshan that Kalmyks in her village used to celebrate. Everyone, both old and young, went to the river and threw white coins into it. Then they went into the river, washed their face three times and drank three times. At the end the people filled their vessels with water which they drank later.