Tatyana Matsakova, About Kalmyk Tea

Abstract

Tatyana gives a tea recipe and talks about tea offering rituals. She says that people make Kalmyk tea on all important occasions: during holidays (Zul and Tsagan sar), when sending their children off to school, when children return home, when a new bride is brought home, when a daughter is given away in marriage, when a child is born, when a person dies, etc. In order to make Kalmyk tea, first boil water, add tea, salt, milk, and stir 99 times. Then say a prayer, ‘To the earth on which we live, to ancestors and all gods’, take a spoonful of the freshly made tea with your right hand, open the door, and sprinkle the tea as an offering to your ancestors, the sky, and gods. It is also important to put a tea offering in a cup (deezh) on your altar. Only children of the family that performs this ritual are allowed drink this tea offering later. It should not be given to the elderly.