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About Livestock Shoulder Blade


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Authors

Bulag, Uradyn E. 
Fuerwa, Dorjraa 

Abstract

The livestock shoulder bone holds the utmost reverence among the Torghuts. Besides serving esteemed guests on specific occasions, practices such as saying, playing, and predicting similarly held significant importance within the Torghut community. According to Buyantai's recollection in this video, among numerous herders in Yisun Tolgai village, two family lineages stand out for their distinct reverence towards the livestock shoulder blade. The Arsalan family, claiming migration from Bayangol or Kharshaar to Hobogsair in the past, once upheld a tradition of predicting events through burning shoulder blades. Although this tradition has faded among their descendants, other herders remain familiar with it. Another lineage is the Dalch Malchin family, who refrain from mentioning ‘Dal’ or shoulder’s name in their daily lives and abstain from treating guests with the livestock shoulder. They also refrain from cutting through the shoulder blade and only consume the meat on it. In their daily routines, every Torghut Mongol must cut through the shoulder blade after consuming the meat on it, and often storing it somewhere in the home; some families even hang it from the roof, while others throw it to their dogs. This practice is likely rooted in the desire to prevent others from glimpsing and understanding their family and livestock insights through the shoulder blade.

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Keywords

Bone Culture, Livestock Shoulder Blade, Divination

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Publisher

Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge

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Sponsorship
Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.