Mongolian etiquette and customs

Greet each other when you meet, even strangers. When colleagues meet acquaintances, they usually ask "Hello, Saibai Nu". When you meet your elders or people you meet for the first time, you should ask, "Tasai White Slave." (hello).

Mongolians have been engaged in hunting and animal husbandry since ancient times, and are famous for their generous temperament and hospitality. Visitors at home, whether regular customers or strangers, are full of enthusiasm. First of all, offer fragrant milk tea, and serve plates of snow-white milk skin and cheese. After drinking milk tea, the host will offer mellow milk wine, and will happily invite guests to drink kumiss in midsummer.

In some areas, there are certain rules for holding meat for guests. For example, eating with a pipa with four long tendons; Beef is equipped with a half-ribbed spine and ordinary fat intestines. Before or after marriage, the girl goes back to her mother's house to treat her with lamb breast. The calf bone, chin and neck meat of sheep are all for the younger generation and children. Receive distinguished guests or put a whole sheep mat on a festive day.

Offering Hada is also a noble courtesy of Mongols. When offering Hada, the giver hands it down to the other party, and the recipient also takes it with both hands or lets the giver hang Hada around his neck to express his gratitude.

1, Mongolian guest etiquette:

In Mongolian customs, they ride horses and take buses to visit the herdsmen's homes. When approaching the yurt, ride slowly to avoid disturbing the cattle. Whether an acquaintance or a stranger, Bai Yin always greets warmly when they meet: "He, Sainu." Hello or Armageddon, Sain, a hundred slaves! "(Well), then the master put his right hand on his chest and bent down slightly. Before entering the yurt, the whip and horse stick should be placed outside the door. If you bring them into the bag, it will be considered disrespectful to the owner. When you are a guest in a Mongolian family, you must respect your host. After entering the yurt, you should sit cross-legged on the carpet around the stove, but the west of the stove is the owner's residence, so you can't sit casually when the owner is not sitting. The whole family, old and young, sat around the guests and asked questions as if they were at home.

Usually, after drinking milk tea, a generous host will always put sweet butter, milk skin, mellow milk wine, crispy fried fruit, fried rice, milk tea, cheese and "hand-grilled meat" with unique grassland flavor in front of the guests and invite them to drink a feast. Guests generally drink milk tea sent by their hosts, and it is impolite not to drink it; The host asks for dairy products, and the guests should not refuse, otherwise it will hurt the host's heart. If it's inconvenient to eat more, just eat a little. Hospitality to travelers (whether they know it or not) is a traditional virtue of Mongols, who attach great importance to etiquette and rules in reception. For example, if you eat mutton, you usually give the sheep's pipa bone with meat and four long ribs to the guests. If you entertain guests with beef, give them a spine with meat, half a rib and a fat sausage.

If the host pays special tribute to the guests, he will often hold the milk jug and hip flask on the top of Hada and walk out. Mongolians regard wine as the essence of every food. Toast is to show welcome and respect to the guests. Sometimes they will sing some welcome and friendly songs to persuade them to drink. The host is very happy when the guest has a drink. When you meet a banquet, please invite special distinguished guests or festivals, and often put a whole sheep mat. Mongolians call it "black tea", while others call it "Hughes" and "Buhuli". Mongolians often don't give rewards to their guests' accommodation, and they don't care. They think that being stingy with guests' hospitality is a contempt for others. When guests say goodbye, they often send their families away, point out the way and repeatedly say "Bai Yitai Day!" On the 11th, Wu Taicha Reya (I hope we can meet again happily), "A Mu Day, Saiyin, Yaba!" Have a safe trip. Don't get on the bus or get on the horse immediately after you get out of the yurt. You have to walk for a while before you get on the bus and get on the horse when the master comes back. As a guest in the bag, the host bends down to serve milk tea, and the guest bends down to pick it up with both hands. The northwest corner of Bao is a place for offering Buddha. You can't put your feet in the northwest corner when you sleep. It is not advisable to use a tobacco pouch or fingers. Don't touch the stove with your feet, and don't roast your feet on the fire, otherwise it is equivalent to insulting the kitchen god.

In some areas of grassland, Mongolian women always hang a sign under the eaves when giving birth. If she hangs a bow and arrow, it means that she gave birth to a boy. Hanging red cloth means that the baby is a girl, a bow and arrow for men, and a needle and thread for women. When encountering these signs, guests should be careful not to rush into the room where women are confined. If there is a patient, tie a rope to the left side of the door and bury the head of the rope underground, which means that the host can't entertain guests and visitors should not enter the door.

Generally speaking, Mongolian etiquette includes offering Hada, handing snuff bottles or asking for help.

Hada in Xi 'an: Hada is a Tibetan transliteration. Offering Hada is also a noble courtesy of Mongols. When offering Hada, the giver hands it down to the other party, and the recipient also takes it with both hands or lets the giver hang Hada around his neck to express his gratitude.

It is often used to welcome, give gifts, worship God, pay New Year greetings and celebrate to show respect and congratulations. This etiquette has a long history. According to Kyle Poirot's travel notes, Mongolians "give each other gifts made of gold, silver, jade and white silk during the Spring Festival holiday".

Hada is made of cloth, silk and silk, mostly white and light blue in color, ranging in length, generally between one foot two inches and one foot five inches, with two ends drawn, about half an inch. There are also three-foot-long ones, which are only used for Buddha worship. When you give it to Hada, you must hold it in your hands and bow slightly. The recipient is also in the same posture.

Pass the snuff bottle: This is an ancient custom of Mongolians and an ordinary meeting ceremony to show respect and friendship. As a guest in a yurt, the hospitable host often takes out a small pot as delicate as a porcelain bottle for the guests to smell. This is a snuff bottle full of snuff. Snuff bottles are generally one cubic inch, small and exquisite, with different shapes, some like small pears, some like peaches or persimmons. The designs on the pot are colorful, including flying dragons, exotic animals, wrestling, archery or dancing figures. Pots have different textures, some are made of agate, jade and amber, some are made of metals such as gold, silver and copper, some are filled with flavored tobacco powder, and some are filled with medicine. A smell can refresh you and even sneeze. Snuff bottles are usually packed in a silk bag six or seven inches long and four or five inches wide. Beautiful patterns are embroidered on the outside of the bag and often hung on the waist.

There are certain rules for handing snuff bottles. If you meet a colleague, you should hand the pot in your right hand and exchange it with each other, or raise your hands slightly and bow to exchange it, then pour a little snuff, rub it on your nose with your fingers, smell the smoke, and then exchange it after you finish. If the elders meet the younger generation, they should lean slightly, pass the pot with their right hands, and the younger generation will be crisp, take it with both hands, raise their hands to smell it, and then exchange.

4, seeking children, celebrating the moon, full moon:

Begging for children is the beginning of Mongolian life etiquette, which is usually carried out by women in the form of offering sacrifices to Aobao, caves and humanoid stones. On the third day after the baby is born, a bathing ceremony will be held, usually presided over by a respected elderly woman. Bathe the baby with salt water, tea or mutton soup, and then purify it with fragrant wood and spices to name the baby.

When babies have a full moon, they usually hold "Nairi", that is, activities to celebrate the full moon. Guests attending Nairi should bring clothes, Hada, toys and other gifts, as well as live sheep. Guests who give gifts should hold a celebration ceremony after drinking tea. Children with full moons are washed, burned with incense and painted on their heads to express their blessings. Old people who take part in "Nairi" should propose a toast, and at the same time, please ask old people with many children to wipe their children's cheeks with beards.

On the birthday, when the baby is one year old, it is necessary to hold the haircut "Nairi" for the first time. The procedure is basically the same as the baby's full moon. At the end of the birthday, put the cut "Daihe" (tangled hair) into a small cloth pocket and sew it on the outside of the child's "Dale" or shirt collar.

5, birthday etiquette:

Mongolians calculate their age by nominal age, 13, 25, 37, 49, 6 1, and celebrate at the age of 73. First, celebrate the 73rd and 85th birthdays on the 25th or 26th of the twelfth lunar month. Celebrate birthdays for people aged 49, 6 1 years from 27th to a few days before New Year's Eve. People under 49 celebrate on New Year's Eve. When the child reaches the age of 13, parents should prepare a new saddle and chew to congratulate him on "having a saddle in his hand and stirrups in his feet". Children ride horses to toast relatives and elders and receive gifts from elders. 6 1, 73, 85 years old, there will be a big celebration party. The gifts are mainly Hada, headscarves, Dele, Tollikko, boots, silks and satins and livestock.

6, funeral etiquette:

Due to the living environment and lifestyle formed in the history of Mongolian people in the grassland, the funeral is also extremely simple. Generally, there is no funeral bed, no offerings, no mourning clothes, no paper money and no music. Funerals are generally divided into wild burial, cremation or burial.

Wild burial, also known as celestial burial. After death, people wrap themselves in white cloth, or put on original clothes and drag the dead to the barren hills by car. After the wild burial, the descendants of the deceased did not shave their heads, drink alcohol, have fun or welcome guests for 49 days and 100 days to show their condolences.

Cremation is a form of funeral after Tibetan Buddhism entered the grassland. Generally, cremation is carried out in the wild and tombs are built at the same time. Generally speaking, burial is the same as digging a hole by Han people. After burial, graves and monuments were erected. With the progress of science and culture, feudal superstition in funeral has disappeared. Mongols also began to cremate, hold memorial services, mourn the dead and mourn.

7. Taboo:

Mongolian people should avoid riding too fast when riding and driving near yurts, so as not to disturb the herd; If there is a fire in front of the door or a sign such as a red cloth strip is hung, it means that there are patients or parturients in this family, and outsiders are not allowed to enter; Guests can't sit on the west kang, because the west is the direction of Buddha worship; Avoid dead animal meat and donkey meat, dog meat and white horse meat; Avoid red and white for funerals and black and yellow for weddings; Avoid baking feet, shoes, socks and pants on the brazier; Smoking, spitting, touching utensils, classics, Buddha statues and making loud noises are prohibited when visiting temples, and hunting near temples is not allowed.