The Mongolian "White Moon Festival" is actually the first day of the Chinese New Year calculated according to the Tibetan calendar, and the date is usually the same day (or the next day) of the Spring Festival of the Han Chinese lunar calendar, the most impressive of which is the Mongolian New Year atmosphere and special dishes in preparation for the "White Moon Festival".
Boiled whole sheep
Mongolians are mainly meat-based food, especially cattle, sheep, horses, camels and other livestock, of which mutton is the most commonly eaten, and sheep meat is the most popular, so boiled whole (sheep) mutton with a fat tail naturally becomes a necessary "New Year dish" for the "White Moon Festival" as a welcome new year dish to entertain "Spring Festival".
It is worth mentioning that for the Mongolians, the fat sandwich of sheep meat and the "sheep tail" accumulated by fat have a taste and deliciousness that is unmatched by other meats, and have become recognized as the "first taste in the world" in everyone's heart.
The lamb to be slaughtered
I will never forget the mongols' sheep slaughtering techniques for the first time, because I was surprised not only by the neat slaughtering techniques, but also by the "silent" reaction of the lambs to be slaughtered; First the sheep was suppressed on all fours to the ground, and then with a small knife similar to a fruit knife, a fist-sized incision was directly cut in the belly of the sheep, while the sheep to be slaughtered only opened its eyes, silently humming, and did not see the slightest struggle and resistance before dying, seeing this scene made me finally understand the true meaning of "lamb to be slaughtered".
Then quickly through the incision of the arm into the back of the sheep deep, skillfully with the index finger and thumb to cut off the aorta, after less than five minutes, the sheep will be out of breath suffocation, and finally carry out the peeling and meat removal action of the open belly, so that the slaughter method will not cause the scene of blood flowing all over the ground, and at the same time can make all the blood gathered in the lamb's belly, and finally even convenient to use the water scoop to spoon out the blood, a drop of blood will not be wasted, and will not let the sheep body stain blood stains, affecting the future sale of wool.
In addition to the uselessness of the gallbladder, the whole sheep body includes: horns, hooves, fur and other parts have practical value, and the sheep's head is regarded as a delicious delicacy, especially the surrounding parts of the two sheep's eyes, as for other utensils (including diaphragm and fat) have also become important ingredients for "sheep sewage", and sheep blood is used for enemas and cooked into "sheep blood sausage" to eat; For the Mongols, all parts of the sheep's body are treasures, and none of them can be described as superfluous and disposable.
Bread Tower
A kind of welcome "bread tower" made of fried strips of bread, the height of which must be determined by the age of the elders in the family, is generally divided into three, five, seven and nine layers of stacking system, for example, if the age of the oldest person in the home is between 50 and 70 years old, the "bread tower" is usually based on the height of the five floors, while other age groups will increase or decrease the stacking at the height of the five-story tower.
Each floor of the "Bread Tower" is surrounded by 6 long types of bread interlaced in a circle, which are stacked and increased, and the top layer ends with cakes similar to the shape and texture of "mooncakes", and a piece of yellow cream is placed on it, supplemented by sugar cubes or dry cheese and dairy products and Western sweets, which are easy for guests to pick and eat.
This "bread tower" has become an indispensable welcome symbol and a must-have gift for Mongolians to celebrate festivals or feasts.
Milk tea milk wine
The first taste of Mongolian milk tea and mare's milk wine is unforgettable, because the taste completely subverts my sense of smell and taste, completely overturning my dreamy taste of "sweet and fragrant" milk tea and milk wine; It turns out that Mongolian milk tea is "salty", and horse milk wine is "sour", thinking back to the first time I drank the salty milk tea with the taste of slick oil and fermented yogurt wine, it took the courage to take a risk to "swallow".
But slowly, I gradually liked to taste the special taste of Mongolian milk tea and horse milk wine, and at the same time, I could further appreciate the pride of Genghis Khan's army whenever it defeated the enemy, and it was necessary to drink horse milk wine to celebrate.
Lamb buns
The Mongolian people who eat meat as the main food pay special attention to the original taste of meat, so when cooking dishes, in addition to adding some salt to enhance the taste, almost no other spices will be added to the flavor, because for the Mongolians, mutton is to eat the so-called "fishy felt", and think that the lamb that is not fishy and felt is actually not fresh, of course, it will not be delicious, this gastronomic evaluation logic, in fact, with the test of kimchi 'sour and spicy taste' the same, if not sour and not spicy kimchi, of course, is not an authentic kimchi dish.
Mongolian "buns" cooking methods and shapes and sizes similar to the Han "steamed dumplings", its eating method originated from the ancient Central Plains, for the Mongolians with relatively simple ingredients, the use of dough wrapped in sheep (beef) meat cooking method has been novel and labor-intensive, even in the ancient lack of flour ingredients in the desert grassland, bun cuisine has been a high-end cuisine for receiving VIPs, this kind of objective concept and customs have been passed down to this day, so the Mongolians will prepare buns for guests every time they encounter festivals or important events, especially during the "White Moon Festival", Each household prepares an average of 1,000 to 2,000 buns for welcome;
There is an interesting custom that the Mongolian people will randomly wrap a coin in the bun filling, if the visitor or family is "lucky" to eat the bun containing the coin, it is a symbol of the person's good fortune in the coming year, this concept seems to be similar to the custom of northern Chinese people during the New Year, they must eat dumplings (gold yuanbao), but also wrapped coins in one of the dumplings symbolizes good luck, in fact, I don't know where this similar shipment originated? Or the original blessing techniques of the Mongolian and Han chinese peoples.
Lido is not strange
Mongolians also have the so-called "gifts are not strange" gift-giving customs, whenever relatives and friends in the "White Moon Festival" spring visits, usually the gift with blue (or white) color hada wrapped to the host, and the host will also prepare a gift for the visiting guests, this gift for me, the first time to visit the yurt as a guest of the "outsider", feel very favored.
The Mongols will prepare gifts of various sizes for the "White Moon Festival", such as: hada, silver bowls, vodka, clothing, handicrafts and trinkets, etc., perhaps the market price of the items themselves is not expensive, but the meaning they contain is extremely valuable; By the way, on the occasion of the "White Moon Festival" to pay homage to the elders, the Mongolian people also have a similar custom of offering "red packets", but they do not put the banknotes into the "red packet" bags, but directly hand over the banknotes to the elders to show sincere respect.
Spread your arms to your cheeks
The atmosphere of the Mongolians celebrating the "White Moon Festival" is very similar to the atmosphere of the Han Chinese Lunar New Year, except that the number of days on the national holidays is different between the two, and the Mongolian government stipulates that the "White Moon Festival" has only one day off, and if it is Saturday or Sunday, it will not implement compensatory rest; The night before the Mongolian "White Moon Festival" is like the Chinese New Year's Eve night of the Lunar New Year, there is also the custom of the whole family to eat a reunion dinner, and on the "White Moon Festival" on the first day of the Chinese New Year, there is also the custom of going to the homes of relatives and friends to pay spring worship.
Interestingly, the Traditional "Gesture" of the Mongols for New Year's Greetings, unlike the Han Chinese, who throw their hands across the distance and say to each other, "Gong Xi Fortune!" Happy New Year!" The Mongols extend their arms forward with their two (small) arms and overlap each other in a palm-up posture, and the two use their cheeks to touch each other three times, while greeting: "Happy White Moon Festival!" All the best!" Celebrate the New Year.
It is worth noting that the way and step of the Mongolian folded arms are flattened is a set of strict regulations, that is, the arms of the elders must be stacked on top of the juniors, and the peers are staggered and overlapped with one hand on the top and the other hand on the bottom, this class-conscious "gesture" of worshiping the New Year actually reflects the Mongolian people's respectful attitude and social status towards respecting the elderly and the elderly and the young.
Welcome drinks
When I first entered the yurt as a guest, everything that came into my eyes was fresh, but the most eye-opening thing for me was the Mongolian drinking ability and hospitality, because the most tableware on the welcome table was the cup, and the most hospitality ingredient was the various spirits.
In addition to the Mongolians have salty milk tea, juice and drinks and other soft drinks, Mongolian vodka, British whiskey, French wine, Russian champagne and Korean beer and other five are the must-have wine, the host will open all the bottles on the table at once, the courtesy is to let the guests choose to drink, but in the end it is usually the five wines all mixed!
The Mongolians drink before the procedure and ritual have a deep cultural significance, first with the right hand ring finger lightly dipped in the wine in the cup, then flicked upwards to show respect for the sky, then dipped in wine and then sprinkled down to show respect, and finally lightly dipped in the liquor to wipe their forehead to honor themselves.
These three consecutive actions have been observed and speculated by me, and it is very likely that when Shi Zai Temujin was nine years old, his father should have been poisoned by the "Tatar people", because the ring finger of the right hand of the ancient Mongolian people often wore a silver ring, and generally through the above three wine worship actions, the liquor on the fingertips could be poured back through the ring, thus allowing the silver ring to test whether the liquor was poisonous, so this set of toasting procedures was preserved and passed down to this day.
In addition, another is to sprinkle the first and second cups of liquor before drinking, up and down, respectively, to express respect for heaven and earth, but no matter what toast mode is adopted, both reflect the ancient shamanic concepts, which have a specific representation and specific influence on the beliefs of the Mongols.