Everyone has heard of "peoples on horseback", but do you know "peoples on the back of reindeer"?
An ancient nomadic people lived in the snowy plains of northern Mongolia, and their ancestors began domesticating wild reindeer in this mountainous region more than 3,000 years ago, a tradition that continues to this day.
Many of the customs and habits of the people are inextricably linked to the deer herd.
For example, if an adult man wants to marry a beloved girl, he must catch a wild reindeer alone.
Young Quesillo and the beautiful Sauron are lovers,
In order to prove to Sauron's father that he is mature enough, Quesillo is about to follow his father to lead the reindeer migration,
His father, Ganzo, a respected elder reindeer man, taught him that "to feed a family, you need to have excellent herding skills."
So Ganzo sent a male reindeer to Quesilo to breed, and he warned his son not to cross the Russian border during the migration, because there were many wild reindeer there, and the domesticated deer would follow them.
While my father was carefully teaching deer hunting techniques, my mother was preparing breakfast, a local pasta that could be boiled in a ring.
After the meal, Quesillo followed his father to the lake to fish, the lake in the taiga forest is very shallow, the ice is like a large transparent glass,
Ganzo, the tribe's best fisherman, lay directly on the ice and looked with the naked eye at the fish sleeping between the rocks, and it was early November, and the ice on the lake was about thirty or forty centimeters thick.
The man first took out a tool to cut a hole in the ice, then cut through the broken ice inside, and then they threw the bait attached to the end of the nylon line into the water and waited for the fish to be hooked.
Alpine lakes are rich in trout and gray fish, and in less than 1 minute, Ganzo caught a big fish, encouraged by his father, Quesillo was not to be outdone, he followed his father's method, fished alone, and soon succeeded in taking a gray fish.
Quesillo placed four fresh fish on the stove, and it seemed that today's dinner was very rich.
At dinner time, the family discussed their son's marriage, and the father said that he and Sauron's father were old acquaintances.
The other party is stubborn and difficult, and it is impossible to easily marry his daughter to his son.
The naïve Quesillo says that if the old man does not agree, then he will tie up Sauron home like his father kidnapping his mother.
In this regard, his parents said: Today is different from the past, I don't know if the other party will agree to such a practice.
According to the custom of the Chatan people, the man needs to send a matchmaker to the woman's home with gifts to propose to the woman.
The next day, the matchmaker couple rode a white reindeer and came to Sauron's house with cheese, wine, deer milk and biscuits.
While praising Quesillo, the man presents the woman's father with blue hada with both hands, and in the local area, blue symbolizes purity and immaculate,
But Sauron's father pretended to be deaf, believing that Quesillo was not yet capable of starting a family, and that his daughter was still underage and not suitable for marriage.
The matchmaker returns with a negative reply, and Quesillo's plan is frustrated, but he will not give up, and he practices the lasso over and over again, hoping to get the approval of the other father.
Autumn and winter came, and it was time to rush to the new pasture, they dismantled their yurts, packed their bags, and drove their livestock north, following ganzo all the way to comfort their son.
After a long time, the group came to the most dangerous pass, where the terrain was steep and windy, and if they wanted to pass through the pass, they had to leave tribute.
As a sign of respect, people and animals walked around the stone piles a few times, and after the ceremony, they began to enter the valley.
Because it was getting late, the herders decided to set up camps on the spot, and at night the reindeer had to be tied in pairs or they would run to join the wild deer herd.
The Chatans are natural rope knotters, and without using screws, they can tie all the ropes together and then camp smoothly.
At this time, some of the livestock broke the lasso during the migration and ran to the other side of the lake.
As night fell, it was very difficult to get the escaped reindeer back, and the herders gave up for a while, simply gathering to watch TV, a black-and-white television set made of metal flakes with satellite dishes and solar panels charging them.
The next day, the elders went out early to look for the runaway reindeer, and Quesillo and Sauron finally had time to be alone, and they came to the jungle to collect herbs for humans and animals.
They then took the herbs back to the camp to be handled by Quesilo's grandmother, who knew the medicinal value of the plants so well that she hoped that someone from the tribe would inherit the knowledge, and Sauron was the best candidate.
The girl also understood in seconds, and she looked up at her boyfriend and made a look.
At this point, the scouts who were looking for the deer herd returned, and they had found traces of the reindeer, and Then Ganzo decided to take his son Quesilo to capture them.
Before setting off, the father and son softened the deerskin lasso, the hunting task was very arduous, and Quesillo drank a bowl of deer milk to replenish his energy.
The expedition can take 3 days or more.
The runaway deer herd may have already entered the Aggie Mountains and will head to the Russian border, which is also a problem for Ganzo.
But their biggest problem at the moment is how to smoothly pass through this frozen river, the surface of the river is too smooth, so that hunters and livestock can not walk smoothly, if not careful, they will fall to their knees.
The hunters had to sprinkle some sand to prevent the animals from falling, and it took several twists and turns for them to get through the area.
At dusk, hunters set up camp in the jungle, because of the lack of time, they brought very little supplies, and had to cook snow to feed themselves.
After dawn, the hunting party continued forward, over the hills and through the jungle, and finally reached the border.
The northern part of the mountain is in Russia, and border guards are patrolling the other side of the lake, and men stand at the top of the hill, looking through the telescopes, and begin to discuss strategies.
There was a cul-de-sac at the foot of the mountain, so they had to go down the hill, but that meant they had to be close to the border.
Not long after, the hunters gathered at the foot of the mountain, the reindeer in the distance fled in all directions, a fierce reindeer capture war officially began, in order to prove his ability, Quesilo directly rushed to the front line, at this time the wind and snow are very urgent, but the men have no time to take care of it.
He rode the "mount" forward, and after locking on to the target, he threw the lasso in his hand hard, and the rope was precisely attached to the reindeer's horn, but it was too strong, and the man fell off the deer's back.
Seeing a reindeer running towards the deep snow, Quesillo followed suit.
After a few hours, most of the reindeer were captured, and only the male reindeer that Ganzo gave to Quesillo remained in the deep snow.
The others, fearing for delaying the migration, suggested that he lose it, but Quesillo said he would not give up because it was his only chance to prove his ability to the old man that he could marry the person he liked.
This scene, Ganzo saw in his eyes, he took out a tool to pray for his son.
When everything was ready, Quesillo set out on his own, crossing lakes and over the mountains, where it was difficult to spot reindeer tracks in such a place of deep snow.
So Quesillo asked the local villagers all the way, and with the help of the villagers, he put on the reindeer costume to cover himself, and after a while, he came to the reindeer activity point, but he had to cross the snowy mountain, the slope of the mountain was very steep, and the man was almost half-kneeling.
After a while, Quesillo finally found the sight of the bull, and he hid behind the two livestock and slowly approached the bull, but the sensitive deer was instantly aware, and the first battle ended in failure.
However, Quesillo is a stubborn man, he will not easily concede defeat, after many competitions, he finally firmly set the antlers, the man clutched the rope, was dragged around the snow by the male deer, several times with the male deer almost kicked injured, fortunately in the end the male compromised.
Quesillo walks through the snow and wind with his "coming-of-age ceremony", while his bride will dress up and sit in the boudoir waiting for his marriage.