Tsagaan Sar - Mongolian New Year

Tsagaan Sar, “White Moon” is Mongolian New Year. This year’s holiday was a big one for me. Although I missed it last three years, this year I had a chance to celebrate it with my mom and my siblings.
On Tsagaan Sar eve, my family prepared everything. We decorated holiday food: delicately stocked biscuits (each shaped like a slim book) in five floors and three sides. Number five is meant to show the odd number. It means to represent cycle of life; shuffle of happiness and pain. Then, odd number is logical to begin and to end with happiness, and to sandwich ‘pain’ in between. Over this file of biscuit white sweets had covered– white color is supposed to show dairy ‘eatable’ stuff, but we put sugar and candies instead. Mom also cooked parts of lamb and put the meat in a nice plate. We made and froze 1000 buuzs(damplings) of horse meat, beef and mutton. My sister made “Niislel” salad, a fine mixture of potatoes, cucumber, peas, carrot, eggs with mayonnaise. She also made a sour salad of peppers, cabbages and pickles. Drinks include juice, a bottle of vodka, and mom brewed a kettle of Mongolian tea – salty milk tea! Tradition is to stuff yourself fill up on this day, so did we.
The first day of Mouse month was a new day and first day of Ox year. Like everyone else, I got up early and dressed up new cloths, putting up my Mongolian style jacket. Meantime everyone rushes to go outside on street doing a small ritual before sunrise. It represents to orient my direction for good path this year; my way was something like to go southwest hymning a line of Buddhist pray, playing with iron, because my space is iron, and to come back from the west. Once everyone is done the ritual, morning began with greetings and big breakfast.
Mom sat on the top of breakfast table. Queued by age, we greeted each other. I sheepishly supported two elbows of my mom , and she kissed warm on my chicks when we greeted. Then we all greeted one another and sat on table. This breakfast was a huge table of meal, having kettles of milk tea, plates of damplings, cooked lamb ribs, salads and a shot of vodka. Happy discussions and fun playing cards followed afterwards. Afternoon brought visitors of relatives and their families. Greeting, eating, talking and drinking filled consequent three days.