Today is 'Tsagaan Sar", the Mongolian Lunar New Year. What is so interesting abour this year is that I learned an explanation for why Mongolian Lunar New Year differs from that of Chinese new year.
According to a recent article(link) by Baabar, a prominent Mongolian writer, the reason is more cultural. His main point, supported with historical facts, reasons that Mongolians changed the measure of the lunar movement according to Mongolian transhumance (nomadic animal husbandry) lifestyle. Herding their animals out open in the steppes on fours seasons, Mongolians observed the moon and implied its correlation to weather. My ancestors watched the moon every night and predicted the weather for next day. It worked. So they developed lunar system with reference to how the moon appears from half to full size of the moon. For example, the moon appears full on 15th of each month ( perhaps it may relate to the Mongolian geographical position- who knows?) So, Mongolians adopted the lunar calendar with clear appearance of the moon. That change made the Mongolian calendar differ a few days than that of Chinese lunar calendar.
As usual, my family prepared well for this holiday: thousands of beef dumpling, lots of biscutes, vegetable salads, litres of milk tea, coke and other meals as well. Today, two families visited us in the morning. In the afternoon, we paid visit to 3 families till the late evening. I ate lots of dumplings and drunk so much tea. I received some gifts. After busy day of meals and drinks, I am exhausted! I felt very sleepy all the alone, and barely kep my eyes open for my guests and hosts.
