Tsagaan Sar

Whew! That was a whirlwind of a holiday week! Although I didn't have school, classes or clubs, I certainly was not resting. Tsagaan Sar is all the food of Thanksgiving, the gifts of Christmas, and the drinking of New Years. At every home you visit. The main holiday lasts three days, with visiting family on the first day, friends the second and third. All this visiting can last for two weeks though, especially for people who live in the countryside and come into the city, or those with family in far away aimags. For weeks in advance, women will make hundreds (sometimes even a thousand plus) of mutton, beef or horse buuz, a filled dumpling. They freeze and store them, often outside, then steam cook them when visitors arrive. The platters of salad and salami-like meats never go empty. Your mug of suutei-tsai (milk tea) magically refills when half-empty. And in accordance with tradition, it's three shots of vodka at each house before leaving. It's also traditional to give a gift to visitors, the "worth" of the gift according to the host's income.

What every Tsagaan Sar table looks like. The cookie stack is called a kheviin boov and it's dotted with aaruul (dried curd). It MUST be stacked in an odd number as each level represents happiness or sadness, the first level being happiness. And yes, that IS the whole back of a goat. Little hunks are cut off and given to each visitor. I passed on the goat (and the maxtai [with meat] buuz) in favor of potato, pasta or veggie salad.

Bimba took me around to visit some of my APDC English Class participants' homes on the second day (Thursday).

Everyone wears deels. Lookin' good ladies!

Super cute little girl in her deel!

Munkhzul and her daughter.

The view of one of C-towns ger districts.

At Tsetsegdelger's home.

Two random boys that I thought were too adorable NOT to take a picture of!

Visiting Zoloo's house. Nearly all the foreign volunteers were there!

Visiting Badmagarav's home.

The awesome spread I put out on the third day (Friday). I made 90 veggie buuz, mustard potato salad and a raw veggie salad. To keep with tradition, the gift bags were for my CPs, although I substituted Chilean Merlot for vodka. Unfortunately, my CP dropped my camera and it broke so no pictures. :( After my CPs left, a bunch of my sitemates came over. Their gift? Leftovers!