Mongolian people: history, traditions

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Every country has periods of prosperity and decline. Once a huge empire stretching from sea to sea, now it has shrunk to a small state that has no access to anyone. The Mongolian people now live in three countries - Mongolia proper, Russia and China. At the same time, most of the Mongols live in several regions of China.

General information

Mongolian peoples are a group of kindred peoples who speak or used to speak languages that are Mongolian, and are closely related to each other by a common centuries-old history, culture, related traditions and customs.

In general, many Mongolian nations belonging to this group already speak the languages of the area where they live. Some of the peoples are now Iranian-speaking, there are representatives of the group who speak Tibetan languages, and in India, Hindi and Bengali. Perhaps, therefore, it would be more correct to determine those who belong to the Mongols on the basis of the achievements of science. According to 2014 data, the representatives of these peoples have the most common Y-chromosomalhaplogroups are: C -56.7%, O - 19.3%, N - 11.9%

Tibetan Buddhism has become the main religion, with some special national specifics. After persecution during the years of Soviet power, it is now reviving again, for example, 53% of the population of Mongolia consider themselves Buddhists. In addition, various types of shamanism, Christianity and Islam are widespread.

Regions of residence

Most of the Mongols live in northern China, in Mongolia and the Russian Federation. Some Mongolian peoples live in the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan.

In total, there are over 10 million people belonging to the Mongolian peoples. About 3 million people live in Mongolia proper, about 4 million live in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, accounting for approximately 17% of the population. The rest, about 1.8 million, live in Liaoning, Gansu, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Mongolian peoples of Russia (Kalmyks and Buryats) live in the republics of Kalmykia and Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Irkutsk Region. The total number is about 650 thousand.

Which people belong to the Mongolian group?

Traditionally, the Mongols are divided into several groups according to the location of the region of residence:

• Several dozens of ethnic (for example, Atagans, Barguts and Khorkhi-Buryats) and ethnoterritorial (for example, Agin, Barguzin and Shenekhen) groups of Buryats belong to the northern one.
• Southern (uver - Mongols) lives mainlyin Chinese Inner Mongolia. There are also several dozen of them, including, for example, such ethnic groups as Avga, Asuts, Baarins, Gorlos and Chahars. This group also includes the peoples who live in Afghanistan and the Hindustan Peninsula.
• Eastern Mongols (including Khalkha Mongols, Sartuls and Hotogoi) live in Mongolia.
• Western Mongols, also called Oirats (Dzungars), live in Russia (Kalmyks), China (like Khoshuts) and Mongolia (Torghuts).

Etymology

The origin of the name of the Mongolian people has not been reliably established, experts adhere to different versions. Each of them has a very solid justification. One of the most popular theories is that the word "mongol" supposedly comes from the Mongolian "mong", which can be translated as brave. In ancient China, the word could also be derived from the Chinese word manglu, which translates as demons.

Another popular version derives the name from the hydronym Mang (Mang-kol) or the toponym Mang-gan (rock name), which are located in the original habitats of the tribes. Nomads often chose family and clan names in this way. There is also an assumption of origin from the word mengu shivei, tribes that lived in ancient times on the territory of modern Eastern Mongolia. They were named so in honor of Mang-qoljin-qo, the legendary progenitor of the Borzhigin clan, from which Chigis Khan came. According to another version, the word "Mongol" is a word formed from twoTurkic words "mengu", which translates as immortal, eternal and "kol" - an army.

First mentioned

Some researchers believe that the ethnonym "Mongol" may first be found in Chinese written sources:

• in the form "meng wu shi wei", then the name of the Shiwei Mongols in "Jiu Tang shu" (the book "The Old History of the Tang Dynasty"), presumably compiled in 945);
• in the form "Meng Wa Bu", the Meng Wa tribe is mentioned in the New Tang History, compiled around 1045-1060.

In other Chinese and Khitan written sources of the 12th century, various words were used to name the Mongolian peoples, which were transmitted in hieroglyphs as mengu guo, manga, manguli, meng ku, manguzi.

Russian Mongolian scholar B. Ya. Vladimirtsov put forward a version that the name of the Mongolian people was given in honor of some ancient and powerful family or people. In the 12th century, the ancient aristocratic family Borjigin, led by Khabul Khan, managed to subjugate several neighboring tribes and clans. After they were united in 1130 into a single political entity, creating almost one ulus, it took the name Mongol.

Ancient history

The first state formation of the Mongols of the Three Rivers was called the Khamag Mongol ulus. According to some experts, the Turkic-Mongolian peoples lived in this proto-state. Local Mongolian tribes gradually mixed with those who came from the westTurkic.

The heyday of statehood in the history of the Mongolian people fell on the 13th century, when the Mongol Empire was created by Genghis Khan (and his sons and grandsons). In its heyday, it occupied the territory from China and Tibet to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The grandson of the "shaker of the universe" Khubilai founded the Yuan dynasty at the end of the 13th century with capitals in Beijing and Shangdu. Now the descendants of the Yuan warriors live in South China, making up the ethnic group Yunnan Mongols.

Modern history

During the period from the 14th to the 16th centuries, the territory of Mongolia was divided by the descendants of Genghis Khan and the Oirats. This tribe eventually formed a strong Dzungar Khanate. After the defeat of the Qing Empire, part of the Oirats went to the Volga region to the Kalmyk Khanate. It was founded by one of the peoples of the Western Mongols (Torguuds), who established themselves in the Great Steppe in the 17th century. It existed until the 18th century, the khanate was always in vassal dependence on the Russian states.

The newly independent Mongolian state was created only in 1911, headed by the Bogdo Khan. The Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed in 1924 and renamed Mongolia in 1992. In subsequent years, the Kalmyks and Buryats, as well as the Mongols in the Inner Mongolia region of China, received their national autonomies in the Soviet Union.

Housing and hospitality

The culture and way of life of various Mongolian peoples who have been living in different countries for hundreds of years is very different. However, many common features and traditions of the Mongolian people have been preserved. In folkcreativity preserved traditional values, such as love for parents, for the steppe expanses, love of freedom and independence. In many works they sing of longing for their native places and the Motherland.

Once all the Mongolian peoples lived in the traditional dwelling of many nomads - the yurt, which is part of the national culture. Even in the ancient written monument "The Secret History of the Mongols" it is said that all the Mongols lived in felt dwellings. Until now, a significant part of the population lives in yurts in Mongolia, not only cattle breeders, but also residents of the capital of the country. And some of them organized shops, restaurants and museums. In Russia, cattle breeders mainly live in yurts, and traditional dwellings are also used for holidays and festivities.

Hospitality is an important part of the folk tradition of all nomadic peoples and is still taken for granted. As many travelers note, if you approach a yurt where someone is inside, then you will always be invited to visit. And be sure to treat at least tea or koumiss.

Traditional occupation and cuisine

Mongolian peoples have traditionally been engaged in nomadic pastoralism. Depending on the region, sheep, goats, cows, horses, yaks and camels were bred. Then, in practice, preference was given to animal species that could provide all the raw materials necessary for the arrangement of everyday life. Wool and skins are used to make housing, clothes and shoes, meat and milk are used in Mongolian cuisine.

Traditional foodnomads, Mongolian and Turkic peoples, is meat. Mutton, goat and beef dishes are widespread. Since ancient times, yak meat has been eaten in mountainous regions, and camel meat in the south. Raw milk was not used at all before, only after fermentation or fermentation. As well as vegetables, which were always pre-steamed or boiled.