WE WANT YOU TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MONGOLIA

(continuation)
Tradition obliges the visitor to ask after the state of the animas. Then the host will ask< "Where have you come from? Where are you going?" (Het nutag haana ve? Hereg zorig yund ve?). The visitor replies in detail.
Mongolians also have seasonal greetings according to the time of the year, associated with life of the nomadic herder. In summer and autumn, the visitor will ask how the cattle have fattened. In winter and spring, he will ask how the cattle weathered the winter.
New Year greetings are more ceremonial. The younger person greets the other and offers a khadag (blue silk scarf folded several times), and as this is accepted, the younger supports the elder's elbows.
Then they sit, exchange snuff boxes (stoppers slightly open) and inquire after each other's health. When herders mark Tsagaan Sar, they greet each other with the old guatrarn:
"The old year's gone,
The new year's come.
How have the colts and calves
Stood the winter months?"
(Khuuchin on ulirch
Shine ond shiljikhed
Daaga dalantai
Byaruu bulchintai
Ond mend orov uu?
Ovliig ontei davav uu?).
(to be continued)