Tag: Year of the Wood Dragon

This year, Mongolia's New Year festival, Tsagaan Sar (White Month) is celebrated on Saturday 10 February. Each New Year in a sixty-year cycle has a different name; the new year is called ‘Modon Luu Jil’, that is, 'Year of the Wood Dragon’. The start of the new year is calculated with the lunar calendar, and so it falls on a different date every time, generally at the end of January or in February. This festival is as important and popular as Christmas in Western countries. It is a national holiday when extended families gather to pay mutual respects.   According to historical tradition, this festival originated at the time of Chinggis Khaan. It is recorded that in 1207, on the first morning of the ‘Ulaagchin Tuulai Jil’ (year of the Red Hare), Chinggis began the day early by praying to the Eternal Blue Sky and his own holy mountain. He made offerings to his ancestors and then went to pay his respects...