NOMADIC MONGOLIA

There has been very little change in the way of living of Mongolian nomads for several hundred years. Their ancestors inhabited a huge area of Central Asian steppe and mountain steppe, moving from one place to another seeking better pastures for their animals since whenever they started to exist, through the Huns dynasty in 200 BC, Chinggis Khaan's Mongol Empire in the 13th century and even after the socialist revolution in the 1920's.

Nomads represent approximately half of Mongolian population. They mostly live tens of miles away from any communities, villages and towns and do rather rough lives in a common condition where they are unable to be provided with electricity. It takes a couple of weeks for them to get current editions of national and local newspapers. The only reliable information source seems to be radios charged with batteries, which can be found in almost every nomadic family.

The extreme climate and geography as well as the landlocked condition greatly influenced the Mongols wax of life who have always lived close to the animals and close to the steppes. The Mongolian nomads are often called 'five animal people', because the nomadic society is based on the five principal animals traditionally herded: horses, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. They also keep Tibetan yaks used for producing milk and cheese.

The horse is the most important of the five animals. It is the perfect means of the transport for the terrain. It is said that children are taught to ride before walking. To catch the horse, Mongols use polo-lasso called "uurga" consisting in a rope loop at the end of a very long pole. Mares are milked and fermented milk is the Mongolians' favorite drink "the airag" which can then be distilled in an alcohol, "arkhi", the typical Mongolian vodka. Airag is offered as a ritual to the visitors.
The camel they breed is the Bactrian camel, a two-humped camel able to endure the extremes of cold and hot. The camel as well as the yak is used as beasts of burden specially to transport the dismantled ger from place to place.

In Mongolia a settled agricultural life has not been possible because herders have to move from a pasture to another. Nomads move several times a year. The longest period they stay in the same pasture is between October and late April. Every nomadic family has a winter place with a fence and shelter made of stones and wood called 'uvuljuu'. Apart from protecting livestock from the cold of harsh winter, animals give birth to their young in an 'uvuljuu' around late winter and early spring. Usual daily activities of nomads are all to do with herding their livestock and processing its raw material to convert them into food, clothing and shelters, such as feeding animals, training horses, cutting sheep wool, brushing cashmere, making felts and milking animals as well as producing dairy products.