The festival of the lunar New Year, Tsagaan Sar, is celebrated in or around February depending on the Mongolian lunar calendar. It generally coincides with other lunar New Year celebrations, like the Chinese. Often, however, Mongolians deny any Chinese origin or influence. In the 1960s, the communist government tried to transform it into Cattle Breeders` Day and official celebration was stopped. On the day of Tsagaan Sar increased checks on employee presence would occur. Neverthless, like with other traditionsand religious activities, some families remain a surreptious practise, especially in countryside. When the party tries to reaffirm traditional values in the late eighties it again becomes a public holiday. Still the festival has its pre-revolutionary character of reaffirming kin ties. Tsagaan Sar, meaning White Month or Moon, is one the main two big public annual events, next to the Nadaam. It marks the end of Winter and the beginning of spring and the new year´s cycle.   

The day before New Years Day is known as Bituun, meaning “to close down”. At the eve of the old year there is a celebration called Bituuleg. There is a big amount of...

Rock deer carvings and stele are monuments of ancient times. Thousands of these are evidence of the wealth of art in ancient Mongolia. In the Tureg Era (6th to 8th centuries), the richest hoard of stone sculptures were created, over 500 of which can be found in the Altai and Khangai mountains. Undur Gegeen Zanabazar of Khalkh, the 17th century religious and political leader, made 21 versions of tara (consort of Buddha), which show the beauty of Mongolian women. Zanabazar laid a foundation for the depiction and praise of human beauty by Mongolian sculpture. Important achievements of modern sculpture include S. Choimbol's (1907-1970) monument to Sukhbaatar, leader of the 1921 People's Revolution, in the centre of Sukhbaatar Square. Since 1931, when this statue was erected, over 80 such monuments have been built. In the socialist era, before 1990, many statues were erected to state leaders, workers and herders.

Portraits statures were very popular, and there are still such renderings of Lenin, Stalin, Choibalsan, Jukov, Natsagdorj and Sukhbaatar. In the last 10 years, a more free style of monuments has emerged, with urban images.

Any consideration of Mongolian nomadic homes, clothes, weapons and living conditions must include...

This form of expression involves the whistling of a finely ornamented melody with the tip of the tongue and the front teeth, accompanied simultaneously by a lower, rumbling base tone produced in the throat, which harmonizes with the higher melody. Mongol Khuumii or throat singing involves producing two simultaneous tones with the human voice. It is a difficult skill requiring special ways of breathing. One tone comes out as a whistle-like sound, the result of locked breath in the chest being forced out through the throat in a specific way, while a lower tone sounds as a base. Khuumii is considered musical art, not exactly singing but using one's throat as an instrument.

Depending on the way air is exhaled from the lungs, there are various ways of classifying hoomii, including Bagalzuuryn (laryngeal) khuumii, Tagnainy (palatine) hoomii, Hooloin (guttural) khuumii, Hamryn (nasal) khuumii, and Harhiraa hoomi: under strong-pressure in the throat, air is exhaled while a lower tone is kept as the main sound. Professional khuumi performers are found in only a few areas with certain traditions. The Chandman district of Hovd aimag (province) is one home of khuumii. Tuva, a part of Russia to the north of Mongolia,...