Tordog - ritual of warding off evils

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One of the uniqueness of Mongolian wrestling is wrestling costumes which consist of a hat, zodog (jacket), shuudag (briefs), boots, stockings and boots’ bindings. Zodog (jacket) and shuudag (brief) are a traditional costume of Mongolian wrestlers. The costimes made of silk, textiles and stitched with pliable and strong threads afford a wrestler the ability to hold his opponent during the wrestling bout. Zodog and shuudag adapt themselves to the shape of wrestler’s brawny body. This tight costume greatly affords a wrestler’s comfort to move as well. Only a few specialized masters craft the zodog and shuudag by their hands.

One of the uniqueness of Mongolian wrestling is wrestling costumes which consist of a hat, zodog (jacket), shuudag (briefs), boots, stockings and boots’ bindings. Zodog (jacket) and shuudag (brief) are a traditional costume of Mongolian wrestlers. The costimes made of silk, textiles and stitched with pliable and strong threads afford a wrestler the ability to hold his opponent during the wrestling bout. Zodog and shuudag adapt themselves to the shape of wrestler’s brawny body. This tight costume greatly affords a wrestler’s comfort to move as well. Only a few specialized masters craft the zodog and shuudag by their hands.

Zendmene is one of the ancient games played by Mongolians. It is known as 'Khorol' in western Mongolia. Zendmene is crafted with square wood blocks, sized and shaped similar to ancient dominos. There are a total of 60 figures drawn on the blocks, representing 4 from each of the 15 figures, each with different powers. These figures include zendmene (a wish-fulfilling symbol, the strongest figure), olzii (a symbol of luck), lion, dragon, snake, horse, and sheep. These figures are hold in the hands and called hand items. Other figures are placed on the ground face down and called ground items. These include the monkey, rooster, dog, boar, mouse, ox, tiger and rabbit. To play, people share the same even numbers, like 4 and 6, and make a group. All the blocks are placed face down on a special table and mixed well. Then the players place them in a circle, laying 5 by 5, and decide who will start by taking the laid blocks.

Hunting with eagles is an ancient social practice of cultural heritage of the Kazakh people. Those who hunt with eagles (berkutchi) tame and train eagles for hunting. Hunting always takes place on horseback and generally accompanied with the Kazakh national dog, a hound known locally as tazy. Eagles were used for hunting wolves, foxes, karsaks, and mountain goats. The photo shows a golden eagle with berkutchi.

When the summer ends and the cold days of autumn starts, Mongolians do this custom as weanling or release the baby foals and mares to their flock of horses. Mongolians release the foals from their tethers on the Dog Day of autumn and do the ceremony of folding the ropes and tethers or foal branding ceremony in that day. In order to do this ceremony, they make a fire near the tether of foal for firing the horse brand, and start branding foals. After branding they put the brand into airag in vessel and come to the ger and have an airag. They do an airag libation to the blue sky and mother earth. Depending on the weather and landscape, the weanling ceremony is done differently in Mongolia. After the libation, the feast starts with general proceeding of other feast.