Olzyata Badmaeva, Ur Sar

Olzyata says that during Ur Sar people pray to gods and ask for various things, including happiness and prosperity for themselves and their relatives, forgiveness if someone committed a sin, health, peace on earth etc. Every family makes Kalmyk tea and prays for their children and ancestral lands. During the holiday it is also customary for astrologists to choose a sheep with a yellow head or yellow ears in order to consecrate it. All the people present at the ritual are supposed to participate in the consecration of the chosen sheep. After this, it is forbidden to disturb this sheep let alone to kill it. In the past, on the 15th day of the month, people also performed fire rituals. Different clans performed this ritual differently. Some killed a sacrificial sheep, others did not. Today people ask Buddhist monks how to perform this ritual. People also performed other rituals as well, such as the one aimed at appeasing the spiritual masters of land and water. During Ur Sar monks read mantras.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin