Alexandra Sanzheeva, About Tsagan Sar

Alexandra talks about Tsagan Sar:Spring starts with Tsagan Sar. That is why this holiday is called Tsagan Sar, meaning ‘white month’. On the eve of Tsagan Sar that is on the 29th day according to the lunar calendar, people slaughter sheep because during the next thirty it is forbidden to kill animals. People also make bortsg biscuits of various types including tselvg, khutsyn tolga, moshkmr and others. When biscuits are ready, people hang them up on strings. These biscuits are used as presents when people pay each other a visit. It’s especially important to give such a present to children and one’s sister’s husband. On the day of the holiday, our mother would give us sugar lumps and other sweets. She would also take out and hang up on a rope all the things that were stored in the chest, probably in order to show people that we lived well. I personally witnessed the following tradition. Once I went with other children to visit our relatives. When we entered their house, they were about to bless their food for Tsagan Sar. Then they sat down and ate some meat. We gave them our presents and in return they gave us boiled sheep’s legs by saying ‘Ze kun - zeekhyan byartn’ (Nephews on the maternal side keep close to each other).Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi