MONGOLIA: Searching for the reindeer men

Fidatissimo always with our driver, Mejet, met during a previous trip we started to research the people Tsaatan bordering Siberia in the north of Lake Khosgol

PRACTICAL INFORMATION READ MY PAGES TO: http://xoomer.alice.it/gengiskhan

 

Before striking the immensity and the silence, and finally those almond eyes narrowing to mere slits in order to better appreciate the distance that 'ocean that changes depending on the vagaries of time. We return to the country of Genghis Khan in search of men reindeer. But before we meet an important appointment ...

The drum echoes in the small wooden hut where darkness reigns, the ceremony is about to begin, the great shaman of Tsaagan Nur Sun has agreed to practice his art for us. We came to ask him to implore the gods for the success of our trip from Tsaatan. Our offers, vodka, cigarettes, sweets and a few different ticket bank are welcome and exposed on the altar.
Prayers, spells, incantations, litanies, songs, gestures, the shaman hunting evil spirits and ask the gods to join him in his dance of trance. At each stage of the ritual involved the wife and sister with a thousand times repeated movements. All of a sudden the shaman begins to twirl, the pace should be accelerating: the shaman is possessed! A few seconds later it is again quiet, but his posture and his deeds are not the same: it is now inhabited by a mighty spirit. The die is cast, three are chosen at the people including the driver that our friend does not know whether to feel honored to accompany the shaman in his delirium. We are delighted that they were not chosen, but did not imagine that soon we would come round and we would have been flogged with the long ribbons of his blue coat, we would have received in the head short but sturdy wooden rod used to play the drum. We wonder what is going to happen: the shaman seems to have a preference for one of us, passing several times on his body, his wand giving big blows to his stomach, s'informa of symptoms that feel and perform special spells end for the free demons. I too had the same treatment but in a less violent, an elderly lady was hurled to the ground by the stool on which sat the driver as penance should not drink alcohol for seven days, a child who did the tasks rather to be attentive to the evolution of the great master magic, the shaman spits in his ears ...
Finally the drum is heard again with insistence, met the spirit is ready to return to his universe and make the body borrowed to its rightful owner. After a thousand turns his wife removed to start one in one of his garments, when all of a sudden the shaman falls to the ground and only the smoke of a fire sprinkling of herbs beneficial placed near it will return among us. Divide the assembly with vodka and cookies, the rest is distributed to nearby households, the shaman assures us all that we enjoy excellent health, but our friend has to cover well and see a modern sorcerer. Start with the certainty of having been blessed despite the anger of the gods because the ceremony in our honor took place during the day and the deity is known to prefer thick dark for comment ...

In a morning that is struggling to rise, our convoy made up of a dozen horses moved to reach the tribe of Tsaatan. I put flowers in the mane of my horse for the occasion called Genghis Khan. Our bodies dance following the rhythm of our steed, the steppe like a film without end, without a horizon that we can tap with my finger passed before our eyes. Only the noise of hooves and nitrites disturbed at the quiet magic of these places, then the silence closed behind us to cancel our best tracks: the steppe must always remain intact. Ebbri to freedom of inebriated air, brought by Zeffiro steppe, a hand rises from the depths of the earth is our guide who sings the love for his horses and his homeland. Sounds serious off from his throat to fly triumphant until the blue of the sky, we had never known such a fullness and even a harmony with nature. And when the music left in the light of its recent agreements we were building, thinking so you can stop the moment, that this extended indefinitely. Here, the music reflects the deep soul of Mongolia, the notes communicate fully with nature.
Bare mountains, forests, flowers, broken, rocky, snow, streams, and winding narrow passages where our luggage s'impigliano and our knees are husked, almost invisible trails where even a goat Tibetan hesitate to lead his offspring. But we must continue in the mineral and vegetable world to climb so fraught, so the ground slippery, soaked and muddy, which are struggling with our horses that sometimes sinking up to mid thigh.
Feeling of vertigo. And if time does not exist? And if this life but far from everything so close to nature was the truth? And if these nomads (men and reindeer) had found the key to live outside of time in this?
Clouds white as snow with the sun joke designing forms arabesques on this sea of grass or stones, we move in silence so as not to intimidate people and reindeer finally as a reward, yet behind the mountains here are the first urt-like tents of Americans with their blue smoke are offered to our vision, our senses are put on alert: what reception I will Tsaatan us? Our fear is soon forgotten, just take care to serve hot food to warm our aching muscles, we bring the wood and help us assemble our tents in which modern geliamo overnight. Our climb ends after ten hours of lengthy efforts in the realm of deer snow, reindeer here have supplanted the noblest conquest of man (the horse) in the heart of this tribe: life is organized and totally dependent on the reindeer.
Children of a hostile nature, but grandiose, the little people of Tsaatan is disappearing and silently asking for help. West of Lake Kövsgöl, where the prairie gives way to the taiga, a land criss-crossed by countless rivers, where winter is rigid, lives a small and ancient nomadic people. This tribe of some 200 souls in total harmony with their animals, so that the Mongols have called reindeer men, by tsaa Buga, deer and snow tsang, people. Their survival depends, in fact, entirely on reindeer: their meat and their milk four times richer milk cow is almost the only products on which they feed. The skin is used to manufacture footwear and headgear, the corne directly cut on 'live animal, much appreciated as afrodisiatico in the Chinese pharmacopoeia, are used as a bargaining chip to obtain essential goods such as rice, flour, tea and salt.
Tsaatan I have preserved their ancestral traditions and the practice shamanism. Revere and fear the spirits of heaven and earth and respect the ancient funeral rites. Children learn by imitation watch all the adults doing their job, even the little ones know to look after the herds, and so they prepare to face the harsh life of the tribe and the annual migration. As for all the peoples of Central Asia nomadism is not caused by the need to find new pastures, in these endless grass lands is not lacking, but the nomadic life has a profound spiritual meaning related to the cycles of life that allows the relationship between land and sky, between visible and invisible.
Tsaatan I have renounced a life easier village Tsagan Nur, have preferred comfort to live without chain their culture and spirituality, they chose freedom. But the struggle is unequal, now that they were forbidden to graze their herds in neighboring Siberia, brucellosis tenth man and beast, and if anything will be implemented in a few years these people away from the roots will only be a memory.

. And on the return journey of spreading to new sublime scenery and unforgettable encounters think long reindeer men down there hidden in the forests bordering the Siberia.che have given us a tremendous lesson of humility, they are struggling every day to keep a precarious survival toughness with the value of freedom.

Graziella (angy8@bluewin.ch)
NB: the driver can be contacted at: mejet69@yahoo.com or www.mongoliatours.org

practical information in my pages: http://xoomer.alice.it/gengiskhan

TSAATAN:

This tribe lives in a remote region of northern Mongolia, among the mountainous forests of the taiga inaccessible to mechanical means, the only way to achieve the Tsaatan is the horse. They are nomadic reindeer breeders and live in tents (urt) supported by poles and covered with sheets very similar to the American North American tepee. For Tsaatan reindeer is everything: food, clothing and transportation. The diet is based almost exclusively on milk and its derivatives. Their community is composed of about 40 families and 800 reindeer, now thanks to an Italian association reindeer are better, brucellosis has damaged the health of herds and men because they can not have more reports and go to graze their animals from their brethren in the neighboring republic Tuva in Siberia.

From mid June to mid August, the tribe of Tsaatan living with 1 or 2 days on horseback from Tsaagan Nur Sun. Before and after the camps are more distant and hidden in the forest. Composed of not more than 40 families, the tribes living almost exclusively born to reindeer and live in huts like those of American Indians. These poor families are struggling every day for their survival and if you decide to incontrale it is strongly recommended to make some food in order to improve their lives. You can buy everything U.B. before the start or complete your purchases and a moron Tsaagan Nur Sun. We recommend that you buy a fair amount for the families that means visit (5 to 10 second your stay)
Shopping list (ask your driver to the recommendations):
v Rice, flour
v Tea, salt
v Tobacco and paper for making cigarettes
v toilet articles: soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, comb.
v Fabric to make of the clothes for children.
v Candles, lighters, matches, pens, notebooks, card games, games for children, t-shirts. thread and sewing needles
v Newspapers used to dry the dishes, such as paper for cigarettes.
v over all the articles cited in the chapter: sleeping under the ger

WARNING: to have a trusted guide for some time because there are dishonest guides that take you around bringing in taiga and after a few hours will tell you that the camp was moved and now that it is better to go back down! Do not hesitate to denounce these practices to the Police Moron and your driver for your return. Ask the guides to horses and Bayne Orcher the guest house of Nur Tsagan Sun

PREPARING FOR THE HORSE RIDING TSAATAN:

1. tent with DOUBLE ROOF (risk of rain, snow or ice)
2nd sleeping bag for mountain 8meno 30 recommended) very very cold night
3rd warm clothing because the weather can change quickly (dress with several layers) to provide spare clothes in case of rain
4th warm gloves, wool cap, scarf, hat and waterproof (not the cape because if there is wind the horse may be afraid of the movement of the cape)
5th warm socks, shoes and high resistant (boots also be taken on the spot)
6th pants from his horse or wear pants under the pants from a cyclist who addolcirà contact with the saddle. Do not ever wear the pants in the cycling pants or trousers by the horse to prevent chafing of the elastic and cut their lead
7th Sunglasses with a cord 8in event of a fall from his horse), cream to protect from the sun
8th repellent against flies and Tafani
9th for stops: dried fruit, food, energy, water
10th Luggage little fragile, small and rather impervious to easily be loaded on the horses. Predict bags or jute fabric resistant to put your luggage as well as the rope to tie them
11th provide a minimum of food for your stay by Tsaatan you can ask for water and cooking, but they know divide.
12th anti-chafing ointment, to provide analgesic and anti inflammatory (idea: in the morning before leaving to take an analgesic to reduce the feeling of broken bones)
13th know horse riding is not essential but before you start taking some lessons will enable you to enjoy the trip more
14th for your guide: cigarettes and lighters and knives

More information: angy8@bluewin.ch

Guide for horses: a Tsagaan Nur Sum of Bayne and ask the guest house Orcher Nammun
Driver: Mejet: mejet69@yahoo.com or contact www.mongoliatours.org in English