I was fortunate to be invited this weekend to a Tsagaan sar celebration. Mongolian Lunar New Year is celebrated with a very casual version of what we would call a feast, complete with dumplings, roast, rice, cookies, fried bread, milk tea, vodka...
I would have to say that my first experience of Mongolians en masse confirmed many of the stereotypes of Mongolians--there was some boisterous drunkenness, but also very friendly people who demonstrated a great deal of hospitality and accepted me sight unseen like an old friend.
There was a long game of dominoes called "building gers". I kept asking questions and kept being told to just watch and learn. There was beer and Chinggis Khan vodka. Also several wines: my Hormigas Los Altos wasn't finished. The Jamieson's whiskey seemed to be favored by most of the guests. I was given a traditional deel overcoat to wear. Toasts. Talk of UB and of the countryside, and working with Praeswalski horses and...
At the end of the night, frankly, I felt like shit. I had eaten way more than I needed, and had put down a lot of beer and bread and milk (in milk tea) along with my meat. I'd like to travel to Mongolia, but if I do, I vow to stick to meat and arikh, as consistent as possible with the ancestral health paradigm. It's been a long time since I went to bed with heartburn and woke up with a headache. Machismo isn't an acceptable rationale for that experience.
Wherever you are today, my Mongolian hosts, I salute you.
