Mongolian compatriots are nomadic people who love animals like children. When people celebrate the Spring Festival in the first month, they also don't forget to celebrate the New Year for livestock. Xing Animal Festival is also called Maliyin Xinaoruluhu in Mongolian, and it can also be translated as "Spring Festival Banquet". It is a traditional custom of Mongolian herdsmen since a long time ago. There is no fixed date for this festival, and it is generally around the first lunar month and Qingming Festival. It is expected to be held in each village as a unit. At the end of the day, men, women, old and young gather in the wild, set up tents and set up pots and stoves, and drive all the livestock to check their fat condition, study the issue of lambing and calves in spring, and hang colors on the fat and strong breeding males. Then there will be entertainment such as wrestling, storytelling, singing, Haolaibao, etc., and then some simple banquets will be held to celebrate the festival.
The Sunit people's animal festival is held on New Year's Eve, and painting rams is the highlight. On New Year's Eve, the herdsmen in Sunit will clean up the sheep pens and cattle pens just like cleaning their living rooms, drive all the livestock back, feed and drink enough, and then place them in the center of the sheep pens, in four directions. Nine pieces of sheep bricks were vacated, and a square pit was exposed where the sheep bricks had been raised. This is the "sheep mat". Sheep bricks are square sheep dung bricks made by herdsmen with sheep dung. Move these sheep dung bricks to the southeast of Haote - the direction where the sun rises and stack them. In Mongolian it is called "Juder". When the eastern morning star rises slowly, the whole family, men, women and children, put on brand new clothes, come to Gunder, lay out food, burn nine sticks of incense, and pour new tea, butter, and pancakes to the sky and the earth, facing the splendid new year. The sun kowtowed three heads. Then build a fire on the sheep mat, sprinkle cedar leaves, butter, pancakes, etc. on it, and stick a few sticks of incense, so that the sheep in the pen can smell the aroma of their burning.
For the male goats and sheep in the flock, special treatment is also given. It is to give them a painting ceremony. The children scrambled over and pulled the sheep's horns to the sheep mat. The adults brought a silver bowl containing butter and fresh milk. open
Feed some of the things in the bowl into the mouth of the sheep, then tie a hada around their necks, sprinkle some yellow rice on their backs, and then sing: It looks like an argali, and it looks like an elephant. The big horned head is on the plate, and the fat tail is long on the buttocks-use delicious food and delicacies to paint this white ram... During the breeding season, thousands of lambs will be produced.
In the spring of the coming year, countless lambs will be born... They will not be blown away by the wind, they will not be lost in the snow, they will not blow their skirts in drought, and they will not suffer from waterlogging... May my blessed livestock be born like yellow rice! Then put them back into the flock and pour some milk tea on them. This is to paint the rams, implying the prosperity of the livestock. After smearing the rams, the gate of the pen is opened, and the shepherd catches up with the flock and prepares to go out to herd. At this time, the hostess ran out quickly and brought a plate full of white oil, butter, sour oil, milk curd, pancakes and other cooked food, which is the food for smearing rams. These are commonly called Miledes, the hostess It goes to the shepherds. The shepherd gladly took Miledes, and leisurely followed the flock to the field.
People who go out to pay New Year's greetings on the first day of the new year, if they see a shepherd who is out of herding, they will get off their horses and give New Year's greetings to the shepherd. The shepherds gave Miledes to the man who came. Guests who have tasted Miledes must walk around the flock and not drive across the flock. When night falls, when the shepherd returns from grazing, the owner has to greet him early: "Is the sheep eating well on the first day of the new year?" The shepherd always says: "The sheep are eating well." The pockets are taken off and poured into wooden trays, as "the welfare of the livestock, the gift of the ancestors", shared with the neighbors, and there is also a lot of drinking and singing.
The Mongolians in Hexigten Banner celebrate the New Year with their livestock at the beginning of February, and the date is not fixed, so it needs to be agreed in advance. On this day, a group of men, women and children in Haote got up early, brought food and tents, and gathered in a secluded place with lush water plants and elegant environment, where they set up tents and set up pots and stoves. The people waiting to graze drove the livestock of each family. When they approached here from all directions, the children went up to them and took care of the livestock for them. Because today is the Animal Festival, these sheepherds, cowherds, horseherds, and camelherds are all meritorious ministers. Regardless of their age or seniority, they are temporarily on vacation and are invited into the big tent in the center to talk with those respected country elders. Sit side by side. Everyone elected a "Nirba", that is, in charge of general affairs. He instructed everyone to put the tea and meat they had brought into a large pot to boil.
During this period, people put all kinds of milk food, pancakes, and bottles of wine brought from various houses in front of the cowherds and elders. Then take some samples and scatter them to the sky and the earth, in all directions, and then everyone can share them with their mouths. When the meat was about to be cooked, the children who were taking care of the livestock just now brought over the "representatives of livestock" such as cows with more milk, mares with more foals, and rams and llamas, and asked the elders or herdsmen to take care of each animal. Put a little butter on the head or forehead, and bless: "May you be the head of ten thousand sheep, and the head of a thousand cows!" Take off the old cloth strips around the head sheep's neck and replace them with new ones. At this time, everyone can eat meat, drink non-stop, and have fun. There are often some small competitions such as horse racing, wrestling, and archery interspersed in the middle to enliven the atmosphere. Like the Sunit herdsmen, the Hexigten banner people will also share the food of this day with everyone. Therefore, for the leftovers of wine, meat, food, milk and pancakes on this day, Nilba will distribute them to everyone for enjoyment as a "New Year's treat for livestock". In addition, in Bahrain and other places, herdsmen also attach great importance to this festival.
In ancient my country, every family paid attention to the prosperity of the population, but for the simple herdsmen on the grassland, the prosperity of the herds is equally important, because the herds are what they depend on for survival. Without them, the grassland will lose its due. Vigorous and vigorous, the shepherd on the grassland will also become a daughter-in-law without rice, who does not know how to make a living. So let us also use a eulogy from the herdsmen to bless the herdsmen on the grassland: wipe this pure white ram... in the breeding season, it will produce tens of thousands of lambs.
