In each region that professes Buddhism, the name of the holiday sounds differently. The Buryats have Sagaalgan, the Mongols and Kalmyks have Tsagaan Sar, the Tuvans have Shagaa, and the South Altaians have Chaga Bairam.
In this article, we will tell you how Sagaalgan 2023 will be celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar in Our Country and the world. Let’s touch on the history of the Buddhist New Year, its traditions, how celebrations differ in various parts of our country and abroad.
When is Sagaalgan celebrated in 2023
The White Moon holiday has a floating date. The day of the new moon, the eve of Sagaalgan, falls on February throughout the 2006st century. In this century, only in a few cases does Sagaalgan fall at the very end of January, its final days. The last time a holiday in the first month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar was celebrated in 30, then it fell on January XNUMXth.
In the upcoming winter, the White Month holiday – Sagaalgan 2023 in Our Country and the world falls at the very end of winter. Buddhist New Year will be celebrated February 20.
history of the holiday
The Sagaalgan holiday has been known since ancient times and has its origins in religious beliefs. Sagaalgan began to be celebrated from the XNUMXth century in China, and then in Mongolia. In Our Country, with the establishment of the Gregorian calendar, Sagaalgan was not celebrated as the beginning of the New Year, but the traditional Buddhist customs associated with this date were preserved.
The revival of the White Month holiday began in Our Country in the 90s. Despite the fact that the traditions of celebrating Sagaalgan were preserved until the mid-20s of the last century, the status of a national holiday was received relatively recently. On the territory of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory, Aginsky and Ust-Orda Buryat districts, the first day of Sagaalgan (New Year) is declared a day off. Since 2004, Sagaalgan has been considered a national holiday in Kalmykia. Also, the “folk holiday” Shaag is celebrated in Tyva. In 2013, Chaga Bayram was also declared a non-working day in the Republic of Altai.
Sagaalgan is also celebrated in Mongolia. But in China, there is no Buddhist New Year among the official holidays. However, the Chinese New Year, which is more famous in our country and all over the world, both in terms of its dates (end of January – first half of February), and in its traditions largely coincides with Sagaalgan.
In 2011, Sagaalgan was included in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List. The Mongolian Tsagaan Sar, like our New Year, has its own talisman animal. According to the Buddhist calendar, 2022 is the year of the Black Tiger, 2023 will be the year of the Black Rabbit. In addition to the regions where Buddhism is the dominant religion, Mongolia and China, the New Year according to the new lunar calendar is celebrated in some parts of India and Tibet.
Holiday traditions
On the eve of the holiday, the Buryats put their houses in order. They put up milk and meat offerings, but it is recommended to abstain from eating the food itself – like a one-day “fast”. When it ends, the table is dominated by the so-called “white food” of dairy products. Of course, there are lamb meat products, sweets, fruit drinks from wild berries. On the first day of Sagaalgan, Buryats congratulate their loved ones, parents according to a special Buryat national etiquette. The exchange of gifts must be done in the traditional headdress. On the second day of the holiday, visiting more distant relatives begins. This is a very important moment for the younger generation. Every child of the Buryat family is obliged to know his family up to the seventh generation. The most knowledgeable take it even further. The Buryats do not do without folk games and amusements.
In modern Mongolia, on the “White Month holiday” – Tsagan Sar – young people dress in beautiful bright clothes (deli). Women are given cloth, dishes. Men are presented with weapons. An indispensable attribute of the Tsagan Sara festival for young people is a five-day vacation. Many Mongolian children go to boarding schools and Tsagaan Sar is the only time to go home and see their parents. The main attribute of Tsagaan Sara is the variety of dishes, since time is freed from daily work for their preparation. In ancient times, the Kalmyks, like the Mongols, were nomads, and one of the signs of the Kalmyk Tsagaan Sara is a change of camp on the seventh day. Staying longer in the same place was considered a great sin. Tsagaan Sar is also celebrated in the Astrakhan region in places where Kalmyks are densely populated.
An important moment in the celebration of the Tuvan New Year – Shagaa – is the rite of “San Salary”. The ceremony is carried out in the form of an offering to the spirits of tidbits of food in order to achieve their location in the coming year. For the ritual, a flat, open place on a hill is chosen and a ritual fire is formed. In addition to the goal of making peace with the spirits, the Altai Chaga Bayram means the renewal of nature and man. The elders light a fire and perform a ritual of worship to the Sun. Recently, an accessible tourist infrastructure has been created in Gorny Altai. Therefore, guests visiting this region can directly participate in the celebration of the Altai New Year.