The yurt: A mobile home of nomadic populations dwelling in the Mongolian steppe is still used both as a sun clock and a calendar

Abstract

The yurt is the traditional home of the nomadic Turkmen, the Kyrgyz, the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, the Kalmyks, the Buryats and the Mongolians. As the impact of the western modern world, in terms of technological and behavioural changes, is slower than anywhere else, the use of the yurt is widespread in the Mongolian steppes, where nomadic life has been maintaining its traditional behaviour for at least 800 years. The Mongolian yurt entrance faces south and combines spatial and functional properties. An open circular hole named the “toon” can be found at the centre of the roof. On sunny days, a ray of sunshine revolves around its inner wall. Depending on the season, the light first appears between 5:40 am and 7:40 am and moves around the different inner walls (khana). The sundial enables the nomads to schedule their daily activities such as the herd milking and its processing, the drying of dung for fuel, the prayers and performing fighting games. The angle of the sun’s light coming through the toon and lighting a space on the floor by the yurt entrance can vary according to the time of the year. Such clues are used to guess what time it is and which month it is, and thus help the Mongolians decide whether or not to start travelling from summer to winter pastures. The Mongolians pay special attention to the transhumances, seasonal movements based on a specific time, in order to prevent harming the livestock during the harsh Mongolian winter, and to choose the right time to move the yurt. They also pay attention not to offend the spirits of the wind, the earth and the sky. Regarded as the warrant of their ancestors’ cultural traditions, nomadic people remain faithful to their heritage and respect their surrounding environment. Thus, the yurt has remained their reference to time in the heart of the Mongolian steppes.

• Annual activity
• chrono-anthroplogy
• daily activity
• mongolian yurt
• temporal organization

Acknowledgments

I extend my deepest gratitude to M. Thierry Mauger and M. Mikhail Magsarjav Santaro for their enlightening contributions on the subject, and to all the nomads of the steppes of Mongolia whom I met and who have opened up their culture and their heart to me. This article is the testimony of an unforgettable journey shared with them.

Notes

¹Thierry Mauger is a doctor in social anthropology and ethnology at the “Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales”, a lecturer, and specializes in Men flowers Asir. Thierry Mauger spent five years in Kyrgyzstan to investigate the funerary architecture and reconstruction of identity through Kyrgyz yurt.

²Mikhail Magsarjav Santaro was Resident researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences, Inner Mongolia (China) from 1990 to 2002 where he combined the medical anthropology in ethnomusicology to complete the history of the Shamanic healing practices Khuur Morin (horse head fiddle) and Tsuur. Mongolian Culture specialist, he regularly lectures/teaches at the Institute of Cultural Studies Mongoliin Soyoliin Deed Surguuli in Ulaanbaatar and regularly conducts workshops and master classes on gestures and Mongolian arts, gives Lectures on Mythology of the Turtle Golden, on the history of Khuur Morin, the Tsuur and Mongolian Nomadism and the “Conferences/Concerts” Tsuur in schools, institutes, academies, theaters and cultural centers in Asia (Mongolia, China, Japan and Korea) and Europe.