Zul - Kalmyk New Year

The Buddhist holiday Zul is not tied to a specific day of the month; it is always celebrated on the 25th day of the tenth lunar month according to the Buddhist calendar It is also called the Kalmyk New Year, although this is not entirely correct Zul is not a full-fledged analogue of this holiday in the European interpretation Initially, it marked the birth of the universe; later the date began to coincide with the death of Je Tsongkhapa, who was one of the Tibetan lamas The spiritual essence of this holiday comes down to achieving harmony with oneself and with the outside world Zul is intended to remind us of the inextricable connection of all of us with the cosmos (universe) At the same time, the importance of respect for others, goodwill towards all living things and care for loved ones is emphasized Zul is a national Kalmyk holiday, the traditions of which go back to antiquity And since 2004, it received official status in Kalmykia Since then it has been a non-working day Zul is celebrated widely, the annual program includes: • official festive events in various cities with dances, songs and creative performances (all this is based on the traditional cultural heritage of Kalmykia); • family celebrations that take place in homes; • prayers and offerings in Buddhist temples From the date of the holiday, Kalmyks have long marked the beginning of the new calendar year, but not only It also marked the coming of age of every representative of the people After all, the Kalmyks did not have a tradition of celebrating birthdays, nor did they simply know the exact date of birth Only the year was taken into account And when celebrating Zul, each Kalmyk simply added one more year to his age Thus, the holiday was a kind of national birthday, which contributed to the consolidation of the people Interestingly, according to an older tradition in Zul, only women added a year to themselves It was believed that women had more to do with the origin of the universe Men officially became a year older 3-5 days after this, when another holiday was celebrated It was called “Master of the Year” and symbolized the end of chaos, the formation of the universe in a more orderly and familiar form to people Traditional ritual actions for the Zul holiday are associated with the worship of the forces of nature and especially the sun, its warmth and light Kalmyks have long highly valued the fire that drives away the cold and makes it possible to cook food; they believe that without it not only well-being, but also existence in our world is impossible And this is especially true for nomadic people The sun is the embodiment of fire Therefore, in the past, on this holiday, Kalmyks always raised a lit lamp over the yurt It was fixed on a special pole Today, lamps are lit in homes People dress smartly, visit friends, relatives and neighbors, congratulate and treat each other The celebration begins in the morning The Kalmyk New Year provides for a bountiful table It must include some dishes of traditional Kalmyk cuisine These are sweets, dumplings with lamb and bortsok - wheat crumpets that are cooked with milk, kefir or sour cream Bortsoki are fried in a large amount of oil and have the shape of a flat cake or bagel They symbolize the sun Pastries and sweets are washed down with Kalmyk tea This specific drink has no analogues in other countries; it looks more like a first course than the tea we are used to Not only the tea leaves are placed in boiling water, but also salt, as well as nutmeg crushed in butter Then add milk generously The drink perfectly saturates and warms, its use requires compliance with certain rules