Erdenesüren
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990585
Name: Erdenesüren
Parent's name: Puntsag
Ovog: Borjigon
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1942
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: incomplete secondary
Notes on education: This most likely means 7 years of schooling.
Work: retired / driver
Belief: none
Born in: Erdenebüren sum, Hovd aimag
Lives in: Jargalant sum (or part of UB), Hovd aimag
Mother's profession: herder, worker
Father's profession: herder, worker
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Summary of Interview 101105B with Erdenesüren
His parents’ three older brothers who were lamas were repressed. There were three lamas Boryn Gonchig and Boryn Manii, and he doesn't remember the other's name. All of them were executed. There are people who had been repressed and have come back. They are Perenlei and Luvsansharav. His father served in the military for six years and participated in the Halh Gol war.
In the 1960s nature was beautiful and the weather was very appropriate. It was cold and warm at the proper time. He dropped off firewood to the ‘ails’ and the nature was wonderful then. There used to be bushes in Erdenebüren sum where camels would enter and they couldn’t be seen, but they all have disappeared now. The ‘ails’ used them for fuel and the livestock ate the bushes for there is no grass to eat. In the olden times it was strictly prohibited to cut a tree. In case you needed a wood for ger, it was approved by a ‘goojin’ document (forestry permit).
In the socialist period every collective ‘ail’ had a barn and a hashaa but today they sold the wood, the stone and the hörzön (dried and compressed dung). Through privatization the buildings were purchased at a cheap price and then sold at a high price. The big feed farm was dismantled and the mayor sold its metal.
The stupa at the top of Hovd aimag was erected with one billion and sixty hundred million tögrög through donations by firms and companies. Also, the religious school building was built.
When conducting ritual ceremonies, wedding and funeral ceremonies, usually during the socialist period they secretly asked one man. The wedding celebrations were organized in a small group of people. When burying the dead a bell and a drum were sounded and the lamas were invited. After burying it in the steppe they returned home turning clockwise. In the Ööld custom the dead were positioned in a shape just like in the mother’s womb putting their arms and legs in a proper form. They did it before it became stiff. The family member with an auspicious year of birth carried out this ritual. Then the body was wrapped in a white cloth and before taking it to be buried it was wrapped in felt and having reached the place of burial it was taken out of the felt and buried in a white cloth. Then it was covered with dirt. The felt was taken back and put under sun and wind to be aired and it was used again. The dead were put in a hollow place where nobody walked by. A condor came and took it.
