Gongarshamid
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990586
Name: Gongarshamid
Parent's name: Dügersüren
Ovog: Ilenged
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1948
Ethnicity: Ööld
Additional Information
Education: elementary
Notes on education:
Work: herder
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Erdenebüren sum, Hovd aimag
Lives in: Erdenebüren sum (or part of UB), Hovd aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
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Summary of Interview 101106B with Gongarshamid
In the socialist period the traditional rituals of branding the colts and castrating the livestock were halted. The so-called golden stone of a fetus or a collection of castrated livestock’s hair and wool is kept at Gangarshamid guai’s home. He keeps it together with the burhan's offerings. When castrating the livestock, they choose a day when the livestock’s soul isn’t in its tail. Horses are branded on a day of the tiger.
The shoulder blade is offered to burhan during the four days of Tsagaan Sar and half of it is offered to the land. When worshipping the fire, a lama reads a sutra and a sacrifice is made of a yellow bald headed sheep.
A bald headed light bay has been marked out as consecrated to a divinity saying that it was marked out for the god Lham. A light blue yak is marked out for the Old White Man. In fact, the cattle are marked out being identified by the color of them. When branding the cattle, a Tibetan sutra is written on a cloth and it is tied to it together with a five-colored hadag. When the consecrated cattle gets old, its breath is taken by a lama and the hadag is passed over to another young animal.
The ‘ails’ read the sutra when moving to a new place. They had a separate camel to load the burhan's offerings. When catching a horse and when doing a short training run for a race-horse, they took the day into account. When doing a correction ceremony, fire worshipping, tying a ribbon on an animal, or making an incense offering, a lama had to be invited.
Gangarshamid guai’s grandmother and his father (in 1980) were buried in an open place. In the olden times the dead were also cremated.
In 1997 he donated to the building of a stupa in his aimag and there are no operating monasteries in his homeland.
