Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Created: | 2014-09-11 16:15 |
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Institution: | Department of Archaeology and Anthropology |
Editors' group: | (not set) |
Description: | Today Kalmyks pronounce this holiday in two ways: Ur or Urs Sar. It is celebrated in the first month of summer according to the lunar calendar. In the past, this holiday had less religious significance and clergy, as a rule, sufficed with reading short prayers and blessing livestock. Nomads, however, celebrated it widely by staging a horse race, taming horses and wrestling.
Almost forgotten in the Soviet period, Ur(s) Sar has been revived as a holiday to celebrate the spiritual achievements of the Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. Hence, during this holiday people try to follow Buddha’s teachings by performing good deeds. The culmination of the month falls on the 15th day, when people celebrate the birth, enlightenment and departure of the Buddha to nirvana. During the entire holiday Kalmyks put up images of deities and decorate their dwellings with religious banners and leafy branches. Buddhist monks purify the earth and cattle by sprinkling them with a mixture of butter and milk. In their prayers Kalmyks include various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and a local deity called Tsagan Aav (White Old Man). Besides Buddhist rituals, people also perform pre-Buddhist rites involving sacrifice to the spiritual masters of land and water. |
Media items
This collection contains 17 media items.
Media items
Baatr Mandzhiev, About Ur Sar
27 views
Ur Sar is celebrated when spring ends and summer begins. The celebration includes singing, dancing and various competitions, such as wrestling, horse racing, and catching horses...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 23 May 2015
Batyr Elistaev, About Rituals to Appease Local Deities and Ur Sar
44 views
Lama Batyr talks about how people in his village of Orgakin perform various rituals to appease local deities. He describes three such rituals.
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Wed 21 Mar 2018
Bosya Ochirova, About Ur Sar
17 views
Bosya talks about Ur Sar.
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 23 May 2015
Galina Mandzhieva, About Ur Sar
21 views
Ur Sar coincides with a time when plants grow and the nomads move their livestock to their summer pasture land. In the past, before the Bolshevik Revolution, four animals,...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 25 Sep 2015
Garya Naminov, Ur Sar and the Ritual of Offering to Ancestors
9 views
Garya says that in his childhood people who were fasting celebrated Ur Sar in a special way. Such fasting people, who were usually elderly, prepared a special dish from sour...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Tue 16 Jun 2015
Ivan Modunkaev, Ur Sar
12 views
In May plants and trees grow. During Ur Sar which is celebrated in May people bless their land. They give fire offerings to their ancestors so that everyone lives happily. Kalmyk...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 23 May 2015
Larisa Kandueva, Ur Sar
14 views
Larisa talks about how the Kalmyks celebrated Ur Sar.
At the beginning of the month of Ur Sar the Kalmyks did the following. They separated their young sheep from the old ones,...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 30 May 2015
Larisa Shoglyaeva, About Ur Sar and Tsagan Sar
16 views
Larisa talks about how Ur Sar and Tsagan Sar are celebrated in her village of Orgakin.
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Fri 3 Feb 2017
Maria Erendzhenova, About Traditional Holidays
1 view
Maria says that during Urs Sar people offer their gods various products including milk, butter and biscuits. If one is far away from home, that person can do a simplified ritual:...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Thu 11 Jul 2019
Maria Kamandzhaeva, How to Celebrate Ur Sar
17 views
Maria says that historically the Kalmyks celebrated Ur Sar at the end of May or at the beginning of June, a time when spring ends and summer begins. It is also when livestock...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Wed 21 Sep 2016
Olga Budzhalova, About Urs Sar
8 views
Olga says that in the past during Urs Sar people cut soil with grass on it and brought it home. One such piece was placed in the shed with cows and another on the stove or near...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Mon 22 Apr 2019
Olzyata Badmaeva, Ur Sar
6 views
Olzyata says that during Ur Sar people pray to gods and ask for various things, including happiness and prosperity for themselves and their relatives, forgiveness if someone...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 23 May 2015
Svetlana Batyreva, About Traditional Holidays
4 views
Svetlana talks about Ur Sar and Zul.
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Mon 3 Sep 2018
Tamara Bazyreva, Ur Sar
9 views
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Tue 12 Dec 2017
Ubush Darzhinov, Ur Sar
24 views
Ubush says that people take vows during Ur Sar. He relays a story of a guy who took a vow to abstain from alcohol, but violated it by drinking beer. He started to have nightmares...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sat 25 Mar 2017
Worship of Land, 2017
2 views
This video features a ritual of worshipping the land dedicated to the national holiday of Urs Sar in May 2017 which was performed by lamas at the sacred location of Single Poplar...
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Sun 17 Feb 2019
Zurgada Antonova, Ur Sar
28 views
Zurgada reminisces how Ur Sar was celebrated in her childhood.
Collection: Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (UR SAR)
Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Created: Tue 1 Aug 2017