Publications in the Traditions section

Welcome to the White Month

On February 5, the country's Buddhists celebrate the new year according to the lunar calendar. In Buryatia, this holiday lasts a whole month and is called Sagaalgan, which translates as “White Month”.

From Mongolia to Russia

Photo: asiarussia.ru

Sagaalgan is rooted in the ancient national traditions of the Mongolian peoples. It was originally celebrated in the fall as a festival of dairy products. Later, under the influence of Chinese astrology, Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan moved it to the end of winter. Over time, the meaning of the White Month has ceased to be only “milk”: now Sagaalgan is associated with the renewal of man and nature, cleansing of all bad things and hope for happiness and prosperity.

In Russia, the White Month is widely celebrated in Buryatia, Kalmykia, Tuva, the Altai and Trans-Baikal regions. For residents of these regions, the first day of the Eastern New Year is traditionally declared a non-working day, and the entire subsequent month is accompanied by folk festivities, music and gastronomic festivals.

But it was not always so. In the 1930s, celebrating Sagaalgan, like other religious holidays, was banned in the USSR. Despite this, the rituals were carefully observed in secret and passed on from the older generation to the younger. This continued until the early nineties, when the ban on celebrating the White Month was lifted in Buryatia, and then in other Buddhist regions.

Don't sleep on your luck

Photo: newbur.ru

According to legend, on the first day of the White Month, the deity Baldan-Lhamo enters every house, counts the inhabitants of the house and brings happiness to everyone. Therefore, it is customary to get up very early so as not to oversleep your luck for the next year. After awakening, Buddhists pray, make offerings to the gods and go to a solemn prayer service.

On holidays, visiting is considered obligatory. You need to go around all your relatives with congratulations and gifts, starting with your parents and older relatives. These days, the greeting is special: the younger one extends his hands to the older one, palms up, and he, in response, places his hands on top of them, palms down. This gesture conveys respect and a promise of help and support. By the way, if it is not possible to determine seniority by external signs, then the question “How old are you?” is not considered bad manners on holidays.

On the days of Sagaalgan, another ritual is traditionally performed - the launching of Khiy Morin, or the “horse of the winds”. Fabric flags with images of patron animals are tied to the roof of a house or to a tree so that they flutter in the wind. According to beliefs, Khiy Morin protects households from misfortunes and illnesses, brings happiness and prosperity.

Buuz and “white” food

Photo: selorodnoe.ru

Meat and dairy foods become mandatory on the holiday table. At the head of the table are buuzas. The dish, which resembles manti or large dumplings, is steamed. Externally, buuzes are very similar to a yurt - the traditional dwelling of nomads. The whole family usually takes part in modeling, and the stocks of the finished product sometimes amount to thousands of pieces.

Also on the table you can see blood sausage, buheleer (lamb in broth), sharbin (unleavened belyashi), khushuur, which is molded in the same way as buuz, but then fried in boiling oil.

During the Sagaalgan celebrations there is a special attitude towards “white” food. Here, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheese and curdled milk are familiar to everyone, and traditional dishes like salamat (porridge made from sour cream, flour and butter), and aarsy (fermented milk drink). Alcoholic drinks are not encouraged in Buddhist culture, and during the White Month they are generally recommended to be avoided.

Order in the house - order in the head

Photo: bezformata.ru

Preparations for Sagaalgan begin long before the holiday. Housewives put their homes in perfect order, trying to get rid of everything unnecessary. For the same reasons, they try to finish unfinished business, pay off all debts, fulfill promises made, in order to enter a new life cycle with a clear head and pure thoughts.

Two days before the onset of the White Month, a purification ritual - Dugzhuuba - is performed in Buddhist temples. Believers bring and burn small pieces of dough to the large ritual bonfire, in which they mentally wrap everything bad.

The next day is considered “closed”. It is advisable to spend it at home with loved ones, praying and doing only good deeds.

Determined fire rooster

Photo: vstretim-prazdnik.com

Unlike the usual New Year's Eve, Sagaalgan does not have a fixed date. Every year it has to be re-calculated using astrological tables. This time, the first day of the White Month will come on February 5, when the Yellow Earth Pig will become the rightful owner of the year.

There is a legend according to which Buddha called all the animals to him before leaving the earth. But only 12 of them responded to his call to say goodbye. In gratitude, Buddha gave each animal a year of reign. Thus, in the 12-year cycle of the lunar calendar, the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig appeared. It is believed that they all bring personal character traits to their year.

Celebration of Sagaalgan, photo from the website of the Center for the Culture of Indigenous Peoples of the Baikal Region, etno.pribaikal.ru

In general, in the international family of residents of Irkutsk and the region, the New Year according to the lunar calendar is revered and celebrated by many. Sagaalgan - the White Month holiday is a symbol of the renewal of man and nature, and its ideals of peace, good neighborliness, and respect for elders are shared by representatives of all nationalities.
Sagaalgan begins from the first spring new moon. Unlike our usual New Year, which we celebrate at midnight from December 31 to January 1, Sagaalgan begins early in the morning, immediately after sunrise.
On the eve of the white month celebration Buryats clean the house, update their clothes, and get rid of old things. In this way, people seem to say goodbye to the past, to what is gone.

It echoes the Russian customs of celebrating the New Year, doesn’t it? We also generalize, we get rid of the dilapidated, broken, old and unnecessary.

At about 4-5 in the morning, the Buryats are already awake, and at dawn they greet the Sun and the Eternal Blue Sky.
According to legends, it is at dawn, with the rising of the Sun, that the deity, Palden Lhamo, the patroness of Tibet, enters every house and counts everyone who is in the house. It is believed that Lhamo keeps a count of only those people who are awake, who are awake, dressed up and ready to greet a new day. If someone oversleeps, he will not be taken into account by the deity and, accordingly, will miss his luck for the whole year.

Maybe the Russian proverb: “He who gets up early, God gives to him” was born for a reason?

According to the rules of the Sagaalgan meeting You must first introduce yourself to the Sun and thank him for a successful year. Gratitude includes not only warm words of gratitude, but also offerings (treats) for the spirits. It could be milk, sweets, tea, vodka.
Then you need to present all members of your family to the Sun and the Eternal Blue Sky, as well as the spirits that the person worships. Only after that ask for what you want for next year. Basically, this is the well-being of the family and the health of all relatives and friends.

Celebration of Sagaalgan, photo by the administration of the Aginsky district, aginskoe.ru

The shaman, who gave a lecture on the traditions of celebrating the white month, said that the wishes of the Buryats in Sagaalgan are usually: health for livestock, a good harvest, prosperity for the family business, meeting your soul mate, and the birth of children.
As it turns out, all nationalities have the same dreams.

On the first day of Sagaalgan they don't visit. This day is spent exclusively with family.
Such universal human values ​​as honoring elders and respect for each other, strengthening the family, and introducing young people to the cultural heritage of their ancestors come to the fore. This seemingly simple folk philosophy is passed on by the holiday from generation to generation.
For example, in the ceremony of presenting gifts to each other, the youngest in the family are the first to congratulate and give gifts. That is, children go to their parents, parents to their parents, etc. This is a sign of respect and respect for elders. Parents, having accepted congratulations and gifts from their children, congratulate everyone in return according to seniority, and first congratulate men (boys), and then women (girls).
Importance is attached to the very message of the gift, while its form, high cost, prestige do not matter. In the gift exchange ritual, the main thing is attention.

On the remaining days of the Sagaalgan celebration It is customary to visit guests and treat guests at home. The more guests visit the house during the celebration, and the richer the table, the luckier and more satisfying the coming year will be.


In the Buryat tradition there is a rule - never answer the question “how are you?”, “how is life?”, or “everything is bad.” For example, when Buryats ask: “How are you?” He must answer that “everything is fine,” or that “everything is going slowly.” But never answer - “everything is bad”, “no money”, “depression”, “bad luck”.
Even if in fact his affairs are not important, he will answer:
- “How are the cattle?”
- “Grows slowly” (even if he has a death).
- “Are cows getting fat?”
- “We have a little, we feed, we try” (even if there was a dry year and there was nothing to feed the cattle).

It’s a good tradition, because thought is material)

Ancient times It was not customary for the Buryats to remember their birthdays, much less celebrate them. With the onset of the White Month, each Buryat added a year to himself. In this case, the year was counted from the year of conception, and not from the year of birth. That is, for example, you are now 30 years old and + a year in your mother’s belly, that is, 31 years old.
Even if you were born on the eve of Sagaalgan, then in ancient times you would have added a year and + a year in the belly, so a month-old baby could be 2 years old.
The same was done with the age of the livestock. All cows, horses, pigs, and rams were given 1 year added with the onset of Sagaalgan.
They say that this custom is still observed in some villages.

Articles about traveling around Buryatia:
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Almost the whole world is accustomed to celebrating the New Year on the night of December 31 to January 1. As a rule, it is celebrated with family or friends, they decorate a Christmas tree, set a large festive table and wait for midnight, when one year gives way to another. However, some peoples of the world historically celebrated it at a completely different time and even now, in addition to the calendar holiday, they celebrate their national New Year.

How and when the indigenous peoples of Buryatia celebrate the change of year, the AiF-Buryatia correspondent looked into it.

When a birch leaf blooms

The summer holiday of Ikenipke can be considered the Evenki New Year holiday. As I told you Nadezhda Shemetova, head of the state republican center of Evenki culture “Arun”, it comes at the end of spring - beginning of summer, when birch leaves bloom in the lands where the Evenks have lived for centuries. It marks the awakening of nature, and its renewal becomes the starting point of the New Year. On this day, traditional rituals are held, and the Spirits are presented with treats - sweets, prepared meat, bread, milk and other products.

There are no holidays for the Evenks on the dates of the calendar new year, as well as in December and January. The closest to them is the November festival of the first snow. The image of Tugeni Enyoken - Mother Winter - has always been associated with him: a beautiful mature woman dressed in a traditional Evenki outfit trimmed with white fur. It was connected primarily not with people, but with nature. The time when the first snow covered the ground and Tugeni Enyoken came into its own was considered a holiday, as well as the best time for hunting.

Now the image of Tugeni Enyoken has a new interpretation. “In the last 15-20 years, the arrival of Mother Winter has become associated not only with the holiday of the first snow, but also with the calendar New Year,” says Nadezhda Egorovna. “To some extent, the use of her image these days is artificial, because historically she was not associated with it.” However, the children of Tugeni really fell in love with Enyoken, and now she appears at the holiday, not replacing Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, but as a third, purely Evenki character. She plays games with the children, asks them riddles and treats them with sweets.

"White Month", Buddhism and Shamanism

Buryatia is a region in which two religions - shamanism and Buddhism - not only get along, but also intertwine so that common holidays appear. These include the most important Buryat holiday - Sagaalgan or “White Moon Holiday”.

Before the advent of Buddhism, the Buryats celebrated it on the day of the autumn equinox - September 22 or 23. However, the grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, under the influence of the new religion, moved the holiday to the end of February - beginning of March, that is, to the New Year according to the lunar calendar. Sagaalgan marks its beginning, and the “white month” is the first, “clean” month of the coming year. It is considered primarily a family holiday. At this time, a ceremony is held to honor the elders, the younger ones give them gifts, and the elders then go to the elders and give them gifts.

By the way, Sagaalgan begins not at midnight, but at sunrise. The day before, the house is cleaned up and unnecessary things are gotten rid of. It is interesting that historically the Buryats even began to count age only after the “white month” arrived.

Do the Buryats have Santa Claus?

The White Elder Sagaan Ubgen is considered an analogue of the usual New Year's grandfather with gifts in Buryatia. But still, he is not Santa Claus, but a religious character. Even before the advent of Buddhism, he was considered the patron of longevity, wealth, happiness, family well-being, procreation and fertility. Sagan Ubgen commanded wild animals, domestic animals and even people, and was also the ruler of mountains, earth and water. According to legend, when he appears, he brings peace, tranquility and balance to the lives of those who revere him.

Previously, the Mongolian peoples - and not only the Buryats revere the White Old Man - depicted him as a hermit with a white beard, dressed in white clothes and holding in his hands a staff with the head of a dragon. Over the long centuries, Sagan Ubgen has changed: now the old man is still dressed in white clothes, but in winter - a fur hat and a white fur coat with stylized Buryat patterns.

You can meet the White Elder only once a year - in Sagaalgan. His residence on this day is located in a large yurt of the ethnographic museum of the peoples of Transbaikalia. In addition, she appears on the central square of Ulan-Ude during the celebration of the arrival of the “white month”. Although he is not Santa Claus, children perceive him as such and expect gifts from him, so he carries a small bag of sweets with him. On February 27, 2017, a new year will begin according to the Buddhist calendar - the year of the Red Fire Rooster.

According to the Buddhist tradition, before celebrating the New Year (in Buryat - Sagaalgan), it is customary to spend the old year with dignity: do a big cleaning of the house, and also take part in cleansing rituals.

On Thursday, February 23, at 6 p.m., lamas will perform a ceremony of blessing the offerings specially made for Sagaalgan.

On February 24, Friday, from 10:00 a prayer service for the Ten Defenders of the Teaching - Arban Hangal (Gombo, Gongor, Shagdar, Choyzhal, Lhamo, Sendema, Shalshi, Namsarai, Zhamsaran and Tsangba) will be held throughout the day. A prayer service is held with a request for the protection of all living beings, for the removal of obstacles and obstacles to the path of following the Teachings of the Buddha.

On February 25, Saturday, at 10:00 a.m. Sakhyusan Khural will be held. From 15:00 a prayer service, Taban Kharyulga, will be held to help eliminate obstacles, false views, various troubles, sorrows, diseases of the body and mind, and overcome the harmful influence of external factors. During Khural, lamas read ritual texts aimed at averting harm, which include prayers addressed to White Tara, White Umbrella Tara, Green Tara, as well as the great text “Heart Sutra” (“Shernin” - Bur.) and a special text “ Khamchu Nagbo” - to eliminate the effects of bad thoughts, evil tongues, and the consequences of bad dreams.

At 17:00 the lamas will begin to read a special prayer service of Dugzhuub, after which they will light a ritual fire. This ritual is aimed at getting rid of the sorrows, sins and sorrows of the passing year. It is held two days before the new year according to the Buddhist calendar. For the fire, parishioners make dough at home (only flour and water, without any additives) and rub themselves in small pieces. The dough must first be rolled over the forehead - symbolically collecting bad thoughts on it, then around the mouth - collecting bad words, across the chest - cleansing the soul, then in the palms - as if wrapping unseemly deeds around the dough. You can also roll the dough over the entire surface of the body, imagining that all the bad things are being drawn out of it: illnesses, spoilage, negative emotions. Then these small pieces of dough are wrapped in napkins or paper (in no case in polyethylene!), brought to the datsan and thrown into the ritual fire. At the same time, the lamas prepare the so-called “soor” - a tall pyramid of slats, paper and dough, topped with a skull, resembling an arrowhead. During ritual prayers, the bad karma of the community for the past year is “put into it”, and then solemnly burned on a separate bonfire as a symbol of spiritual purification.
February 26, Sunday - day of fasting (butuu uder, or “closed day”): from 10:00 - Sakhyusan Khural, from 15:00 - Mandal Shiva prayer service (praise of Green Tara).

From 22:00 to 5:00 on February 27 - a solemn prayer service Baldan Lhamo, dedicated to the celebration of the New Buddhist Year of the Red Fire Rooster.

On Monday, February 27, at 5 o'clock in the morning, a solemn prayer service, Sidor Lhamo, will begin, the offensive of Sagaalgan will be celebrated, hadaks (special multi-colored scarves) will be exchanged, a ritual of invoking good luck and prosperity will be held, all those present will be able to taste white food (food that contains milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter).
In the tradition of Tibetan-Mongolian Buddhism, the New Year's holiday prayer service is the first of the six most important annual holidays - khurals. The celebration of the New Year in Tibet acquired Buddhist content only at the beginning of the 15th century, when the famous Tibetan reformer of Buddhism and founder of the Gelug school, Tsonghawa, developed rules for holding holidays in Buddhist monasteries. Tsonghava timed the celebration of Monlam Chenmo (Great Prayer Service - Tib.) to coincide with the New Year. This holiday lasts for 15 days and is dedicated to the memory of 15 miracles that, according to legend, Buddha Shakyamuni performed in the Indian city of Shravasti. This year Monlam Chenmo will be held from February 27 to March 14.

At the same time, it is customary on the second day of Sagaalgan, February 28, Tuesday, to hang khiy morins - to perform the ritual of launching the “horses of the wind of luck.” The lamas will perform a special ritual of consecration of the Hiy Morin - Hiy Morin San. “Lucky Wind Horse” is a symbol showing the state of a person’s well-being.

On the 15th day of Monlam Chenmo, March 14, Tuesday, from 10:00 the lamas will hold a festive prayer service Chongprul Duisen. On Wednesday, March 15, Dodudba, a text from the Prajnaparamita Sutra, will be read. On March 16, Thursday, from 10:00 a special Sahyusan Khural will be held to mark the end of the Monlam Chenmo holiday.

Sagaalgan is celebrated for a whole month, this is the most favorable time for carrying out cleansing rites, for visiting an astrologer lama, from whom you can find out what to do and what to avoid in the coming year, you can also invite a lama to your home to carry out a cleansing rite for your home.