Sagaan Sar Opening Events! An Amazing Day

Sagaan Sar is the biggest celebration of the year in Mongolia. It is their New Years celebration.  Sagaan Sar means "White Moon".  It is not the Chinese New Year, it is strictly Mongolian.  This year it falls on January 31st as the "first day", of a three day feast. On the 30th they clean their homes from top to bottom. This is also a time for the people to pay off any debts that they owe. In the weeks before Sagaan Sar they prepare byyz (boodz), thousands of them. Most make between 1000 to 2000, bigger families make 3000 to 4000. They invite family and special guests on the first day which is Friday this year.  We have 8 invitations starting at 8:30 am until 8:00 pm Friday evening.  We are told we need to eat 6-8 byyz at each place we visit.  We heard one large American missionary ate 400 byyz over the 3 days. We plan on many less. We've been told not to take any hostess gifts, but that they will give you gifts!

Today was planned for foreigners to attend a get- to-know Sagaan Sar event. It started with a demonstration of how to make byyz, traditional clothes to wear, vendors selling Mongolian crafts and art, contortionists, a large childrens group performing traditional songs and dance, slide show and displays.










 
Here we are wearing the traditional "Huntaaz".
We were told to wear a "Dell", which is full length, with long sleeves and worn with a belt.
They look like robes but made with a heavier, elaborate material. They are very warm. They are usually worn by the older generation year round. During national celebrations many people wear them. Instead
of the Dell, Huntaaz are acceptable to visit the homes we have been invited to during Sagaan Sar.







That was followed by a professional group of dancers, musicians and singers. It was wonderful.



































They then escorted us to the City Museum to show us enlarged photos taken by a famous American photographer a hundred years ago. There were also a tyrannosaurus rex, pterodactyl and other dinosaur era displays and other artifacts. They gave a prize to the foreigners that wore the best Mongolian clothing. Debbie and I won. Since we were the ONLY foreigners wearing the traditional clothing, we won by default! :) We sure appreciated the gifts!!









We then attended the big wrestling match. As you may know from our Nadaam Festival photos and stories, wrestling is huge here.
















Then the BIG surprise!! After the wrestling event the city leaders announced all of the winners in many different categories.  Our own Sun Child School was chosen as the "Best Family in the City of Darkhan.  This is one of the very top awards. The biggest award is given to the "Best Citizen for 2013".  Out of 13 key individuals chosen, again, our own Sun Child Director, Erdene Chaluun won!! They presented her with this unique, traditional art with Mongolian script. We were so excited for her and the school!!! She is so deserving! She not only runs the school, but runs kindergartens for homeless children. She does a great job and works hard to make the kids feel welcomed and loved. The Director helps so many to develop talents they never new they had, to develop a strong work ethic and self confidence.
What a wonderful surprise and a great day!!!

Sun Child Performance Videos 3

This is another great dance. They are working on one dedicated to the horse. We saw their entire dry run and it is really going to be awesome. It is very high energy. The Director told us they are working on some other very difficult dances we haven't seen yet. Their costumes are not ready yet so I will post that dance when they begin their dress rehearsal. They design and make all of their own costumes. The upstairs of the rehearsal building this was filmed in has a large sewing room and the art classroom.

Their next tour of Japan will be in July for two weeks.  When we return to the US we want to find a way to get their tour to come to the States. Let me know if you can help or what connections you may have to bring them to Utah.

Sun Child Performance Videos 2

This is an amazing performance by Oyuka on the Yatga, a harp like Mongolian instrument.  Watch those fingers.

Sun Child Performance Videos

We were invited to another dress rehearsal at the school where we teach. They are preparing for their annual 13 day concert tour of Japan in July. They design and make all of their costumes. This is my favorite dance.

 

 

 

Mongolian New Year Celebration

Many Mongolians celebrate Christmas and New Years on New Years Eve.  They gather as family and eat a large evening meal, open presents, then celebrate New Years with a champagne toast and cake.  At 12:15am the President of Mongolia gives a New Years speech with his goals for the year and vision for the people.  He set an interesting example by offering a New Years toast with a bowl of milk and asked the people to follow his example and not use vodka or champagne.

This is the very large city theater where we have seen a number of wonderful concerts and performances. It is about one block from our apartment.  You can see the tall Christmas tree and the ice carvings in front. This is where thousands will gather tonight for the shows and fireworks to bring in the New Year. 

 This is Iron Man.  As you enter Darkhan from the South there is a huge statue made of iron as a tribute to a large steel manufacturer in Darkhan. This sculpture is a replica.

 Here is Iron Man later that evening as we arrived for the music and fireworks.  All of the ice carvings had lights of different colors inside them. It was cold!

The stage where Emcees introduced rock and rap groups.  There were also music videos on a large screen.

They had a nice display of fireworks. We tried to catch some fireworks behind us but no luck.  Happy New Year!!!















     The Original "Iron Man" About 60 feet tall

As part of the New Year's festivities, we had a wonderful evening with this family. The beautiful young lady in the middle is Nurjan. Her and I get together to study English for her and Mongolian for me. Nurjan is the most studious young person I have ever met! She speaks Mongolian, Turkish and English. The effort she puts into studying English is commendable!  She hopes to attend BYU-Hawaii for one year before going on a mission at age 19. The family, at the present time, have an older daughter and son serving missions in Mongolia. The dad, Raikhan, works in a gold mine in the Gobi desert and the mom, Khandaa, is Primary President in our branch. They are faithful in the gospel and such an example to us.

Darken Zone MIssionary Christmas Party

Wednesday, December 25th, Christmas Day was wonderful.  We were invited to the Early Morning Seminary Class at the New Darkhan Branch. It started at 6:30am. The teacher and his wife are an awesome couple. The kids really love them and the students are so diligent in reading scriptures and offering their testimonies.

Would you believe that youth between the ages of 14 and 18 get up early, all over the world to attend a religious-study class each morning before school? Many of you have probably never heard of such a thing. These faithful young people come each day to gain strength against the adversary and to increase their knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 It was a great spiritual way to start Christmas Day.  Here are some of the kids, and others that were there. The couple served some tasty food and treats after the class.

 

We then went to the Old Darkhan Branch to begin setting up tables and chairs, decorating, preparing food and music, etc. There were 32 missionaries in attendance from our Zone.  There were speakers, hymns, lots of food and caroling. We also had a white-elephant gift exchange. It was a hit with the rest of the missionaries!

 

 

The three senior couple missionaries performed the Twelve Days of Christmas.  It is such a long tradition in the Fredley family we didn't want a Christmas without it. :) We calculated we have been doing the actions to the carol for 35 years with our kids. (You can view the performance on our facebook page.)

We then finished a wonderful day with three youth baptisms from the Old Darkhan Branch.

 

Sun Child Orphanage Christmas Party

Sunday December 29th we were invited to attend the Christmas/New Years Party at the orphanage where we teach.  We love the kids there and the Director of Sun Child is an amazing woman and leader. She is so compassionate about her "family". We can't begin to tell you about all the things she does for these kids, even the ones that have graduated from there. She continues to offer support to those who go on to attend the universities. Many of them come back to help the kids there now.

They performed some Christmas songs, then pop and other hit songs and dances and a comedy skit. They are so talented and fun to be around. We took the new Senior Missionary couple with us and they loved it. We were treated like royalty.

We were so excited to be able to present the 40 winter jackets that were obtained through an  Eagle Scout Project! A great scout  from our home Ward in Utah, BJ Echols, chose this project, to supply winter jackets to each of the youth at the orphanage. There were some obstacles, but low and behold, they arrived just in time for Christmas!!! It was a Christmas miracle! Thank you BJ and all those who helped make this possible!



The Director-Teacher, all the children and
the staff were so grateful to get this surprise
package! There were plenty of boy's and girl's
jackets to go around!

We were presented with a large cake and card, which was signed by all the children and staff.  Cake for New Years is a huge tradition here.  You would not believe the number of cakes that were purchased the last couple of days!