Mongolian Daily Life
A brief description of the traditional lifestyles, food, clothing, and housing of Mongolia.
Traditional Lifestyles of Mongolia
The traditional lifestyle of Mongolia is one of nomadic steppe herding. Families traveled together in small groups as members of larger tribes. Together, they raised vast herds of livestock like horses, camels, sheep, goats, and cattle. Their diets were heavy in meat and dairy. Women typically managed the affairs of a household. They boiled meat, usually mutton, and packed it into dumplings. They milked livestock and processed it into cheeses, curds, yogurt, and cream. Milk could also be fermented into airag, or kumis, or brewed into a hearty tea. Men, meanwhile, were more occupied with hunting, herding, and warfare.
Herders moved from winter to summer pastures in ger felt tents. The ger, supported by latticed walls, roof poles, and a light-weight roof, can be carried by horses, oxen, and camels and assembled in about two hours. Both men and women wore deel, a long silk, cotton, or wool tunic secured with a sash. Colors and patterns varied between genders and different family groups. Tribes also specialized in ornate headgear, particularly for women.
Life in the Mongol Empire
During the Mongolian Empire, daily life in the heartland of Mongolia remained relatively unchanged. Far-flung khanates, meanwhile, tended to adopt the customs of their new homes. Kublai Khan, ruling from modern Beijing, spoke Chinese and practiced Confucianism. The Ilkhanate of Persia embraced Islam in 1295. To the northwest, Batu Khan’s Golden Horde eventually came to be dominated by Turkish and Tatar forces. The Mongolian people of these khanates tended to make up its elites, leading luxurious lifestyles. When Mongolia at last fell to China in the 1600s, its nomads for the most part continued their annual migrations. The rise of Tibetan Buddhism saw as much as one-third of the male population become monks, or lamas. By the 20th century, now under Soviet control, the state’s population slowly split into rural farmers and an urban industrial workforce.
Modern Life in Mongolia
This traditional way of life, with a few modern twists, is still practiced in the rural areas of Mongolia. About half of the nation’s population, or 1.4 million people, now live in its capital city Ulaanbaatar. Lifestyles in the city range from its sprawling outer ger districts to central apartment buildings, shopping malls, skyscrapers, and single-family homes. The city is notorious for high smog levels, the byproduct of coal furnaces in cold weather. Its residents may still wear the deel and prepare traditional meals, but Western-style food and clothing are now common as well.
References
Curtin, Jeremiah. The Mongols: A History. Little, Brown, and Company. 1907.
Jackson, Peter. The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410. Routledge. 2014.
Lane, George. Daily Life in the Mongol Empire. Greenwood Press. 2006.
Rossabi, Morris. Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists. University of California Press. 2005.
“The World Factbook: Mongolia.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1 May 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html.
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