His First Haircut

In the fall, I was invited to attend the hair-cutting ceremony of my counterpart Saranchimeg's 3 year old son, Zolbayar. We had learned about this ceremony during training, but I had never been able to attend one, so I was really honored and happy to be invited. In my understanding, the ceremony marks the transition from "babyhood" to "childhood" for boys and girls, and occurs between the ages of 2 and 6. Infancy, especially for children in herding families, is a vulnerable time. Many herding families have little to no access to medical facilities. So, a child making it through this time is something worth celebrating. The hair-cutting ceremony is a ritual held, in part, for that purpose. Traditionally, a lama would tell the parents which year is best for their child, and many families still consult lamas for this purpose.

As with seemingly all Mongolian gatherings, there was an over-abundance of food, including the requisite aruul (dried milk curd), potato salad, carrot salad, buuz, fruits, and suutai tai (milk tea). Saranchimeg and her husband put out a lovely and delicious spread, and their young niece helped serve food. It was a relatively small gathering -- mostly the other foreign language teachers from our school, though the ceremony is sometimes much larger and sometimes even smaller.

Passing of the airag (fermented mare's milk) got the ceremony started. The airag was in a beautiful pewter bowl, and each person took a sip before cutting Saranchimeg's son's hair.

Zolbayar walked around the table, while each guest took a turn cutting off a small lock of hair and placing it on a pewter tray. Before cutting, we wrapped a ceremonial hadaag (silk sash or scarf) around our hand and the scissors. After cutting, each person said a small "prayer" for the child's happiness and well-being in the future.

He very patiently allowed each of us to cut his hair, a glass of juice and Mom's touch making it all a little easier. When the cutting was finished, we ate many buuz and talked about life, and I felt very fortunate to be part of this special gathering. Saranchimeg wrapped the hair in silk and put it away, to be given to Zolbayar when he is older. Zolbayar, meanwhile, was given the cash collected for the occasion, and though he didn't seem to know quite what to do with it, he seemed to understand that it was something to hold on to--and he did so for the rest of the time we were there!