Life and Death in Ulaanbatar

Genghis Khan Statue

The Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue,is a 40 meter tall statue of Genghis Khan on horseback, The statue is symbolically pointed east towards his birthplace.

Came across this statue and it is an impressive piece of stainless steel metal work. You can walk up inside the statue and take in the view from the horses head. There is also a museum under the statue which had an impressive private collection of pieces dating back to the bronze age.

The Zaisan Memorial 

It is a memorial that honors Soviet soldiers killed in WWII. Located on a hill south of the city, the memorial features a circular memorial painting that depicts scenes of friendship between the peoples of the USSR and Mongolia. 

For a child, the first big celebration is the first haircut, usually at an age between three and five. The birthday congratulation banquet is one of the traditional festivity banquets for the Mongolian ethnic group. There is a banquet held right on a baby's one-year-old birthday congratulation. After that, however, all banquets and other celebration activities, concerning one's birthday congratulation as well as one's year of fate, are held on the first day of the first lunar month, along with the Spring Festival. According to Mongolian conventions, there are no banquets celebrating one's 13th, 25th, 37th and 49th years of fate. Though they are considered a little more important than usual birthday congratulations, there will be no more celebration than receiving presents from relatives. On the contrary, when it comes to the 61st, 73rd and 85th animal years of the aged, their offspring have to select an auspicious day, and send invitations beforehand to relatives, friends as well as neighbors before finally holding the birthday congratulation ceremony. However, it should be noted that in several places, there are celebrations on one's 60th, 70th, 80th and 90th birthday congratulations, which are almost identical with ceremonies of one's animal year in terms of both the content and form.

They kowtow and present a blessing had a as well as other gifts. Presents from relatives, friends or townsmen should all be in propitious numbers such as three, nine or eighty-one. The blessing had a ranks first in a presents. For Mongolian people, it is considered to be the most sacred and noble gift given to seniors and distinguished guests.

Besides the blessing hada, there is a variety of birthday congratulation gifts, such as porcelain bowls engraved with dragons coiling in clouds, silver and metal bowls, matches, tobacco, alcohol, silk and satins. Hats should be avoided, though. It is unpropitious to send hats because traditionally, "cover one's head with a hat" is connected with bad luck. Furthermore, it has been an ancient tradition for Mongolians to send a tobacco purse, the mouth of which is always upward and thus symbolizes prosperity.

Deceased relatives were usually put to rest in the open, Sky buried is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposing to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially birds of grey.  

For Tibetan Buddhists, sky burial and cremation are templates of instructional teaching of the impermanence of life. It is considered an act of generosity on the part of the deceased, since the deceased and his/her surviving relatives are providing food to sustain living beings.

Nowadays, corpses are usually buried. Prior to the procedure, monks may chant mantra around the body and burn juniper incense.