Dedicated to (my/our) wonderful fathers

(Сайхан аавууддаа зориулав)

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Lyrics (trans.)

My carefree childhood
Was spent in my father’s lap
He became the sun of my heart
Oh, how I miss my father
Like sunlight peeking through the clouds
Though he has departed from us, his children
He is the thread that runs through my eternal dreams
Sorrow and yearning are arising in my heart

Chorus
If only I could meet him once again and be held
If only I could sleep in his arms
If only I could meet him once again and be held
If only I could sleep in his arms

Verse 2
That most precious feeling in my heart
I regret I never had time to cherish it
On the bends and turns of this harsh world
He could not return to be my companion
At the sound of spring birds singing
My yearning heart trembles
Like the protective mountain ranges of Khangai
I miss my caring father so deeply

(Chorus)

Verse 3
Like the purest white milk
A sacred gift sent from my ancestors
His boundless, eternal love
I carry deep within my chest
Like sunlight peeking through the clouds
Though he has departed from us, his children
He is the thread that runs through my eternal dreams
Sorrow and yearning are arising in my heart.

(Chorus x2)

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I’ve translated the original Mongolian lyrics into English for those of you not familiar with the Mongolian language (Cyrillic). The above version of the lyrics has not been cut-and-pasted from elsewhere, so if there are mistakes they are all of my own making, and for these I humbly apologise to my Mongolian and other readers. I’m approaching each translation with care and learning slowly as I go…

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Notes

RENEWAL THROUGH VISITING

Tsagaan Sar (Цагаан сар), the solar-lunar New Year, is less a single “festival day” than a social season in which Mongolian families reset the household and renew ties through visiting. Homes are cleaned and made ready to receive guests; a carefully arranged table signals welcome and continuity, with foods that are both practical and emblematic—especially stacked kheviin boov and dumplings—so that hospitality becomes a visible language of belonging (Kohl-Garrity 2019; Ganbaatar and Dashtseren 2025). Ethnographically, what stands out is the patterned movement from one home to the next: kin and close relations travel, often long distances in the Winter, in an ordered sequence, bringing small gifts, sharing food, and exchanging greetings that make family feel tangible across distance and busy city-life schedules (Kohl-Garrity 2019).

REMEMBERING THE ABSENT

At this time of year, Mongolian households also hold space for remembrance. Stories of parents and grandparents—those who once hosted, travelled, or presided over greetings—are often recalled while preparing the table, folding dumplings, or laying out familiar foods “the way they did,” so that memory is carried as part of ordinary family warmth rather than separated into a formal commemorative event (Bumochir and Munkherdene 2019). In this sense, Tsagaan Sar celebrates the future by reaffirming the past: it frames renewal as a moral practice—beginning the year with clean relations, careful speech, and mutual regard—so that continuity is felt not only as sentiment, but as an enacted responsibility (see Dar’khuu and Buyankhishig 2015). I feel the above song and its musical language honours such a living thread of remembrance.

ELDERS, LINEAGE and CONTINUITY

The holiday’s emotional centre is often the act of greeting elders and acknowledging hierarchy as care—what can be described, in Mongolian terms, as a form of filial piety expressed through “respecting one’s parents” (Монголын ойлголтоор “эцэг эхээ хүндлэх” хэмээх ахуйн ёс, “эцэг эхээ дээдлэх, ачийг нь хариулах”) (Demberel 2016). Within many families, the senior man of the household—frequently treated as the patriarch (өрхийн тэргүүн)—anchors the home’s public face during Tsagaan Sar: he receives visitors first, embodies the continuity of the lineage, and helps set the tone of dignity and restraint that allows the wider network to gather without friction (Kohl-Garrity 2019). Even when women do much of the planning and labor of hosting, the patriarch’s role often carries symbolic weight: his presence makes the household’s generational “spine” visible, linking gratitude toward elders with the obligation to keep the family name steady and the kinship chain unbroken (Kohl-Garrity 2019; Demberel 2016).

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Further Reading

Bumochir, Dulam, and Gantulga Munkherdene. 2019. “Revitalisation of Cultural Heritage in Mongolia: Development, Legislation and Academic Contribution.” Inner Asia 21 (1): 83–104.

Dar’khuu, R., and B. Buyankhishig. 2015. “Culture as a Phenomenon of Human Existence.” Philosophy, Religion Studies (National University of Mongolia). (Соёл хүний оршихуйн үзэгдэл болох нь.)

Demberel, S. 2016. “On the New Religious Movement Called MÜÜN.” Философи, шашин судлал (National University of Mongolia). (МҮҮН хэмээх шинэ шашны хөдөлгөөний тухай.)

Ganbaatar, T., and P. Dashtseren. 2025. “The Dynamics and Symbolism of Gift Giving in Tsagaan Sar: A Study of Mongolian Cultural Identity and Hospitality.” International Journal of Social Science and Human Research 8 (4).

Kohl-Garrity, Elisa Myriam. 2019. The Weight of Respect: Khündlekh Yos—Frames of Reference, Governmental Agendas and Ethical Formations in Modern Mongolia. PhD diss., Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.