Beginning with a Mongolian song expressing love and longing for a departed father, this article reflects on the ways remembrance, filial devotion, and enduring kinship relationships find expression during Tsagaan Sar, Mongolia’s Lunar New Year celebrations.

Drawing on ethnographic scholarship, it considers how practices of visiting, greeting elders, and sharing hospitality sustain family relationships across generations, while honouring the memory of those no longer present. The song offers a moving point of departure for considering how paternal love, ancestral belonging, and the responsibilities of care remain woven into the everyday cultural practices through which Mongolian families celebrate renewal and continuity. Please refer to the Index of Letters and Articles for other works that may be of interest.

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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

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

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

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.

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NOTES

1. RENEWAL THROUGH VISITING

Tsagaan Sar (Цагаан сар), the Mongolian lunisolar New Year, is less a single “festival day” than a social season in which families prepare their households and renew relationships 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 symbolic, especially stacked kheviin boov and dumplings. In this way, hospitality becomes a visible expression of belonging (Kohl-Garrity 2019; Ganbaatar and Dashtseren 2025).

From an ethnographic perspective, what stands out is the patterned movement from one home to the next. Family members and close relations travel, sometimes over considerable distances, to exchange greetings, bring small gifts, and share food. These visits, particularly during the New Year period, follow customary sequences that reaffirm kinship ties and make family relationships tangible despite geographical distance and the demands of contemporary urban life (Kohl-Garrity 2019).

2. REMEMBERING THE ABSENT

At this time of year, Mongolian households also make space for remembrance. Stories of parents and grandparents who once hosted, travelled, or presided over New Year greetings are often recalled while preparing the table, folding dumplings, or arranging familiar foods “the way they did.” In this way, memory becomes part of ordinary family warmth rather than being confined to a formal commemorative occasion (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 harmonious relationships, thoughtful speech, and mutual regard. Continuity is therefore experienced not only as sentiment but also as a responsibility expressed through everyday actions (see Dar’khuu and Buyankhishig 2015).

I feel that the song above, through its lyrics and musical expression, honours this living thread of remembrance.

3. ELDERS, LINEAGE and CONTINUITY

The emotional centre of Tsagaan Sar is often the act of greeting elders and expressing respect through established forms of care and deference. In Mongolian cultural terms, this can be understood 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, often regarded as the patriarch (өрхийн тэргүүн), occupies a prominent ceremonial position during Tsagaan Sar. He may receive visitors first, represent the continuity of the family lineage, and help establish an atmosphere of dignity and mutual respect as relatives gather to exchange greetings (Kohl-Garrity 2019).

Although women frequently undertake much of the preparation and work involved in hosting, the patriarch’s role can carry considerable symbolic significance. His presence makes the household’s generational continuity visible, linking gratitude towards elders with a sense of responsibility for preserving family relationships, honouring the family name, and sustaining kinship ties across generations (Kohl-Garrity 2019; Demberel 2016).

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FURTHER READING

To further explore the role of domestic ritual, lineage, and the resilience of Mongolian identity, I recommend the following reflective fieldnotes:

For the role of women in preserving and transmitting Mongolian spiritual and domestic traditions, see Letter from Letter from Mongolia 04: Close to one’s chest.

For an examination of kinship and lineage through ethical reciprocity and merit, see Letter from Mongolia 12: On Meritocracy.

For a study of how cultural practices adapt and transform across changing social landscapes, see Letter from Letter from Mongolia 06: Transformational Creativity.

For a visual and ethnographic perspective on the historical period that challenged traditional Mongolian kinship structures, see Artscape 07: During the socialist times.

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About this Letter

A Letter from Mongolia is neither an academic paper nor a personal reflection. It begins with something observed; a song, a place, an object, a conversation, or an everyday cultural practice, and asks what it might reveal when placed in conversation with relevant scholarship. If readers come away noticing something they had not seen, heard, or understood before, then this letter has achieved its purpose.

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REFERENCES

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.