From the perspective of research methodology, the following short essay is an example of how narrative can illuminate a particular form of Mongolian women’s contribution to revitalising their spiritual traditions and practices. Pseudonyms originally assigned to Mongolian women participating in this study have been retained, and their own words (translated) appear in italics.

Please refer to the Index of Letters and Articles for other works that may be of interest.

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THE KITCHEN-HOUSE

Yesterday evening I was in Narantsetseg’s house. We were having fun there! Narantseteg’s kitchen-house at the monastery is the central hub of activity for all her women friends as well as the lams and anyone else who comes to the monastery for other reasons. This is everyone’s first point of call, the place where someone should go for help, advice, or information.

Whilst so many others do come and go, this remains the primary venue for the ‘women’s circle’ where, whilst vegetables (mainly onions, potatoes, cabbage and carrots) are endlessly chopped, conversations about anything and everything and everyone continue unabated, except of course when the Abbot or another senior visiting prelate happens to pop in.

Whilst Jijig emee (Mong. for ‘little lady’) was doing her prostrations, she remembered one old story and started telling us, “In the early days there was one man who, whilst prostrating to his protector, got the idea to slaughter his big, red bull.” Then Narantsetseg laughed at her and said, ‘You are not prostrating properly anymore either are you?’ We all laughed.

Over many years, I have come to understand that Jijig emee is an absolutely devout practitioner of her faith. She also becomes somewhat eccentric, deviating from conventional behaviour, frequently and particularly when in the company of these, her female friends. Now well into her 80s, the stories she tells are always colourful and require a closer reading after the telling due to their content. These are not an old woman’s ramblings. Her mind remains as sharp as a tack!

I do not claim to understand all of jijig emee’s own stories. However, what I can say is that she takes great delight in telling these. Some are incredibly long. Others are quick plays that extend and bend conventional Buddhist practices and take the listener, through the use of unexpected imagery, to unexpected places, and at times even unexpected insights into the human condition. She told us another story, about one man who took a 100 tugrik bill and put it in his mouth and held it there with his lips whilst he continued to do hundreds of prostrations.

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Source: Pleteshner, C. (2011). Nomadic Temple: Daughters of Tsongkhapa in Mongolia (Unpublished manuscript).  The Zava Damdin Sutra and Scripture Institute Library Archive in the Manjushri Temple, Soyombot Oron, Mongolia), pp167-168. (edited extract).

Acknowledgement: During my post-graduate studies at Victoria University in Melbourne I was introduced to this strategy of writing short stories as a way of presenting ethnographic qualitative research data by Assoc. Prof Mark Stevenson.

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FURTHER READING

To further consider the communal grounding of nutag, the aesthetics of hospitality, and the domestic maintenance of cultural space, I recommend the following reflective fieldnotes:

For a literary perspective on how culture and identity are re-created and sustained through the delicate practice of translation, see Letters from Mongolia 11: Translation as re-creation.

For an ethnographic record of the consecration of a communal spiritual space and its role in local reconstruction, see Landscape 04: Cоёнбот Oрон (Soyombot Oron) temple consecration.

For a textual counterpart to the nutag of the kitchen, documenting the first major English language reference book by Zava Damdin and the careful preservation of lineage through its translation, see Artscape 02: The Great Nenchen.

For a biographical account of maternal agency and the preservation of lineage within the Gobi’s social textures, see Vignette 08: Handmaa.

For a foundational ethnographic profile of a Mongolian woman and her place within the cultural fabric of her community, see Vignette 01: Urantsetseg.

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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.

End of transcript.

Please refer to the INDEX for other articles that may be of interest.

© 2013-2025. CP in Mongolia. “Letter from Mongolia 02: the Kitchen-house” is licensed under the  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Open access should not be understood as the absence of attribution. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.   Posted: 15 April 2024. Last updated: 22 September 2026.