Trans-Siberian Express passes eight time zones on the way from Moscow to Beijing. For a century Trans-Siberian railroad has been the main witness of the main historical events. Journey along the Trans-Siberian railroad is a great adventure,that gives an opportunity to experience different cultures and national characters of incomprehensible Russia, hospitable Mongolia and impenetrable China.
Trans-Siberian journey takes to Mongolia, country of blue sky and the native land of the grand conqueror Chingiz-Khan. Trans-Mongolian railway passes through Ulan Bataar inMongolia, connecting Russian city Ulan-Ude on the way to the capital of China–Beijing.
In Mongolia, travelers will run across Mongolian hospitality tradition that deserves special attention. Mongolian people believe that, the more visitors stop by yurt on New Year’s Day, the happier the coming year will be. You should remember the “custom of the right hand” that exists in Mongolia and Buryatia. Serving tea to the guest, the hostess of the household, honoring the visitor, gives him a drinking bowl with two hands. The visitor should accept it also with both hands, showing respect to the house.
Having guests in yurt requires a set of consecutive standards of behavior, customs followed by centuries. Some of the customs don’t have an explanation, meaning of the others is forgotten, and nevertheless, customs are followed as a norm of acceptable behavior. The visitor, who has approached yurt, tethers a horse to a hitching post and opens a door. In boundless steppe, where the nearest neighbor is hundreds versts away and in case of danger there is no one to call for help, the visitor, especially a stranger, should immediately let the owners know that he has come with peaceful intentions. There are several ways to show that the visitor came in peace. First, the visitor should take off the weapon (first of all a gun) and leave it outside the yurt. Secondly, he should take out a knife from a sheath attached to a belt, and leave it simply hanging on a chain or take it out and put on a bench.
After the visitor has taken a place offered to him, the host takes out a snuffbox with tobacco, hidden at the bosom or hanging in a special case on a belt, and silently offers to the visitor, who in return should offer the owner his own snuffbox. Everyone smells tobacco from a snuffbox of another, and then snuffbox returns to its owner. If there are several guests in yurt, the ceremony is repeated with each of the guest, starting with the senior guest. If the guest is not Mongol and doesn’t have a snuffbox, then the ritual has unilateral character: the owner offers, the visitor takes, smells and returns. .
Another ancient tradition is a regard for the fire in the hearth. Hearth in Yurt is the place where the goddess of fire-Ut or the master if fire Otkhan-Galakhan live. It is forbidden to pour water into fire, stick a knife into fire, touch the fire with a knife or a sharp subject, use a knife to get meat from a copper, throw garbage in the center of the fire, because it offends the spirit of the home hearth. It is forbidden to give center fire in other house or a yurt. It is considered the big sin to splash milk in center fire. It is forbidden to sleep, having the feet extended towards the home hearth: it is considered that it can frighten the spirit of the yurt.
Drinking of Archi (Mongolian milk vodka) is another ritual that the guests and hosts participate. It is considered that Archi comprises of “five types of poison”, therefore the first drinking bowl of Archi is splashed in a direction of a smoke aperture of a yurt, in the fire, outside the yurt door, and at last, the host drinks first, having taken the poison action on himself. Only after that, the guest takes the bowl offered to him, touches his right shoulder with his ring finger, then his left shoulder, in honor of the hosts, and after that, he can drink Archi offered to him. The rest of the guests follow his example.
Koumiss drinking ritual is another ceremony, a little different then Archi drinking. Koumiss is a beverage of fermented mare’s milk made originally by the nomadic peoples of central Asia. First, the visitor should accept a bowl of koumiss necessarily with both hands. Secondly, traditionally, the same bowl that is used to drink koumiss can’t be used to drink tea. Old men believe that if that rule is broken, milk of mares becomes more liquid and koumiss is less tasty. Each participant of drinking ceremony should either drink up a bowl to the bottom, or at least taste it and then return to the owner or pass it to the neighbor. The bowl is passed in this manner until it reaches all participants of the ceremony in the circle, and then it starts over.
When visiting Buddhist Datsan in Mongolia during the Trans-Siberian journey, first the visitor have to make the round of the temple territory with the sun, rotating all prayer drums. It is forbidden to enter the center of a temple during service and to photograph without the permission. It is recommended to avoid fussy and fidgety movements, and speak quietly.
