MMMS #5 feautures Dr. Bumochir Dulam, an anthropology professor at the National University of Mongolia. I happened to meet Bumochir briefly a few months ago at a luncheon, and he told me about the traditional role stoves have played in Mongolia. I ended up doing this interview with him to flesh out what we had only got to talk about peripherally at the luncheon.
Dr. Bumochir Dulam, professor of anthropology at the National University of Mongolia.
As Bumochir explained to me, great cultural significance is placed on gal golomt, the hearth. “It’s not just a question of the stove, but a question also of the fire,” said Bumochir. “Fire and the fire place stand for ‘the whole family.’ It means ‘the family’.” In fact, gal golomt is a key component of traditional Mongolian marriage. At the start of a wedding ceremony, the couple starts their family fire for the first time. “This is a declaration that this is one proper family that has been built,” explains Bumochir.
Each family’s gal golomt has its own spirit master. The exact incarnation of the spirit master is up to debate. Bumochir, elaborates, “Some say the spirit master is a three year old boy, who takes care of the spiritual goodness of the family. Some say, the spirit master of the gal golomt is actually an old woman.”
Either way, there are certain taboos as to what can be placed in the gal golomt. “The idea of fire itself symbolically is that it is a purification,” states Bumochir. Therefore, items that are impure or would offend the spirit master should not be placed in the gal golomt. These items include trash or items related to the feet. For instance, it would not be okay to throw socks in the family hearth, however an item from the head would be acceptable. Bumochir said that sometimes, especially in the ger district of Ulaanbaatar, people are forced to burn garbage of some sort – rubbish, plastic bags, tar-coated bricks, tires, etc. – to stay warm in the wintertime. People know it is not a good thing for their gal golomt, but what alternative is there between doing that and freezing?
An example of a stove that could be found in a ger, a traditional Mongolian home
With thousands of new stoves being sold this year through the Millennium Challenge Account in an effort to reduce air pollution levels in Ulaanbaatar, I was curious to know if there are any gal golomt-related rituals associated with discarding an old stove and installing a new one. Bumochir said that different people would have different ideas about how to handle the transition to a new stove. Some wouldn’t mark the occasion in any way, while others might want to have a ceremony by a shaman or lama that ensures the gal golomt spirit master residing in the old stove re-locates to the new. The ceremony might entail offerings of milk and vodka and cost around 20,000 or 30,000 Tugriks (~USD 25).
It was interesting to me that either a Mongolian shaman (click here for an interesting NY Times article on Shamanism in modern Mongolia) or a Buddhist lama could perform the ceremony. Bumochir explained the concept of gal golomt pre-dates any religious movement in Mongolia and religions that have developed or moved into the country, such as shamanism or Mongolian Buddhism, have incorporated the concept. Indeed, Mongolian life continues to meld itself around the idea of gal golomt, even as more and more Mongolians are moving to apartments and away from gers. Shamans or lamas hold gal golomt-related ceremonies involving a gas or electric stove in the kitchen of modern apartments in downtown UB.
Thanks to Bumochir for sharing an anthropological viewpoint on the timely topic of ger stoves in Mongolia!
