What is the Mongolian New Year festival called?

The Mongolian New Year festival is called Tsagaan Sar, meaning “White Moon.” It is the first day of the year in the Mongolian lunisolar calendar and one of Mongolia’s most important traditional holidays.

The celebration generally lasts from the first through the third days of the first lunar month. Families prepare for it by cleaning their homes, settling debts, and making large quantities of festive food. On the eve, called Bituun, households mark the dark moon and bid farewell to the old year.

During the festival, people visit relatives, exchange gifts, and greet elders through zolgokh, a ceremonial gesture in which younger people support an elder’s elbows. Feasts may include buuz dumplings, mutton, dairy products, rice with curds, and the tiered pastry ul boov.

Tsagaan Sar is related to other Asian lunisolar New Year celebrations but is not the same as Nowruz, which is based on the spring equinox, or Naadam, Mongolia’s summer festival of wrestling, horse racing, and archery. Tibetan Losar is a related but distinct New Year tradition.