Above: Dr. Cristian Samper, Natural History Museum Director, presents the Mongolian Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission, Odonjil Banzrageh, with a gift.
next photo

Above: Araaniziin Bat-Ochir, Batchuluun Sarantuya and Badam Bolormaa perform traditional Mongolian music.
prev photo

WASHINGTON -- Mongolia celebrated its 800th birthday with song, dance, fashion and a lot of drums at the Natural History Museum on October 6. The even kicked off the Smithsonian’s weekend-long "Festival of Mongolia" in this capital city, home to the nation’s largest Mongolian community.

Museum Director Dr. Cristian Samper welcomed the packed house after a delay when a dancer’s necklace broke, sending beads all over the backstage area. U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Mark Minton and Mongolian embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Odonjil Banzrageh, emphasized the warmth of a people from an often cold country.

A film shown before the live action started painted a modern picture of ancient Mongolia as a country proud of democratic reforms and protective of its vast, untouched landscapes. Mongolia is also attempting a public relations campaign to recast Ghengis Khan–known in Mongolia as Chinggi–as a powerful, well-respected general.

The show began with a solo performance by Araaniziin Bat-Ochir on the horse-head fiddle, an elongated violin topped with a dragon head ornament. He was joined onstage by Badam Bolormaa and her yoochin for a moving, multi-movement duet. Bolormaa gently struck the strings of the yoochin to make harp-like sounds to accompany the Bat-Ochir’s horse-head fiddle, while a photo slide show of striking photographs of their home country ran in the background. Bat-Ochir surprised the audience when he began to sing in voice that alternated from low and guttural to an open-mouthed, "how did he do that?" whistle. But when vocalist Batchuluun Sarantuya belted out long, vibrating notes, backed by the musicians, it felt like a theatre in Ulaanbaatar.

Dance of Courtship

In the next act, dancers representing Burte Chono, "the grey wolf" and Goo Marai "the beautiful doe" took the stage, recounting the tale of their mystical meeting on the banks of the River Onon to start the nation of the Mongols. The dance of courtship ended when the pair left the stage, and warriors took over. Banging hide-covered drums and gongs, a sort of battle of the bands erupted between the leather and armor-clad warriors as they each sounded off from opposite sides of the stage. The pounding intensified until finally things were calm again, and the pony-tailed young warriors bowed to the crowd, beaming with pride.

As the show changed pace, young Mongolian models–with admirable equilibrium–worked the stage as if it were a runway in Milan, twirling with great care not to drop the large headpieces that accompanied each outfit. Traditional and modern Mongolian gowns lit the room with gold, blue, silver and red. Many pieces were accented with animal fur and horns, acknowledging the country’s dependence on and love for wildlife.

Another part of the show celebrated Shamanism, an ancient religion founded on the trinity of Eternal Sky, Earth and Mankind practiced by Chinggis. A dancer representing a shaman, wearing an oversized, bobblehead-like mask with a smiling old man’s face stole the show. He blessed the crowd from the stage and then walked among them, nodding and skipping. Three masked dancers, dressed as the Trinity in skull-spotted, red costumes, shook and twirled on stage as the Shaman drew grins and giggles, bobbing his oversize head and twirling his medicine bag and cane. When he removed his mask for the curtain call, he looked just like a smiling, kindly Chinggis.

Embassy staff, dignitaries and guests mingled during an after-show reception in the museum rotunda. They munched on Mongolian snacks like arrul(dried yogurt) and washed it down, well the brave ones anyway, with a Mongolian liquor bearing the face of Ghengis Khan–that two Mongolian women said was best without ice or lime "so you can taste it."