"Shagaa"

Happy New Year’s everyone!

No, I’m not (really) late or even crazy. It really is New Year’s eve here! Well, actually it is the Chinese (Buddhistic?) New Year. The Tuvans call it “Shagaa”. This is a very important religious/cultural holiday for the Tuvans. My language helper told me that most of those Tuvans who live in the city will go to the theater for the night. While there, they will spend the night in meditation (thinking ‘good thoughts’). It is believed, that during this night (New Year’s eve/early morning), the gods come down and look in each house/apartment. If they see that you are sleeping at home in your bed, and are not at the theater, than you will have a year of very bad luck. Not everyone goes to the theater though. Others will spend the night with close family and friends, eating and playing games (with their sheep bones). :) We saw quite a few sheep skins laying outside by the trash cans, so I'm sure there will be lots of tasty “sheep dishes” eaten tonight for the celebration!

At sunrise New Year’s day, most Tuvans do a ritual called “Sang Saliri”. It is best for this ritual to be performed on a hill or mountain, but if one is unable to do so, one will perform it right in their back yard. They make a little campfire and then get a small amount of food which is leftover from their celebration meal the night before. They then put this food in the fire and walk around the campfire three times while they are thinking “good thoughts”. They do this in order to “feed” the spirits for the New Year. Doing this will insure that they will have good luck during the coming year.

Today on the news, we heard the minister of Tuva congratulating everyone on “Shagaa”. For his ‘present’ for the holiday, he said that tomorrow, everyone can go to the museum for free. (They are very proud of their culture, that’s one of the reasons why we believe it’s really important for us to learn it!) David’s already been at the museum, but I still have yet to go. Maybe tomorrow would be a good time!

While we were outside this afternoon, Nina saw some people rummaging through the trash cans. She watched them for a little while, and then with a sad voice said, “mommy, those people don’t have any food to eat”! Later, while we were eating supper, Nina told her papa what she saw. “Yes papa, there were people by the trash cans, and they have no food to eat.” Aria pitched in and said sadly, “yes, and they don’t even know who He is.” We were amazed at how much our little children really do understand. As the grow up and see the poverty (both outside and inside) around them, they are reminded not to complain about what they have, but to be thankful. While we were eating a cherry cobbler for dessert (David had found some frozen cherries!), Aria, not wanting to complain said, “mommy, these cherries are really yummy. I just don’t like them!”