1, early yurt has two kinds. One is contained in the car can be moved yurt. The other is a yurt that can be dismantled and put directly on the grass. The yurt on the car of different sizes, small in the car, a cow or a horse can be pulled away, while the large need more animals to carry.
Mongolians in search of suitable living quarters, after thousands of years of groping, and finally in the shacks based on the formation of nomadic relocation in all seasons and to withstand the cold climate of the northern plateau of the residence, found the yurt this can withstand the test of nature form of residence.
2. Characteristics of Yurt
(1) Suitable for natural environment
The yurt has a round shape as its general style, without edges and corners, and is streamlined. The top of the yurt is arched, which has the strongest bearing force, and the body of the yurt is nearly cylindrical, forming a strong and solid whole above and below. Therefore, the sandstorms and snowstorms on the grassland will not make the yurt fall into the disaster. Covered with a strong yurt, can withstand the winter and spring of the ten winds, because the top of the bag is round storage of water, rain and snow, the yurt's top felt cover, it formed a spherical closed body. So it can also withstand the heavy rain on the grassland. Continuous days and nights of heavy rain, down to the house collapse, it is safe and sound, and then the rain will not leak into the package.
The yurt is warm in winter and cool in summer. Mongolia is a cold place since ancient times, "three nine of the cold, will freeze three-year-old cow's horns". However, Mongolians have been living in yurts for generations, I have not heard of freezing a person's, because one, there is a fire in the bag, pastoral areas are cattle and sheep dung, as long as the fire once up, immediately heat wave on the face. Secondly, in winter, the outside of the felt bag is thickened, inside and tied a layer of felt, windproof performance is better. Third, when you sleep, the home burns warm, the set nao cover, the door blocked tightly, covered with sheepskin quilt, leather robe, how can it be cold? Fourthly, you can also plate a warm bed in the bag and burn the fire from outside. If the bag is hot, you can also mediate through the top felt; in the blazing summer, in the view of the vast heights of the felt bag, people sitting in which drinking and singing, really fragrant flowers, cool breeze, cream fragrance, not less than the Palace of Immortals and Imperial Palace. Because the yurt is shaped like a sphere, with white as the main color, there is a better reflective effect. The back of the yurt can be opened to the skylight, you can also lift up the edge of the felt, so that the eight sides of the wind, such as sitting in the pavilion. Especially suitable for making milk food, because it will not be too acidic. Now some yurts no longer live, summer is used exclusively for milk food.
(2)Adaptation to nomadic career
Build quickly: build yurts do not have to choose a strict site, as long as the surrounding water and grass is good. Yurt is a kind of combination of housing, each part is separate, when building without many people to participate, two people can be enough. After arriving at a new place, unloading them from the car, you only need to make a fire to boil a good milk tea time, a yurt is built up. When the tea is simmering, it's still a picnic, but when it's time to
drink the tea, you're already sitting in the yurt.
Easy to dismantle: dismantling a yurt is much easier than putting up a cover. It takes only ten minutes for two people to dismantle it. The cords and straps are all live buckles and are easy to undo. As soon as the straps are undone, the felt and the frame wood are automatically separated. The hana, uni, and set nau are all in separate roots and pieces, and can be disassembled and folded up in no time.
Load relocation lightweight: yurt to wood, felt as the basic material, do not use metal, bricks, tiles, cement, etc., and at the same time is assembled from the parts, the disassembled any one of the pieces are not heavy, a woman can be lifted up to the car.
Convenient maintenance: the materials used in the yurt are all made according to local conditions. Which part is broken or old can be replaced. The yurt can be enlarged or reduced. However, psychologically and customarily, Mongolians don't like to downsize. It is said that it is better to reduce the size of the stomach than to reduce the size of the felt room.
3, the composition of the yurt
The yurt is mainly composed of three main parts: the frame wood, thatched felt (cover) and rope.
(1)Frame Wood
The overall frame of the yurt is a wooden structure, which is made up of set of nao, urni, hana and door.
Set nau is the head of the frame wood, it is the skylight of the yurt, the size of set nau determines the length and quantity of the uuni. Set nau for round arch, such as open umbrella, generally by three specifications orderly round wooden ring and four curved wooden beam combination, the largest round wooden ring outside, chiseled with square socket.
Uni translated as rafters, is connected to the set of Nao and Hanah wooden pole, wooden pole length for the set of Nao diameter of about 1.5 times, the upper end of the thinner, the lower end of the thicker. The upper end is inserted into the square opening of the ring wood of the set nao, and the lower end is pierced with an eyelet, in line with the eyelet of the hana, and is connected to the hana with a rope.
Hana is to willow wood strips sewn with leather cord into a diamond-shaped mesh mesh. A number of hanas are connected to form a round frame, which is the wall of the yurt. The size of the yurt is generally determined by the number of hana. The size of a yurt is usually determined by the number of hanas. The common yurts are mostly four, five or six hanas, but there are also big yurts with eight or ten hanas. Hanah has three amazing characteristics: one is its scalability, high and low
Size can be relatively adjustable, unlike the set of nau, Uni as a fixed size. The second is that it has tremendous support. After the head of the hana evenly bears the gravity from the uni, it is dispersed and equalized down through the mesh to the legs of the hana. This is why the willow stick, which is as thick as a finger, can withstand the pressure of two or three thousand pounds. The third is beautiful appearance. The manufacture of the wood of the Hanna
general use of red willow, light and not folded, hit the eye of the nail is not cracked, moisture does not deform, the same thickness, equal height, mesh size is the same. This made of felt bag not only meet the mechanical requirements, the shape is also proportional and beautiful.
Door, the Mongolian language called "Halaga". By the door frame, threshold and lintel, the door frame and the height of the hana is equal, the door by the frame, so the yurt door can not be too high, generally about three feet five inches high, about two feet five, six inches wide, people have to bend down to get in. The door is facing south or southeast to avoid the northwest wind. Winter door is usually double, two inner door called wind door, to both sides
open. The outer door is a single door, open from left to right, called the closed door. In addition, the door curtain (called "ud" in Mongolian) is also a part of the yurt. There are two kinds of curtains for yurts: one is made of felt, with double sides and various patterns. Generally more white, blue edge, there are also red edge, the upper side hanging on the door head. Another is made of reed or white wicker, generally used in the summer.
(2)Thatch felt
Thatch felt consists of top felt, roof, perimeter felt, outer cover, felt wall root, felt curtain and so on. The yurt's thatched felt covers one layer in summer, two layers in spring and fall, and three layers in cold winter, and hangs curtains inside. The felt on the cover of the yurt is called "top felt", which is called "forehead and" in Mongolian, and it is a square felt that covers the yurt, and there are buckles all around, and it is covered at night, and becomes a square, and half of it is uncovered during the day, and it becomes a triangle. It has the role of regulating the air old and new, warm and cold in the bag, light intensity. Top felt is also known as the felt bag of the hat, top jewelry, has been valued. When dismantling the felt bag, the first thing to be taken off is the top felt, which should be put far away from people's feet to prevent trampling and crossing. Because it is thatched in the highest position in the set of nau, smoke and fire out, so the importance of it. When migrating, and the statue of Buddha put together, go in the front of the car ride.
(3) bands and woolen ropes
Bands and woolen ropes (perimeter ropes, pressure ropes, bundling ropes, falling ropes, etc.) These things, although piecemeal, but plays a big role; to maintain the shape of the yurt; to prevent the hanau from blowing up outward; so that the roof, the perimeter felt does not slide down, lifting up in the wind. In short, it has a great deal to do with keeping the yurt stable and prolonging its life.
The cover of yurt is relatively simple, first choose the location, slightly repair the ground after the whole frame is fixed, and then surrounded by felt, and then use the woolen rope can be tied around.
There are many national patterns on the yurt, which are mainly decorated on the nau, the forehead, the felt and the door curtains. Often decorated with horns, back pattern, scroll pattern and other kinds of striking national patterns.
The yurt fully reflects the aesthetic culture of the Mongolian nation. The yurt's color white, the whole shape of the round, the set of nau and Uni connection, was the sun and moon shooting light, is the Mongolian people still round, still the sun and moon of the aesthetic psychological performance.
4, yurt items furnishings
Yurt interior furnishings are also unique. All kinds of objects have a fixed position, and the center is the stove, i.e. the fire support. Fire is a very important part of a family. Fire is an important symbol of the existence and continuity of a family, and it is a symbol of the prosperity of a family.
The north-west side of the yurt is the place for enshrining gods, Buddha and ancestors. Because the Mongols have always honored the northwest, ancient gods and goddesses have been enshrined in the northwest. After the liberation, after the atheism education and the majority of herdsmen to improve the cultural quality, the concept of renewal, now most of the packet enshrined in the missing, replaced by a radio, television and so on. In turn to the southwest is mainly placed men grazing, hunting paraphernalia. Such as saddles, whips, bows and arrows, hunting rifles and so on. The north side of the yurt is placed by the table, next to the table in the northeast, is placed in the woman's box place, the east side of the vertical cabinets painted with various patterns, containing bowls, pots and pans, spoons, tea, milk, furniture and so on. The southeast side holds cooking utensils, milk utensils, etc.
5. Seating, sitting and sleeping in the yurt
Since ancient times, Mongolians have had a clear division for sitting in the yurt. In very ancient times, men sat in the west and women sat in the east. At that time on the east side was the place of honor. Ancient Mongolians had a matriarchal clan society era. At that time, people worshipped the sun and regarded the direction of the rising sun as particularly sacred. Thus the east was given to the dominant female. When the society developed into a patriarchal age, the West was again treated as the seat of honor. In this way, although the seats of men and women remained the same, the relationship of honor and inferiority was actually reversed. The men of the family, according to their seniority and age, were seated in the west from the top (north) to the bottom (south). The women on the east side of the family were also seated in the same way. North and south and there is a special division: felt bag of the north is called the gold ground, for the head of the family's seat, even if it is their own children, but also can not sit in the north or northwest. Only when he becomes the head of the family or establishes a new family can he inherit or replace his father's seat. If the father is old, he is to give the authority of the family to his son who has already established a family, so that he may sit on the front (north) side and himself on the northwest side. If the father died early, the mother should let the son sit on the front regardless of his size. The doorway of the ger is usually not for sitting, especially for the guests, but sometimes there are many people in the family and the children can sit there temporarily.
The seating position of the guests in the yurt is the same as that of the family members above. Ordinary guests and young people can't cross the north of the cross wood of the nau, while the elders must cross the north of the cross wood and sit down. If the host is invited to sit on the seat, it shows respect for the guests, the guests should sit to the northwest or due north. However, they should not sit in front of the Buddha's table or chest in the northwest, or on top of the fire, to show respect for the gods, ancestors, incense, and gates of the house. Female visitors sit on the northeast side of the house from the east, around the fire. The east side is usually reserved for the hostess to cook over the fire. When guests are seated in the bag, they are arranged in order from top to bottom according to their age, seniority, and the proximity of their relatives.
The folk motto says: "If you don't learn to read, you have to learn to sit". How to sit in the yurt, traditionally seen as learning and great things. No matter what guests, come to someone's home must be sitting with one leg crossed. Those who are seated in the west of the package should bend their left knee; those who are seated in the east of the package should bend their right knee. Not only guests to sit like this, the host saw the guests came in, but also to take this sitting posture, sitting in the seat to welcome the guests, in order not to respect each other. Women in front of the guests, more than a squatting and kneeling posture, to show respect for the guests and friendly. Mongolians usually sleep in their own home, the master with his wife sleeps in the north, the elders of the family sleep in the west. If you can't sleep, you need to sleep in the east, generally let the woman sleep, the guests came, to the best place (north or west) to let them sleep.
While sleeping, no matter the guests or family members, they should not put their feet towards the statue of Buddha or the stove fire. Those who sleep in the west face north, those who sleep in the north face west, and those who sleep in the east face north. When sleeping, a new felt must be specially laid out for the visitors, and a pillow and bedding must be prepared, and everyone is invited to sleep. After the guests, elders, the master sleep, the rest of the family to choose a gap and sleep, not before the guests and sleep.