Jersey Roots, Global Reach

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2011 Festival Information
ger with meat drying outside
Oirat ger with meat drying outside

Ger: Since thousands of years ago,  the ancestors of the Mongols and other Central Asian nomads lived in ger, a round, cone-shaped tent easily assembled and disassembled felt homes which perfectly fit to their nomadic lifestyle.  A ger has normally windows on its very roof/outlet/, although some families construct windows on ger's  ceilings and walls. The  small opening with windows at the top of ger is  for stove's chimney too. The ger is erected from hana/folding lattice walls/, uni/wooden sticks for roof/, toono/upper smoke outlet with windows/  and door, which are assembled and fastened together; they are covered by tuurga, felt layers in winter and by light materials in warm season.

ger with meat drying outside
Ger in steppes

Ger is light and easily transportable on camel' back or on carts pulled by horses, camels and yaks.  Mongolian ger that used to have a fairly high roof as a Kyrgyz or Kazak yurt, lowered its height since approaximately 1920-30s. It's evidenced in many historical photos. Ger has different sizes depending on number of walls.  The weight of a 5 wall- ger is approximately 350-450 kg. It only takes only an hour for 3-4 persons to disassemble an average size ger and half an hour to assemble it.  The ger's door usually faces to south.  The altar and sacred possessions such as statues, photos, medals are kept always in front of northern walls. Riding and hunting gears are kept on south-western side of ger while kitchen is on its south-eastern side. To enter the ger, you had to step over the threshold without touching it. Guests are traditionally seated in the western section while eastern and north-eastern sections of ger are normally for the family members or for neighboors and close people.

ger with meat drying outside

How to build a ger?!  It's easy.

A ger is assembled and disassembled in a particular way and the door always had to face south.

  1. First, you need to find a suitable place that is flat and with dry soil as well as better protected from winds,
  2. You spread the walls and the gate and then link and reinforce them.
  3. Next, you raise the roof and support it to the walls by 50-70 poles.
  4. Lastly, you need to put the cotton or wool felt layers over the wooden frame of the ger depending on the season.

 

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