Шагаа-биле!

Happy New Years, for what I think is the third (or fourth time!!) It's time to celebrate, according to the Eastern Calendar!!

In Tuvan, the name of the holiday is "Shagaa" and it's one of two most important religious festivals in Tuva, the other being "Nadaam" in the late summer.

Shagaa, as it is celebrated today in Tuva, last for three days. The first day you clean your entire house; all the hard-to-reach places you don't get to most of the time (behind the radiators, under furniture, door frames, etc).

On the night when the year actually changes, you aren't supposed to sleep. Some spirits (maybe the spirit of death? i need to ask about this...) comes to all the houses--and if you're sleeping he'll mistake you for a dead person and there will be consequences. Then, when morning comes, you climb a mountain to meet the first rays of sunshine (this is the idealized version, actually people in the city sometimes sleep and rarely climb mountains). In the villages, people go sledding. I was surprised to hear that sledding is a traditional Tuvan activity; it's actually part of the tradition to slide down the mountains, and it's one of the first things people mention about Shagaa. It's also not allowed to drink hard alcohol, which probably distinguishes Shagaa from most other holidays in Russia! The holiday is about cleaning yourself (in physical and spiritual senses) and getting ready for another year.

Then on the day of Shagaa there are games, concerts, all sorts of celebrations. I learned how to pray as a Buddhist this week. It was interesting; a woman who coordinates a yurt that is a museum in a local school taught me. First you put your hands together so the Buddha appears (Like you're making a fish, but then the thumbs inside). This is supposed to look like the sitting Buddha...

Then you hold the Buddha you have made to your head (so that you'll have clean thoughts), to your mouth (so that only clean things will come out), and to your heart (so that it will be pure). At the same time you say the ommm-thing, which is written on the mountain in Tibetan (I can't remember how exactly to say it). You can burn incense. You can listen to monks read holy books. You can give money or visit holy shrines. You can go to the prayer wheel in the middle of town and walk about it, making the bell ring.

I guess I like Buddhism, because it seems A) non-proselytizing B) empowering and C) simple. The Christians always want to know if "you're a believer." In what? In who? I can't make myself take bible stories as absolute truth. Yet, I don't think the world is without miracles. I've had way too many coincidences in life not to believe in something. I'm not sure it's Buddhism either, but I like the smell of incense and the bright colors.

Back to life in general... Today I taught a class in the student dormitories. I went to a festival this week and had to reschedule a class for today (Russian students have class on Saturdays!). Well, my students thought it was a great idea last week, but today when I showed up most had already skedaddled home to meet the new year in their villages, and the remaining ones really wanted to leave, they were just too responsible to ditch class without telling me. So I ended up teaching a class to three girls in the dormitories who weren't going home. It was kind of fun. We studied for the TOEFL and drank tea.

It continues to be really cold here. There hasn't been a day above -40C (which is -45 or so F) since I got back from Moscow! Although the locals tell me this is nothing (of course they do!). Apparently, there was a 90 day stretch of temperatures minus forty or lower about fifteen years ago. I must say, though, that Tuva is definitely colder than Alaska. At least the cold is a very dry cold. I actually don't notice it when I step out the door. But then it starts to catch up with me before I've walked a block, and pretty soon I'm holding my mitten to my nose, trying to keep from getting frostbite!

I had a surreal moment last week, where I met a nice missionary who has lived in Kyzyl with her husband for the past 11 years, building churches. She was running a sing-a-long for students at the university and then she brought me home from school in her Chevy Blazer. It was pretty surreal! The ride was such a different experience from the rough, smelly minibus I usually take. On the bus, drivers race over the bumpy roads specifically trying to hit the bumps and the techno music is pounding. I guess riding in this lady's car was like being in a little American bubble, but traveling through the by-now-familiar-but-still-quite-foreign landscape of Kyzyl. Also, once again I'm very surprised by the quirky and unique individuals who end up in Tuva. Maybe every small town in Russia is like this! But I tend to think Tuva's at least unique and other towns in Russia are intriguing in different ways.

Also, I heard about another group of exiles who have spent time in Tuva. Apparently during the years of the repression, in the 30s and 40s there were a large number of Jews and Germans who settled in Kyzyl, trying to escape Stalin (Tuva wasn't officially part of the Soviet Union at this point). They were really educated and did a lot for local education and culture.

I would say, though, that the years since Perestroika have not been kind to Tuva. Crime, poverty, and alcoholism take their toll. As does the harsh climate. From what I hear, the countryside is currently devastated by an epidemic of livestock theft; cattle rustling. To the point where many people have decided it's not worth it to raise stock, which limits how much they can produce for themselves. People here are somewhat accustomed, by the Soviet system, to living on government handouts. The climate for business is harsh; the paper work you have to do to start a business is really intimidating, and that's not counting the people you have to please with expensive gifts. A lot of time, people here look across the border to Mongolia and see a better life. But it could be just a case of "the steppe is always greener (browner?) on the other side of the fence." Really, this is a complicated and multi-faceted question... and the most important thing of all is the future, and whether it will be bright or blighted.

Probably the most exciting part of cleaning the house, was washing the walls and realizing that they were entirely coated with black soot from the Сажа, or coal smoke. It's amazing how much of that stuff has crept in the cracks around our windows and coated the inside of the house. Also amazing that we breathe that crap everyday... it can't be good for health!

That's enough for this epistle from the Siberian steppe. Miss you guys! And happy Shagaa!