|
MongoliaPastoralism in Practice
Mongols herd sheep, horses, cattle, goats, camels, and yaks.
Although horses are the most valued animal, Mongols actually
depend on sheep for their basic livelihood. Horses are the focus
of an elaborate cultural complex, in which the care of horses is
a male prerogative, whereas tending and milking sheep is a female
task. In Mongolian epics, the second lead is always the horse,
which gives sound advice to the hero. In Mongolian chess, the
most powerful piece is called the horse, rather than the queen.
The national musical instrument is a bowed string instrument with
a carved horse's head, called a morin huur, which,
according to legend, was invented by a rider who used the rib
bones and the mane of his favorite horse to make an instrument to
express his sorrow at its death. Fermented mare's milk,
ayrag, is the national drink; it is considered to have
special nutritional and tonic qualities. State-owned mines and
factories maintain special herds of horses to provide their
workers with the ayrag they are thought to require to
maintain their health.
Sheep provide milk, which is processed into butter, cheeses,
and other dairy products; mutton, wool, and hide for clothes and
tents; and dung for cooking and heating. Sheep can be herded on
foot, with one person and a few dogs responsible for a flock.
Mongolian dogs, which are famous for their ferocity and hostility
to strangers, do not help herd sheep as Western sheepdogs do, but
they protect the flocks from wolves or other predators. Sheep are
driven back to the camp every night, both for their protection
and to provide a concentrated and convenient supply of dung. The
sheep are led out to pasture each day, ideally moving out from
the camp in a spiral until fresh pasture is so far away that it
is more convenient to move the camp.
Each species of animal is herded separately, and herders must
balance, therefore, the expected benefit from each type of animal
against the cost of providing human labor to watch each separate
herd and to move to the precise environment to which each animal
is best suited. Sheep are basic, horses something of a luxury
item, and other species are added to the camp inventory as labor
power and environmental considerations dictate. The demands on
human labor mean that a single household is not the optimal unit
for herding. The basic unit in Mongol pastoralism is a herding
camp, composed of two to six households, that manages its flocks
as a single integrated economic unit. In the past, the members of
a herding camp were usually, though not necessarily, patrilineal
kinsmen. Membership of the herding camp was reconstituted on a
year-to-year basis, with some households remaining in the same
camp, others leaving to join different camps, and some camps
dividing if their human and animal populations grew too large for
effective operation. Under collectivization, herding camps
remained the basic unit of pastoral production.
Data as of June 1989
|
