Rgysa bzang (Jizong) Village is located in Kha mdo (Shuizi) Township, Rong brag (Danba) County, which is one of the 18 counties in Dkar mdzes (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, PR China. G.yung 'brug (b. 1985), a native of Rgysa bzang Village, recorded the stories presented...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Wed 27 Jan 2016

Nomadic lifestyle requires that dwellings and structures be mobile. The traditional dwelling, or yurt, of the Kalmyks is called ger, which is also widely used among various nomadic peoples in Central and Inner Asia. Easy to assemble and transport, durable as well as lightweight, the ger consists of...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Sun 27 Sep 2015

This collection hosts videos of art exhibitions and interviews with Kalmyk and Russian artists who talk about their work, lives and modern Kalmyk art.

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Wed 9 Mar 2016

Due to its geographical isolation and remoteness from other Buddhist centres such as Tibet and Mongolia, Buddhism in Kalmykia has developed rituals that are either less prominent or unknown among other Mongolian groups. The cult of Tsagan Aav (White Old Man) is one of them. Elevated to the status...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Mon 6 Apr 2015

In Kalmykia, autobiographies are not only stories about one's life but they often include details about the narrator's clan, relatives, parents, ancestors, and native land. Convergence of personal and tribal or clan identities can be seen not only from autobiographies but also from daily activities...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Wed 10 Sep 2014

Birth related rituals consist of three stages: pre-birth (conception and pregnancy), the birth itself and post-birth rituals. Pre-birth rituals are performed as a way of asking the gods to grant the prospective parents children and in ensuring a healthy pregnancy for the mother. During pregnancy...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Thu 11 Sep 2014

In Kalmykia people celebrate three major holidays, including Tsagan Sar, Ur(s) Sar, and Zul, each considered both national (secular) and religious holidays. On these days, Buddhist temples hold large prayer services, and people celebrate both at the temple and at home. Other celebrations that are...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Wed 3 Sep 2014

The Buzava is a sub-ethnic group of Kalmyks, which was formed later than others. They are descendants of those Kalmyks who left the rest of the Kalmyks and migrated to the Salsk steppe and the Don region to become Cossacks. This migration started in the seventeenth century and continued until the...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Sat 14 Mar 2015

Wood was an essential material for producing implements indispensable for the livelihood of nomads, including the wooden framework of the yurt, furniture (beds, trunks, chests, tables, and cradles), containers, utensils, saddles, whips, tobacco pipes, musical instruments, toys and many others....

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Wed 9 Mar 2016

Although separated territorially from the rest of the Mongolian world, contemporary Kalmyks continue to practice customs common among other Mongolian groups, including various rituals that preserve and perpetuate kinship links. The main aim of clan rituals is to preserve and consolidate kinship...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Tue 2 Sep 2014

A day in a traditional Kalmyk family begins with the opening of the curtains to let light in, cooking breakfast, and attending to the family altar. It is usually the young bride's duty to wake up first, cook, look after the household, put offerings on the altar, and go to bed last. During the day...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Tue 16 Sep 2014

Dances are an inseparable part of life for many Kalmyks. No single celebration, a holiday, a major family event, or a party is held without dances. In Kalmykia the most widely performed dances are those performed by individuals or couples, although some dances may be performed in groups. In the...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Fri 19 Sep 2014

The Oirats, ancestors of the Kalmyks, participated in the campaigns of Chingis Khan and his descendants as military units. There is a widespread view among Kalmyk scholars that the names of these units turned later into various ethnonyms such as Derbet (cavalry), Torghut (guards of the khan's...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Wed 10 Sep 2014

Suited to nomadic life, traditional costumes reflect not only the climatic conditions of Kalmykia but also the history of interaction between the Kalmyks with their neighbours. Unlike other Mongolian groups, the Kalmyks – who have lived in a unique environment among the Russians, Cossacks, and...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Wed 8 Feb 2017

The heroic epos Jangar, known for centuries across Eurasia, is a unique epic creation of the Mongolian peoples. There exist three national versions of the epos, one among the Kalmyks (in Russia), another among the Western Mongols (in Outer Mongolia) and the third among the Oirats of Xinjiang ( in...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Thu 11 Sep 2014

The Kalmyks have a rich fairy-tale tradition. Fairy-tales were composed by tuulchi, or story tellers, who lived in great numbers in Kalmykia until the mid-20th century.
In the study of Kalmyk folklore there is a convention to divide fairy-tales into the following genres: magical, heroic, every-day...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Mon 15 Sep 2014

People with unusual skills and gifts are often described in Kalmykia using the following expressions: ‘he/she is repeating his/her clan/lineage’ (tokhman durajana), ‘characteristics of his/her clan/lineage are showing up’ (tokhmn’ tachana), or ‘he/she is keeping up with his/her clan/lineage’...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Sat 20 Sep 2014

In Kalmyk culture the father represents the whole family and takes all-important decisions. The mother's role is to look after the household, and to bare, and bring up children. Being at the bottom of the family hierarchy, the children are supposed to obey their parents and support them in their...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Tue 16 Sep 2014

A supplementary branch of the traditional economy, fishing in the past was usually undertaken by impoverished Kalmyks who were in need of an additional source of income or food. By the eighteenth century work migration to the lower Volga began to take on a mass character. At the fisheries Kalmyks...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Tue 31 Mar 2015

Kalmyk folk songs are imbued with deep historical, cultural, and aesthetic meanings and layers. Notable and tragic events, the fate of various people, famous and ordinary alike, ideals, hopes, and desires: all have found their reflection in folk songs. Folk songs have been performed during rituals...

Institution: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology

Created: Fri 19 Sep 2014