Mongolian Ger

Mongolian ger

Hello everyone! I am back with my next blogpost little later that I intended. This time, I am writing about Mongolian traditional housing as it is one of the few things that most foreigners know about Mongolia.

Climate and culture shape our housing in very interesting ways. Especially our traditional dwellings are like the footprints of nature we live in and our evolutionary past, just like Igloos of Eskimos, rueans of Thais, and tepees of Native Americans of plains.

Mongolian ger, a traditional dwelling used for centuries in Mongolia are still a popular housing in modern Mongolia. Not only do people live in ger in country side, but also sizable percentage of the population residing in the outskirt of the cities dwells in gers. Like many names for traditional housing in different cultures, ger simply means home.

Figure 1. Mongolian ger in countryside.

Mongolian ger takes around 2 hours to be mounted and even shorter time to be dismounted by two to four people. It is designed to be dismantled and the parts carried compactly on camels or yaks to be rebuilt on another site. This is the reason that ger has been preserved as the main dwelling for Mongolian nomads for centuries up to today.

igure 3. People assembling Mongolian ger.

As mentioned above, many people still live in gers in the outskirts of the cities for several reasons. Firstly, Mongolian gers are native to the people and they are the center of many customs and traditions. So people who were born and brought up in ger only feel natural living in it. Secondly, average ger is much cheaper than building a house or buying an apartment. So many people choose ger for financial reasons. Finally, it is easier to heat or cool ger than most other housing and it allows better air circulation. People who live in houses or apartments sometimes prefer camping in gers during summer for this very reason, too.

Figure 3. Gers seen in the outskirt of Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia.

In 2013, the “traditional craftsmanship of the Mongol Ger and its associated customs” was recognized as a part of our Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. So you can assume that making it and living in it can take more than what we can see from its simple round shape. So in my next blog I will try to write more about parts constituting Mongolian ger, and the customs related to living and even visiting Mongolian ger as much as I can for a city girl.

                                                       

(For level: Intermediate- Upper intermediate)