05:08, 17 May 2018

Kalmykia marks sacred Buddhist month Ur Sar

Khurul in Kalmykia. Photo by Badma Byurchiev for the "Caucasian Knot"

This year, the month of Ur Sar, sacred for all Buddhists, will last in Kalmykia from May 16 to June 13. During this period, believers traditionally refuse consuming meat and alcohol. The main festive events are scheduled for May 29, when the Buddhists of the world will celebrate the birthday, enlightenment and departure of Buddha Shakyamuni to the parinirvana.

Ur Sar is celebrated in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, at the time when the sheep, mares and cows have yielded, and when in the old days the table of each Kalmyk family was full of dairy foodstuffs. In this period, Kalmyks held celebrations on the occasion of nature renewal.

In Kalmykia, the Buddha Shakyamuni's birthday will be declared a day off, Buyancha Galzanov, the press secretary for the head of the republic, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Sanan-Gelyung, the director of the "Bujn-Virtue" Charity Fund, has noted that during the month of Ur Sar "all the merits increase a thousand times," therefore those who practice the Tibetan Buddhism make pilgrimages, arrange offerings and disseminate alms.

"The general symbolism of the Ur Sar holiday is in fertility and wealth in all the three worlds: human, animal and vegetable," Elza Bakaeva, a historian, writes in her book "Buddhism in Kalmykia".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Badma Byurchiev

Source: CK correspondent