Sunday begins a three-day holiday called Tsagaan Sar (white month). This is the beginning of the lunar new year and it marks the “end” of winter, at least the so-cold-you-want-to-beat-your-head-against-a-wall part of winter. During the first day Mongolians will be visiting their families and the other two days will be spent visiting friends. During these each of these visits buuz, meat dumplings, will be served. In preparation for Tsagaan Sar people all over Mongolia have been spending the last few weeks making buuz. Our helper has been telling me a little about her buuz-making activities. Last Saturday she slept until noon because she was up half the night making it. She informed me her family now had 1,370 buuz. She spent Saturday taking care of our children while we were at a 6½ hour meeting at church. She then stayed up until 4am making more buuz. So much buuz is made during this time that each family will be eating it not only at Tsagaan Sar, but will continue eating it until April. Fortunately the temperature doesn’t really get above freezing between now and then, so everyone’s buuz stockpile is safely preserved.
I didn’t write much down because she wasn’t measuring at all. She said the recipe was in her head. I got to help wrap the dumplings in their flour-dough blankets. We steamed a few so I could see how to cook them, and froze the rest. So now, my family has 27 buuz. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be able to make them last until April. Joel already ate three today.
