Tsaagan Sar, MIAT Style

By Charlie

I dragged myself to work today in frigid temperatures and was surprised to find half of my colleagues dressed in their finest traditional Mongolian dels. I felt hopelessly underdressed in my un-pressed purple shirt and green corduroys.

My office mates spent the early morning sitting around our meeting table, regaling each other with stories of the four-day holiday weekend. At 10 AM, everybody got up and filed out of the office. A colleague looked at me urgently and said, “Come on! Let’s go!”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“For a celebration,” she said. “With the directors!”

We went to MIAT’s version of the Board Room. It is a large, wood paneled room decorated with pictures from MIAT’s 50-year history. A roasted sheep’s rump sat at the center of the room, surrounded by vodka and the usual pile of pastries and candy.

I took a seat awkwardly with my colleagues from the marketing department. We sat quietly for a very long 10 minutes. Then, in an instant, a line formed. We waited for our turn to greet our elders, the three senior executives who run MIAT Mongolian Airlines.

The executives wore amazing dels and wonderful winter hats. Each man had a blue Buddhist prayer scarf draped across his forearms. The employees filed to the head of the table and greeted each executive in turn.

The Tsaagan Sar greeting is simple and symbolic. The younger person grasps the forearms of the older person. The prayer scarf covers the arms of each person. Older people let their weight fall into the arms of the younger people. The older person kisses the younger person on both cheeks. The spoken greeting is “Aimaar baina uu!” or “Aimaar sain uu!”

The corporate bosses are respected for the positions they hold, but Tsaagan Sar is mostly about respecting elders. When an executive greeted an older employee, the executive showed respect and supported the employee in his arms.

After greeting the executives, we then greeted each other along an impromptu receiving line. I am among the younger employees at MIAT, but a few people noticed my receding hairline and respected my age. “Aimaar baina uu!” “Aimaar sain uu!”

We drank some fermented mare’s milk and then headed back to the office. Drinking and visiting continued until about noon and then everyone went home. Work begins in the New Year at 8 AM tomorrow.