Photos: Tsaatan - The Last Reindeer People of Mongolia

[Donkees]

Jatenipat Ketpradit

Jatenipat Ketpradit

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Sad the way civilization has destroyed every culture worldwide

This lot sure seems to have nice modern shoes.

[paleotn]

4. They take from an alien culture what's actually useful...

Shoes, firearms, a metal stove. But I don't think they've got much use for the NFL, FIFA, McMansions or "Who wants to be a millionaire" tv shows. Or TV in general. Other than a defense from boredom, TV has no real benefit. Certainly in their culture.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Amazing. Thank you. 🦌

[Niagara]

3. Kicking for exposure

[paleotn]

5. Whispers from the ancient world. Thanks for posting.

[Goddessartist]

6. Exquisite photos!

Thank you.

[2naSalit]

7. K&R

[democrank]

8. Beautiful photos, beautiful people.

Thank you so much. I really enjoyed these photos.

[chouchou]

9. I had no idea that reindeer were so friendly and adorable.

[Donkees]

10. ''Tsaatan do make yogurt, cream and dried curds and cheeses from reindeer milk''

Tsaatan do make yogurt, cream and dried curds and cheeses from reindeer milk. The methods are the same as the rest of Mongolia except nomads on the steppe use goat's and cow's milk. I was offered some Reindeer yogurt, and it was the sourest yogurt I've ever had, with an almost sharp taste to it. I have to admit it wasn't the most Epicurean experience. An interesting thing many Tsataan do to preserve their milk is to dunk metal container full of milk deep into a stream or river - water temperatures rarely rise above a couple of degree Celsius in the Taiga - it's impossible to wade across even for a few minutes without your toes freezing. Perfect natural refrigeration.

Folk stories narrate how the Tsaatan descended from reindeer. The reindeer is revered and respected and only the oldest animals are slaughtered for meat. It's an intricate relationship where the reindeer are relied on as important means of transportation and source for milk. The reindeer have always traditionally ridden their reindeer to hunt wild game as they can move swiftly across snow and the slush the Taiga turns to when the ground thaws. So they have never been raised as food except for their milk. It's incredible to see how domesticated the reindeer are. They roam freely and even enter the homes of the Tsaatan without being chased out (except when the tepee is too small to contain their antlers, that is). I've seen reindeer calves enter the tepees called 'ortz' here, and sniff around like puppies. Much like most westerners view eating horse meat as slightly awkward, I guess the same goes for the Tsaatan and their reindeer.

https://eurasianet.org/mongolia-reindeer-food-culture

[Donkees]

13. Cheese-making

[chouchou]

16. Thank you so much for educating us about these wonderful animals.

[AltairIV]

11. Thanks for posting this

[Paladin]

12. Profoundly interesting people.

Thanks for posting.

[greblach]

14. K&R. nt

[c-rational]

15. K&R. Thanks for posting this.

[BlueSky3]

17. Really interesting -

thanks so much. The people are beautiful and their (seemingly) simple way of life makes the rest of us look like the materialistic over-consumers that we are. One of the links goes to an article about how the reindeer are declining due to lack of others for crossbreeding. I wonder if they’ve looked into breeding with the reindeer from Finland?

[Donkees]

18. The Tsaatan people believe they are descended from the reindeer ancestors ...

Their shamans communicate with the deer spirits as relatives, (this is seen in the Tsaatan documentary film I also posted today)
They may not consider the deer from Finland as their ancestor spirits, or as being rooted to the spirit of place (?)