Thursday, 23 January 2020, 19.00
An Open Academy of Humanities lecture
A Nomadic People, An Equestrian People – Horse keeping in Mongolia
lecturer: Kornélia Bán
Eight hundred years ago, the earth trembled under the hoofs of Mongolian horses, and the warriors riding them reached from one end of the world to the other in the blink of an eye. Today, Mongolia has cities, and the population has a settled lifestyle, although in the countryside, horses are still grazing on the steppe as if time had frozen still. In Mongolia, the horse is a prestige animal, a national symbol and a religious alter ego. This lecture presents the twenty-first century equestrian culture of this nomadic people, from everyday activities, to sports, to the rituals dedicated to the animal. It will touch on traditional Mongolian pastoralism, the peculiarities of breeding horses on the steppe, and the seasonal and daily work related to horses such as grazing, stamping, mare milking and shepherding.
Kornélia Bán is a PhD candidate in Mongolian studies at Eötvös Loránd University. Her research interests are Mongolian culture, philology, ethnography, and Mongolian equestrian culture. She spent a total of 11 months in Mongolia, studying and conducting field research. In the future, she plans to continue to work in Academia.