If you still have questions about Mujaan after you have watched the DVD and listened to the commentary tracks feel free to write Chris, the Director, at: gawara@ragcha.com.
- Why did Sukhé slaughter the sheep by putting his hand in its chest?
- How long does it take to make a gir?
- How do you play the game at the end of Mujaan?
1. Why did Sukhé slaughter the sheep by putting his hand in its chest?
Most people in the world slaughter animals by cutting their throats, chopping their heads off or shooting them. Mongolians figured out that meat has more flavor and nutrition when it's still full of blood, so when they slaughter animals they want them to bleed as little as possible.
When they reach inside sheeps' chests they are either squeezing its heart or pinching the aorta to cut off the blood flow to the brain. Sheep usually die in a matter of moments very quietly, looking as if they were robots simply being turned off.
Unfortunately most herd animals are too big or suspicious of humans to be slaughtered like this. Mongolians stun other animals with a blow to the head by a hammer or the back of an axe.
2. How long does it take to make a gir?
It actually takes a few months to do if you're making it mostly by yourself the way Sukhé does. Sukhé had made most of the walls for a gir during the winter before I met him, so he didn't need to start from scratch for those.
Felt is usually made and sold separately. Most people in Henti Aimak where Mujaan was made buy their felt from factories in Mongolia's capitol Ulanbatar. It takes a few weeks for the felt to form dragging the wool around rolled up as shown in Mujaan.
Also Mongolians often work in groups to make girs the way the felt making was shown being made. And it's not uncommon for Mongolians to make them over a period of years one part at a time until they're finished.
3. How do you play the game at the end of Mujaan?
The game at the end of Mujaan, which looks like "Rock, Paper, Scissors," is called dembé. It's actually much more difficult and amazing.
Both players throw down a hand with fingers showing and try to guess what the amount shown will add up to, knowing only what they themselves will show. At the same time they must keep a melody, singing out the numbers with creative flourish using rhymes, alliteration and metaphors for the numbers.
For example the Mongolian word for "eight" is "naim" and the word for "friend" is "naiz." Sukhé sings "naiziin naim" (Friends' eight) because the two words sound almost the same.
Another example is that instead of saying the number one Sukhé sings about a "shogor." A shogor is a traditional Mongolian hat with a single point on top of it. So in addition to trying to guess what number is going to appear, keep the melody, and come up with a clever way of presenting their guess, players must often spend a moment trying to figure out what the other player just guessed!
Players keep track of how many rounds they guessed correctly on their left hands. Sukhé and Altangerel (who plays Mr. Budé, the Buyer) played until five, which is very common. Games are never as brief as the one shown in Mujaan. Typically they last from five to twenty minutes.
Master dembé players are often old men and women and can attract large crowds from far across the steppes for tournaments.
