New Years Eve party with star sky and sparklers

Today we have light snowfall. The shaman Saintsetseg, her daughter Monkoo and small Inbaayer visit us to drink coffee and to eat biscuits. Also Inbaayer would want the black drink from us. You are still too young for coffee, Tanja says and fills for him a cup with herb tea.

Yesterday Tsaya and Ultsan invited us to the New Year’s Eve party. We sit in the well heated log cabin and eat potato salad with eggs, sausage from France and mayonnaise. In addition Tsaya has prepared Buuz filled with beef.
We praise the tasty food. “Brigitte has brought most of the ingredients”, explains Tsaya. “Thank you Brigitte. This is also for us something special we have not eaten potato salad since a long time”. I say to the Frenchwoman who yesterday came with her Mongolian friend and a driver to spend the New Year turn with the Tuwa.

Brigitte is the friend of Tsaya and helped her financially during her hospital stay some month ago. She has a travel agency in Paris and would like to bring in future guests to the Tuwa. ìFor me it is important that the Tuwa have an income with the tourism. Most travel agencies which organize tours to the Tuwa collect from the tourists money and the people her do not see one Tugrik. I would like to change this. My tourists are prepared and should also buy from the Tuwa here their carvings. Apart from that we will take only guides of the Tuwa. They bring their own horses or reindeers for round ride in the regionî, tells the nice woman.

I serve myself salad of the glass and some more potato salad than Tsaya asks me to take even more of the Buuz. I have prepared 100 pieces of it. You must eat absolutely more of it, she says. With the best will in the world, however, I am not able to eat any more. Then a big bottle of beer is opened, a cup is filled and handed round. “The custom is to empty the glass”, I hear and drink the contents of the big cup. Fast the cup is filled again and passed to the next guest. He proceeds like me and returns it to Ultsan.

Let us go to Gamba, requests Tsaya her guests. It does not last long and we all go to visit the log cabin of the shaman. Also there some of the Tuwa have gather meanwhile. Again a big bottle of beer is opened. “Wow, this is an immense bottle”, I express myself. “5 liter bottles were the biggest I could find”, laughs Brigitte. “You have spent a small fortune on this party”, I say. “It was not so much”.

The 59 year-old Suren who lives completely alone in her tepee steps shy in the log cabin. We hear that she did not want to come at all, because she can not contribute something for the celebration. After few minutes she leaves us, however, again only to appear renewed. From her Deel she does magic, for everybody absolutely unexpectedly, a bottle of vodka appears. She laughs and passes the bottle to the shaman Gamba he immediately blesses and opens it. Now circles the vodka mug against all good intentions. Brigitte does not look pleased seeing the scene because she brought especially so much beer hoping to avoid the vodka

Now Hadaa who has become a father only this year brings also a bottle out of his jacket. “We must celebrate the birth of my daughter”, he shouts and passes the Vodka to Gamba who blesses and opens the bottle and fills the first little mug. The laughter becomes much more and the young Galaa, is pulled away flatly the feet under his body. On the bottom falling he apologizes and sways himself again up to drink another little mug.

At midnight demands us Tsaya to follow her. We follow through the crunching snow to Ultsans and Tsayas log cabin. A bottle of champagnes which was also brought in the camp by Brigitte is opened. “And now let us go out. The sparklers wait!”, shouts Tsaya. Tanja has bought for this occasion specially sparklers. She passes two sparklers to each of 19 persons. Tso who has never seen a sparkler like the other Tuwa simply bites in one. “Do not eat! This things are for lighting!”, shouts Tsaya.

As the first sparklers spray their sparkling stars in the night sky of the taiga something happens with words only hard to be described. The people start to sing and to laugh. They swing the sparklers by the air and dance. “Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Happy New Year!”, I call the happy community filming. “Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Happy New Year!”, some of them repeat my words. “Come together Tanja shoots a group photo of us!”, Tsaya demands the festival community to gather before the house of the shaman. Whenever the flashlight flashes across the night, everybody exclaim joyfully as these would be the nicest fireworks.

After the both of us lie on our Wandan and watch the stars Tanja says; “it was the nicest New Year’s Eve celebration of my life.” “Yes, it was very nice”, I answer.