What are you looking for, my friend?

Having now spent several years in this country and having grown up in a western culture, there is almost no bigger holiday than Christmas. For Mongolians though, its a whole different story!

Now that we are in December and the ‘silly season is once again upon us once again (your wallet may feel like mine and call it the sad season) I thought it would be a cool idea to write what you can expect when experiencing Christmas in Mongolia.

Christmas in mongolia???

Mongolians have a slightly different idea when it comes to Christmas. While you may be thinking its an official holiday like it would be back home and you would carve up a turkey or Ham, that’s just not the case. Christmas isn’t really an official day off and there isn’t any major celebrations. The most normal thing that will be familiar to you will be the snow and plenty of it. While it is changing for the younger generations, for most Mongolians, Christmas is just like any other day.

Will I have to work on christmas!!!

Sadly, depending on your job, you may have to. Schools and normal services will still be running, and unless you are working for a large international company or say a private education provider you may just have to accept the fact that you could be working on Christmas. It was a shock to me my first year in Mongolia and finding this out, so now you know, you can mentally prep yourself! If you are wondering what its like to work in Mongolia and especially as a teacher, check out this post here!

Is there christmas decorations?

Funnily enough you will see plenty of Christmas decorations around, but the reason may not be for what you think. Let me explain. You see, Mongolians celebrate New Years as a holiday and to many Mongolians the Christmas decorations are just New Years decorations rather than Christmas. An example of this is to see many Christmas trees up, with a minor difference. Many of them are blue instead of red! You will even find blue Santa Claus decorations which in Mongolia is what is the original color of Santa. Don’t worry though, Coca Colas cans still have him red.

Whatever the reason Mongolians have for putting up Christmas decorations, you sure won’t have a problem finding any. Most stores will have decorations, like tinsel and candy canes or small ornaments so no need to bring them from your home country and getting a tree is pretty straight forward.

Is there many christmas parties?

You may think from everything I have said so far that there wouldn’t be. However, Mongolians will use any excuse for a party and Christmas is a pretty good one. Most large organizations will have some sort of combination between a Christmas and New Year’s function, a celebratory dinner followed by some music or entertainment. Often younger adults will also organize their own Christmas functions and it has even become popular to do secret Santa!

What about the turkey?

Oh, yes, I couldn’t write this post without mentioning the food. Some things for your own Christmas dinner are not going to be easy to find. Turkey can be a hit and miss scenario. If you want a turkey for Christmas or even part of a turkey you need to get in early and have a few Mongolian friends who can scour social media to find those who are selling it. You should be able to find some but don’t expect it to come cheap. Alternatively, if you are lucky sometimes larger stores can have it available but it really can be hit or miss.

In regards to other staples, many of them you will need to make from scratch. Want Christmas pudding or bacon-wrapped stuffing, your really going to have to make it yourself. On that note, if you aren’t going to be too specific, you do have all the fundamentals to make a good Christmas dinner full of joy and good memories, just be a little adaptable .

My sad attempt of stuffing !

So that’s your Christmas in Mongolia wrapped up in a nice bow. Your experience may be very different but at least it gives you some ideas and hopefully, now any family back home won’t feel sorry for you and send you Christmas decorations (mine did). If you have had a different experience or want to know anything else about Christmas in Mongolia let us know in the comments.

Have a wonderful joyous season everyone!