Festival traditions in modern society
The nair xurim, authentic context for the performance of urtiin duu and other Mongolian folk arts, is intimately associated with nomadic culture. The most significant of the communal rituals which serve as the background for the nair are rooted in pastoral activities, serving to mark the accomplishment of specific elements of the seasonal labour cycles: the birthing of livestock, the production of the first airag, the making of felt, or the branding of foals. Other rituals are related to the stages in the life cycle: the birth of a child, the giving of a name, the first haircutting, marriage, an important birthday anniversary, and death. Finally, some ritual celebrations are associated with traditional animist-shamanist beliefs, many of which have been absorbed into the form of Tibetan Buddhism practised in Mongolia: the making of offerings to mountains, spirits and sacred sites, or the declamation of auspicious blessings. Many of these rituals clearly depend directly on their link with nomadic traditions – as in the case of celebrations associated with pastoral activities, or on the nomadic landscape – as with the celebrations associated with offerings to natural sacred sites.
Although some of the rituals survive in an urban context, their authenticity as manifestations of traditional Mongolian culture is challenged by various forms of distortion. At the most basic level, the transposition of the nair celebration from the yurt to the house or apartment leads to the loss of social and symbolic relations created by the spatial arrangement of the yurt – notably the honouring of the head of the household, head of the festivity, and urtiin duu singer and musicians through their accommodation in the sacred space at the rear of the home (xoimor); the expression of harmony with the two opposing universal principles of arga and bilig through the respective seating of men and women by order of age on the west and east sides of the yurt; and the placement of the bowl of airag in the centre of the circular space, as the physical and symbolic centre of the festivity.
In terms of its function, the urban nair is detached from its traditional context as a ritual celebration of the bounty of the natural universe, on which the nomadic herder is permanently dependant, expressed through the generous consumption of airag, symbol of purity and abundance, and the performance of urtiin duu melodies, considered to reflect the natural harmonies of the landscape. Perhaps most significantly, the urban celebration occupies a shorter timeframe, as the modern schedule is not flexible enough to admit the protracted three-day gathering; consequently there is a loss of the sense of immeasurable time associated with the cyclic worldview of the traditional nomads, reflected in the ceremonial deliberation of the traditional festivity, and allowing for the vast, unhurried urtiin duu of extended duration. Except on the occasion of the lunar new year (cagaan sar, "white month"), the traditional nair celebration with airag and urtiin duu has been all but replaced in urban society by social gatherings in public locations outside the home – restaurants, bars, discotheques – and by competing forms of entertainment and culture, such as concerts, television and recorded music.
Whereas the urban resident has access to a much wider range of cultural commodities, it is precisely the availability of such an array of resources that leads to the assumption of a passive role as cultural consumer, unlike the traditional nomad, who is expected to contribute to the artistic production of every celebration by singing at least one song, or possibly by reciting a blessing or other poem. This transition of the ordinary individual from an active to a passive function in the artistic production of the community leads to the loss of one of the essential conditions for the safeguarding of the traditional folk arts such as the urtiin duu, namely the interactive celebration which serves as an instance for performance and transmission, and which supplies a ritual and artistic need for the urtiin duu. Clearly, the survival of folk arts such as the urtiin duu will thus depend on that of the traditional nair – and in a wider sense, on the survival of traditional nomadic pastoralism and the nomadic cultural landscape.
 | In commemoration of the legacy and teachings of His Holiness Dulduit Danzanravzhaa Fifth Wrathful Noble Xutagt of the Great Gobi (1803-1856) I did not overbearingly sophize Nor preach with pride and arrogance But having found a sense in this world Spoke the truth of my dear heart. |   |