Baby’s first haircut in Mongolia — ritual «taah»

In a traditional Mongolian family, a baby’s the first haircut is a very important ritual. According to the old tradition, boys have first haircut at the age of 3-5, and girls — at 2-4. The tradition is rooted deep in history, when there was a high infant mortality rate in Mongolia. It was believed that if you cut a child’s hair earlier, you can attract the attention of evil spirits to him. Also it in order to scare away evil spirits, parents smeared soot on the foreheads of babies so that they seemed less attractive to the spirits.

Relatives and close friends are invited to the ritual, which is held like celebration. The first person to touch the child’s head should be the person whose year of birth is favorable for the baby. The hair is touched with a wooden knife, and then sheared with scissors, which are tied with a ritual narrow scarf — hadak. In Mongolia and Tibet, khadak is usually given as a token of respect and wishes of good luck. The color of the scarf in this case is white, symbolizing purity and pure thoughts.

Then the guests take turns cutting off the baby’s hair, while saying wishes and giving various gifts: from toys to money. This ritual symbolizes a new birth. A large meal is arranged in the house for guests, at which dairy products must be present.