Монголчуудын эрхэмлэдэг шагаа болон шаант чөмгийн бэлгэдэлээс

Schafsknöchel- und Sprungbeinals einer der symbolischen Gegenstände der Mongolen

Abstract

Traditional Mongolian ethnic toys and games were created and developed by their own characteristics. They are distinguished by their materials, shapes, types such as bone, stone, wooden, board games, mobile toys, mechanical toys, verbal games etc. The knucklebone is the most important bone game of all. The bone it found at the thin end of a shin of livestock called 'Talus' anatomically. Ancient Mongolians named it 'Chigaan', which meant 'odd, strange' and the sound of this word has changed as time passed, now it calls “Shagaa” or “Shaa” in modern Mongolian.
“Shagaa” has more than 200 kinds of playing methods and reflects Mongolian culture and lifestyle including horse racing, kidding of mares, camels and sheep, milking cows, hunting nine antelopes etc. So far we have only a very few studies on the symbolization of the knucklebones and shinbones in the framework of the Mongolian traditional ethnic culture. This article discusses a brief explanation of the peculiarities of each category of the knucklebones and shinbones and their playing rules and taboos.