After decades of socialist rule ended in Mongolia, which forbade the practice of Christianity, Mongolians were introduced in the 1990s to Christianity and subsequently Christmas. As one of the larger Christian denominations in Mongolia, Mongolian Latter-day Saints introduced Christmas culture to their country to celebrate the holiday through musical devotionals, music videos, and charity projects.
History of holiday traditions in Mongolia
“Mongolians never celebrated Christmas in the past because there had never been Christians,” explained Odgerel Ochirjav, a public affairs director for the Church in Mongolia. “However, they [heavily] celebrate the new year, which was borrowed from Russians during socialism.
Ochirjav said before socialism began in Russia, the Russians celebrated Christmas every year because the majority of Russians were Orthodox Christians. He explained when socialism started, all religions and religious holidays were forbidden. This led Russians to hate Christmas being forbidden, so Joseph Stalin created a new holiday: New Years.
“Stalin borrowed many things from Christmas for the celebration of the new year. For example, he allowed them to have 'a new year tree' that is decorated with 'a communist star' on the top, which was formerly a star of Christ. Prayer was replaced by New Year wish whispering and many more. After two-generations passed, most of the Russians forgot about Christmas and New Years became their biggest celebration,” Ochirjav explained.
When Mongolia was a socialist country between 1924 and 1992, they borrowed the New Years celebration from Russia. Today, the new year is one of the biggest holidays in Mongolia. After Mongolia began to accept Christianity, the celebration of Christmas came to the country and has in part been spread by members of the Church in Mongolia.
The Christmas choir
Ochirjav said the BYU–Hawaii Concert Choir tour visited Mongolia in 2008, which inspired Mongolian saints to start the Christmas choir.
“The BYUH choir performance showed us the next level of choir and inspired Buted Altangerel, a choirmaster of Ulaanbaatar West District (currently Ulaanbaatar West Stake) to start our own choir.” Altangerel, already an established opera singer, who was awarded the Honored Actress of Mongolia, decided after seeing the concert, she would establish a choir similar to what she saw.
Soon after the BYUH choir left, the Christmas choir was established in Mongolia and practicing began. They choir performed their very first Christmas musical devotional on December 25, 2008. The performance was so well received it became an annual tradition, said Ochirjav. Every year the choir has a one to two-hour long performance consisting of musical and theatrical elements which are focused on the story of Christ’s birth.
Ankhbayar Otgonbyar, a freshman from Mongolia majoring in graphic design, was a choreographer of last year’s performance. Otgonbyar is a well-known singer in Mongolia. He participated in musical competitions including The Voice of Mongolia, Universe Best Songs, Camerton 2, and others.
He said, “[The performance] is getting better every year and becoming more well known to the public. Now it is the most exciting part of Christmas in Mongolia. Church members and even non-members who know about it look forward to it.”
The Church’s public affairs in Mongolia has invited many non-member authorities including ambassadors of different countries. In recent years, the U.S. and the United Kingdom’s ambassadors started to watch the Christmas choir perform regularly and invited the choir to sing for their embassy’s Christmas events, according to Ochirjav.
Bayartsogt Lkhagvajav, a freshman from Mongolia majoring in human resources, said he has sung in the Christmas choir for eight years. He emphasized preparing for the Christmas musical devotional requires sacrifice and patience from members.
Lkhagvajav explained, “The preparation process usually takes two months, and it is very challenging. However, I feel it is worth it when I see the audience feeling the Holy Spirit and remember the Savior through our service. It helped me to understand the importance of our Savior’s birth and strengthened my testimony. Before this musical devotional started, even Church members did not have a ... correct understanding of Christmas."
Spreading the gospel through Christmas cheer
Besides the choir introducing Christmas culture to Mongolians, it also became another tool to bring individuals to the Church. One of those individuals is Oyunchimeg Baatar. She came to Church through her friend’s invitation to sing in a choir in 2008. Later, she received discussions from missionaries and was baptized.
Baatar said singing in the choir blessed her life in different ways. “It helped me to understand the true meaning of Christmas and feel the Spirit abundantly. I received my testimony of the truth of the Church through the choir even before I started taking discussions from the missionaries. When I sang in the choir, I heard a voice tell me again and again that I needed to stay in this church forever.”
Otgonbayar said the Christmas devotional is a good opportunity for missionaries to bring their investigators to learn about Christmas and feel the Spirit of God. He said, “The preparation process brings us together and helps us to become good friends. There are even some couples who met during the choir preparations.”
Onon Dalaikhuu, a freshman from Mongolia majoring in human resources, said almost every year television stations invite the choir to sing for their broadcasting on Christmas days. Additionally, big malls, hotels, and many other public service organizations have invited the Christmas choir to sing in their public space as well.
Music videos
Ochirjav said the annual Christmas choir performance was the start of much bigger things. His friend, Tsogtbayar Samandari, a famous cartoonist, watched it one time and suggested the choir participate in the Mongolia’s Got Talent show, a popular show in Mongolia.
The Church choir participated in the show with the name “Zion,” and became one of the finalists. Now every Mongolian knows the “Zion” choir-band, and the Church is becoming well known to the public.
Bayasgalan Sukhbaatar, a freshman from Mongolia majoring in business management is the CEO of the BEONE media production company, which has created Christmas songs accompanied by music videos every year since 2016. He said there is not a lot of Christmas music in the Mongolian language, so he decided to fill the gap through making this company.
Sukhbaatar is also a creator of MEFY (Mongolian Especially For Youth) project, which is a media production project that included talented Mongolian youth saints to create church songs in the Mongolian language.
BEONE production, “Zion”, MEFY, full-time missionaries, and other Church members worked together and created five Christmas songs with music videos so far. They did not get paid, and it was their service for Mongolians, Sukhbaatar said.
According to Otgonbayar, those songs were well received and highly appreciated in Mongolian society because they included different elements, including choir, solo singing, rapping and traditional Mongolian music instruments (horsehead fiddle, Mongolian zither, dulcimer, among others).
Otgonbayar said the songs played on the jumbotrons on the main streets of Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia and on televisions as well. Otgonbayar was part of these music videos, and he said, “It was so weird to watch myself from jumbotrons again and again. I saw many times people were waiting for traffic lights and walking on the streets watching us. It is just amazing.”
Even though all the members of BEONE production are in Hawaii, they are making another song called “Hide” for this year’s Christmas. Nomungerel Enkhtuvshin, a junior from Mongolia majoring in psychology will be the singer.
Enkhtuvshin said, “Christianity is a minority in Mongolia, so we face a lot of resistance. However, expressing ourselves through music reduces the resistance, and helps Mongolian society to understand us better. This year’s song is not about Christmas, but it is about sharing the light without hiding our faith. The video will show Mongolian students’ lives here in BYUH.”
BEONE created a Mongolian version of the “Did You Think to Pray?” music video at the request of Mormon Channel, which became one of the most-viewed videos of the channel. The videos are free and available on YouTube channels “MEFY official” and “LDS Mongolia.”
Charity projects
Charity projects are another medium they use to spread the Christmas culture in Mongolia. Every year, Mongolian saints are involved in charity and service projects, according to Ochirjav.
Every year, traditional hot dairy drinks are given to people who work outside in the cold winter including policemen, street custodians, homeless people, according to Uurtsaikh Nyamdeleg, a freshman from Mongolia majoring in hospitality and tourism management.
This year, Ulaanbaatar West Stake Relief Society made infant packages which included swaddles, baby clothes and baby hygiene products. The packages are going to be given away to maternity hospitals on Christmas Day.
Lkhagvajav said one service they often perform during Christmas is to visit families, sing carols and give gifts. “We visit youth prisons to give gifts and haircuts. We also spread air pollution filtering masks in the streets. We do lots of street cleaning services as well. We also partner with other charity organizations, such as The Magic Kingdom, Lantuun Dokhio and do humanitarian work.