Ulaanbaatar
Accessory-tool set of Buryat wives
Art & Culture
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Accessories and ornaments worn by a Mongolian woman is generally categorized into of Khalkh, Oirat, and eastern Mongol women. Wives of Khalkha, Dariganga and Barga origin often used headband and head accessories while Oirat women used to wrap their pigtails in a hair holder case and wear earrings, called ‘siik’ at that time.
Craftsmen of different places made myriad of types of delicate accessories and ornaments for women – headbands, pendants, pins, clips, bracelets, combs, rings, earrings and other decorative pieces, using silver and embellishing them with gold and pearls. Their crafts represented each craftsman’s own unique style, techniques and portrayal.
The accessory named as ‘five careless’ is an essential tool used by not only Mongol wives, but also girls, and is made of a tweezer, tongue scraper, swab for ear, toothpick and a pick to clean fingernails. Primarily owned as a hygiene tool, the ‘five careless’ also performed a duty of an adornment decoration and is enriched with beautiful patterns and ornaments. Buryat wives and Myangad girls used to carry them together with a small knife as a complement.
