Jarantai
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990434
Name: Jarantai
Parent's name: Ochir
Ovog: Ard togoruutan
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1949
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: elementary
Notes on education:
Work: retired
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Tsetserleg sum, Hövsgöl aimag
Lives in: Tsetserleg sum (or part of UB), Hövsgöl aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
family
education / cultural production
collectivization
cultural campaigns
privatization
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
childhood
second school student life
cultural campaigns
vaccination
foreign relations
repressions
collectivization
herder
agricultural manufacturing
work - labor
privatization
funeral rituals
environment
To read a full interview with Jarantai please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 091039A with Jarantai
О. Jarantai was born in 1949 in Hövsgöl aimag’s Tsetserleg sum. His father who was a doctor in Buddhist philosophy (Gavj - a superior rank of lamas trained in ecclesiastical school of divinity) escaped from the repressions and hid in the mountains for ten years until he passed away when Jarantai was 4 or 5 and his last words were “bad times are coming”. His mother passed away when he was 12 and he was raised by his older brother. After graduating from fourth grade he worked in construction for 2 years when in 1968 he went to serve in the military. Upon finishing his service he worked as a herdsman in a negdel up until his retirement.
In the beginning he gives some brief information about his time as a herder and about his parents. He also talks about student life at that time and how he worked in construction at Tosontsengel sum in Zavhan aimag. During socialism there were specific measures for those who didn’t want to work, they used to gather all unemployed and employed them in building fences for livestock.
In the middle part of the interview he talks about the processes of collectivization and the life of members of collectives. People were pressured to join collectives; those who herded for collectives were allowed to have 17 large livestock and 33 small livestock, a total of 50 livestock. If numbers exceeded the allowed amount the excess cattle was seized and those who raised their cattle well were awarded with a thermos. During socialism the leaders were physically involved in organizing everything whereas nowadays leaders just know how to talk and never get the job done. He further shared how the cultural campaigns were initiated and how he thinks such processes were a timely action. He received 77 sheep during privatization; he raised the number to 700-800 and distributed them to his children. He also mentions how he thinks other properties that belonged to the collective disappeared through embezzlement by those who worked in management.
At the end he talks about the environment, how common people interacted with foreign countries, how herders were rewarded and how funeral rituals came to be transformed over the years.
