Today’s blog post will be about Mongolian ger – or yurts – which literally simply means home . The term yurt is of Turkic origin and originally only referred to the mark on the ground left behind by a yurt that has been moved elsewhere and by extension to a person’s homeland and clan.

Yurts are made of portable lattice structures, the standard ger consisting of 5 lattice walls (хана) . These are held together by tension bands, which ensure that the structure does not fall apart. The yurt is covered by several layers of felt (эсгий), one layer in the summer and four layers in the winter. The wool for the felt usually comes from the pastoralists’ sheep herds. The felt coverings are often decorated with traditional Turkic geometric patterns. The lattice walls are topped by a roof ring or crown (тооно) which is held in place by rafters or roof poles (унь). In addition, one or more poles or columns support the roof ring or crown. The skylight in the crown can be covered by a skylight cover (өрх). The door always faces south.

The furnishings in a ger have fixed places:

Yurts have stoves that are heated by dried dung (аргал), which is collected in the open steppe in a special basket.