May 19 - Saturday

Day of Kalmyk tea
Festival "Night of Museums" in Russia
All-Russian forest planting day

1910 The earth passed through the tail of Halley's comet
1922 Day of Pioneers - a pioneer organization was established in the USSR

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On the third Saturday of May, residents of Kalmykia celebrate the state memorable date - the Day of Kalmyk tea (Kalmyk Halmg Tsyaagin nyar). This annual holiday was established by the people's Khural (parliament) of Kalmykia in 2011 in order to preserve and revive the national culture. It was first held on May 19, 2012.
It is interesting that Kalmyk tea is more like a first dish than a drink. Correctly brew and serve tea - a whole art. As a rule, well-brewed tea Kalmyks generously salt, add to it milk and nutmeg, pounded in butter, and all this is thoroughly stirred ladle.
Traditional Kalmyk tea ceremony also has its own rules. For example, you can not give a guest stale tea - this is a sign of disrespect, so the drink is brewed right in front of the guest. In this case, all movements are made from left to right - along the course of the sun. The first portion of tea is brought to the Burkhans (Buddhas): they pour it into the sacrificial cup and put it on the altar, and after the tea party is given to the children.
You can not drink tea from pialas with chopped edges. While bringing tea, the owner must hold the bowl with both hands at the chest level, thereby showing respect to the guest. When offering tea, the hierarchy is respected: first, the pial is served to the oldest person regardless of whether he is a guest, relative or someone else. The recipient of the tea, in turn, must take the bowl with both hands, with the ring finger of the right hand, perform the ritual of sprinkling ("tsatsl tsatskh"), say goodwill to the tea itself, the owner of the house and his whole family. After the tea is drunk, empty dishes can not be turned upside down - this is regarded as a curse.
A lucky sign is to get on a visit to the morning tea. With him, the Kalmyks connect a successful solution to the business started, confirming this with a proverb which, in Kalmyk, reads: "If you drink tea in the morning, things will be done."
There are several versions of where the Kalmyks learned about tea. According to one of them, the famous religious reformer Tzonghava once fell ill and turned to the doctor. He ordered him a "divine drink," advising him to drink it on an empty stomach seven days in a row. The Tsunghava Council heeded and was healed. On this occasion, he urged all believers to put a lantern to the Burkhans and prepare a miracle drink, later called the Kalmyks "halmg ts". This was tea.
According to another version, the custom of drinking tea for Kalmyks was presented by a lama who decided to find vegetable food that would not be inferior to meat dishes by calorie content. He read the prayer for 30 days in the hope that a miraculous culture would rise, and his expectations were justified. Since then, the Kalmyks have had a custom to hold a tea ceremony as a kind of divine ritual, and the tea itself became the most revered Kalmyk drink: the morning begins with Kalmyk families, without it there is not a single holiday.