By Bolor-Uyanga
Darkhan, Mongolia, 26 November 2017 -- The program began with Holy Eucharist, presided over by Fr. Anthony Kishore Minj SDB; around hundred people attended the celebration. It began at 10.00 in morning at Maria Auxilium parish. The Concelebrants were Fr. Simon Lee SDB (vice-rector), Fr. Jaroslav SDB. Just before Mass a pamphlet was given to the faithful to get familiarized with the history of the feast of Christ the King.
At the introduction of the Holy Mass Fr. Anthony highlighted the importance of the day that was Feast of the Christ the King and the declaration of Independence Day of Mongolia. In his short homily he emphasized on sharing based on the gospel the feast of Christ the King. “Let us share and be generous with the God-given life”, he said, “God has not sent us empty handed” At the end of Mass all people sang together the National Anthem of Mongolia. The national anthem was composed in 1950; the lyric of song is based on unity and righteous development of the nation.
After the mass all staffs of Don Bosco, Darkhan celebrated by organizing general knowledge quiz about Mongolia. They spent time together having fun and celebration in their national costumes.
November 26, 1924 was the day that Mongolia declared itself an independent country with adoption of its first constitution. The Mongolian People’s Republic, a communist state, under the rule of the Mongolian people’s Revolutionary Party, lasted until 1990; From then on Mongolians celebrated their Independence Declaration Day on November 26th every year. On this day usually people wear national costumes (Deel) and play different types of free style funny games, collect the all types of knuckle bones of sheep or goat and organized games, it is called Shagai in Mongolian language. It depicts their culture strongly based on the Mongolian Secret History Book called ‘Nuuts towchoo’
