Chagansulideji
01 · Historical Records
The Chagan Sulde worship, handed down for generations in Uxin Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is practiced in two areas. One is at Maobulage Village in Wudinghe Town, where the Chagan Sulde established by Genghis Khan in 1206, when he proclaimed the founding of the Mongol Empire, is enshrined. The second is at Tailaiwusucha in Sulde Sumu, where the Chagan Sulde granted by Genghis Khan to Muqali in 1217 is enshrined. After long historical changes, what began as a protocol of offering and sacrifice in the Mongol-Yuan court gradually evolved into a conscious practice and culture of belief among the people.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Chagan Sulde worship is a time-honored traditional offering ceremony of the Mongol people, expressing reverence for the Chagan Sulde itself, for Mongke Tengri (the Eternal Blue Heaven), for the vast earth, for all things of nature, and for the ancestors, as well as prayers for a better life. In form, it is a banner standard composed of a sesm (or spearhead), a tray, a guhul, and a flagpole. The guhul must be made from the mane of a stallion, and the color of the horsehair varies by type: the Chagan Sulde uses white horsehair. In Mongol culture, the Sulde is of great significance: it is the emissary of the Eternal Blue Heaven and the material embodiment of the idea of unity between heaven and humanity, symbolizing people's faith and spirit and carrying connotations of ancestor worship. The Chagan Sulde is also called the 'Nine-Float White Banner' or the 'Nine-Float White Standard'. For hundreds of years, the Chagan Sulde of Uxin Banner has always had people specifically assigned to guard, manage, and sacrifice to it, with fixed inheritors of the worship tradition. Its offering ceremonies are rich and varied, including sacrifices to Heaven, the stars, fire, the sun, the moon, the seasons, the year, the New Year, and the grand sacrifice, with complex contents and procedures. Strict rules govern everything from the dates, procedures, and forms of sacrifice to the offerings, the officiants, and the sacrificial texts.
The form of the white nine-streamer standard
The white standard is made up of the lance, the tray, the tuft and the pole; the tuft must be cut from a stallion’s crest, white for this standard.
Inviting and installing the standard
Before the rite the altar is cleansed, offerings arranged and the standard brought out and installed under rules covering date, order, offerings, officiant and text.
The heavenly and stellar rites
The heavenly and stellar rites open the sequence, moving from heaven to the stars and then to fire, sun and moon, an order that maps the cosmos.
The fire, sun and moon rites
Fire, sun and moon rites take these natural elements as their medium, folding the most immediate presences of steppe life into worship.
New year and seasonal rites
Yearly, seasonal and new-year rites follow the calendar, with the great rite reserved for the heaviest occasions, kept in order by hereditary keepers.
Two centres of the cult
Two villages keep two separate standards, one of 1206 and one of 1217, each with its own hereditary officiant, together forming the full shape of the Mongol cult.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Chagan Sulde worship is transmitted in two places within Uxin Banner: Maobulage Village in Wudinghe Town enshrines the Chagan Sulde established by Genghis Khan in 1206 when he proclaimed the founding of the Mongol Empire, while Tailaiwusucha in Sulde Sumu enshrines the one granted by Genghis Khan to Muqali in 1217. Both banners are white with nine floats, yet because they commemorate different figures and eras, each has its own inheritances of worship, each keeping to its own sacrificial dates without overstepping. Of the two, Sulde Sumu lies in the southern part of the banner and is linked with generations of guardianship by the principal officiant's family, while the site at Maobulage Village, near the Wuding River, holds its ceremonies alongside village community festivities. At both sites the guhul on the offering table must be made from the mane of a stallion; the horsehair color varies by type, with the Chagan Sulde taking white horsehair—a detail common to both, for one recognizes the banner first by its horsehair.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In Mongolian, 'Sulde' connotes auspiciousness, nobility, harmony, unity, and peace. There are three main types: Chagan Sulde, Hara Sulde, and Alag Sulde, each with its own origins, functions, and genealogies of transmission. The Chagan Sulde worship of Uxin Banner is an important component of Mongol belief culture and a vehicle for the people's history, customs, rites, and arts. Reflecting the Mongol understanding of and reflection on heaven and earth, humanity and society, and the essential nature of the human spirit, it possesses considerable value for anthropology, ethnology, and religious studies, and plays a positive role in transmitting ethnic culture and strengthening cultural identity. Gaerdi Naoribu (information from the official inheritor file): male, Mongol ethnicity, born in February 1948, native of Uxin Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He devoted himself to perfecting the sacrificial ceremonies and in 2002 basically restored the full form of the Chagan Sulde worship. He also worked with media outlets nationwide to produce more than ten documentary features, including 'Tracing the Nine-Float Great Banner of the Mongol Empire' and 'The Lost Chagan Sulde', for special coverage of Chagan Sulde culture. He is a representative inheritor of the Chagan Sulde worship, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth national-level batch. He compiled and published such works as 'The Worship of the Nine-Float White Standard' and 'Scriptures for the Worship of the Nine-Float White Standard', and has received multiple awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award for the Rescue, Preservation, and Study of Sulde Culture. His disciple Hugejiletu is now able to undertake all the activities of the ceremonies independently.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Gaerdinaoribu 05-3062
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。