Blog assignment 3: Symbol of Peace

  Symbol of Peace

People of Mongolia consider shaking hands as a symbol of peace. You can see people shaking hands at every corner, every minute in daily life of Mongolia.

Mongolian people shake hands every day, every minute when they meet new friend, to respect an old man or just to greet an old friend. Also, we shake hands when we stepped on someone’s foot or accidentally pushed someone, or when we are appreciating someone. I heard many Mongolians laughing about misunderstandings they faced in foreign countries, when they shook hands of complete strangers. "I accidentally stepped on his foot, I said I was sorry and shook his hand. Stranger was quite shocked, he didn't understand that I was nice"-one of my friends told me. Also, when you see someone looking awry at you it doesn’t mean that this person doesn’t like you. In Mongolia you could meet many people who are in depression. According to this situation, the stranger doesn’t mean any harm to you and he wasn’t looking exactly at you. It was an accident, and the stranger was thinking about his own problems.

As I said before, it is very common to shake hands by apologizing to a person. If some of your Mongolian friends shake your hand it means: "Peace, brother. I didn't mean to hurt you" or just "Peace". If complete stranger shakes your hands do not panic, he is your new friend. And Mongolians do everything they able to do to help and to protect friends.