Mythologies of the Bayad Tribes

The Bayad (Mongol: Баяд/Bayad, lit. "the Riches") is the third largest subgroup of Mongol people in modern Mongolia and they are a tribe in Four Oirats. Baya'ud were a prominent clan within the Mongol Empire. Baya'ud can be found in both Mongolic and Turkic peoples. Within Mongols, the clan is spread through Khalkha, Inner Mongolians, Buryats and Oirats. The clan name Baya'ud appears among the Mongols, while the ethnonym Bayid appears in Central Siberia. Only the latter appears to be connected to the modern Bayad people of western Mongolia. A common clan name does not mean common origin, the clan names Bayad and Baya’ud are differentiated. The Bayads appear to be Siberian peoples subjugated by the Dorbod tribe of the Oirats. Like all the Oirat tribes, the Bayads were not a consanguineal unit but a political-ethnographic one, formed of at least 40 different yasu, or patrilineages, of the most diverse origins. It is also mentioned that the Bayads are presumably of Siberian Turkic origin, as the Bayad clan name is attested in Siberia from early times. Today, Bayads are settled in the districts of Khyargas, Malchin, Tes, Züüngovi, Baruunturuun and Naranbulag in the province of Uvs. According to the census taken in 2000, 50,824 Bayads currently live in Mongolia.

Bayad is the plural form of a word "Bayan", meaning rich person. The ancestor of the Mongol and Hunnu had Bai-yun tribe which inhabited in the Northern part of the Khatan River (Yellow River). The Bayad ethnic group had a significant role in building Mongolia and in the XVI-XVII century, one of the five groups of South Khalkh was Bayad, furthermore in the XVII century, Bayads reunited as 10 different groups migrate and keep the ethnicity and now they are mainly living in Tes, Zuungovi, Khyargas, and Malchin soums of Uvs province. In addition, their relativs are living in the territory of Adaatsag, Delgertsogt, Saikhan-Ovoo, Erdenedalai, Delgerkhangai, Khuld, Khalkh rivers and Tsagaan ovoo of Dornod province, and also in Inner Mongolia and Russia. Bukha Khatagi, Buhatu, the founders of Khatagin and Saljiud groups of Mongol Nirun province, and Bodonchar, the 11th elder of Chinggis Khan were the children of the Bayad hierarchy. There are 50 843 people in Mongolia, accounting for 1.7% of the population. 54.3 percent of the Bayads are located in Uvs aimag and 25.4 percent live in Ulaanbaatar, as well as in Bulgan, Selenge, Bayan-Ulgii, Darkhan-Uul and Orkhon province. There are several types of clothes, such as festivals and weddings, men and women, children and grands. The Bayad wife's robe is mainly brown, red, brown, and red, and the inside and outside of the skirt is a two-fingered, wide, white collar, with a pallet over her neck, with a sleeves wide, fistless, with a solid shoulder and back. Weddings make women make their hair (hairpin) and decorate the upper part of the veil and put on the neck silver jewelry with a butterfly on the tip. The white collar is a reflection of the holiness by hiding the body from God. Bayad men usually wear white sheepskin in the winter, and they make their deel around their cloaks and scorch their hip. The shape of the scion has its own pattern in the hip. Coupled with the outer collar of the deel (in the horizon), which is decorated by attaching the skin of the lamb. The sheepskin were sterilized with dyes and made them with red, green, and black spots, and occasionally they were decorated around the skin of the lamb.

In the 13th century the term "Mongol" grew into an umbrella term for a large group of tribes united under the rule of Genghis Khan. One of these groups that were once independent were the Bayads. Ethnic distinctions among the Mongol subgroups are relatively minor. Tribal differences are usually not a political or social issue as the Mongols are a generally peaceful nation. The Bayad live in western Mongolia. Mongolia is a very large country with limited travel facilities. Access to remote tribes is very difficult. Most likely, members of the Bayad community are nomadic. Almost half of the Bayad people are Buddhists. The form of Buddhism in Mongolia is the Tibetan form that is mixed with shamanism and spirit appeasement. Orthodox Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama or the Buddha, who lived in the 6th and 5th century BC in ancient India. The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths by which one can gain spiritual knowledge and escape the endless cycles of reincarnation. Theravada, one of the two major branches of Buddhism, declares that by following the Noble Eightfold Path of right intentions and right actions that a Buddhist can achieve nirvana or a state of freedom and salvation. Mahayana Buddhism, the other main branch of Buddhism, asserts that by following the six perfections that a Buddhist can move along the path to Enlightenment. Tibetan Buddhism falls within the Mahayana school. To most Buddhists, however, these things have far less meaning than their traditional beliefs, which are usually animistic. In animism, evil spirits must be appeased through prayers, sacrifices and rituals. Buddhism allows people to mix Buddhist teachings with traditional religion. Two of the important Buddhist yearly holidays are Vesak, the Buddha's birthday celebrated in May or June and Bodhi Day, the holiday which commemorates the day that the historical Buddha experienced enlightenment under a Bodhi tree.