Nonhuman Attunements: Tethering Foals and Praising Masters of the Altai Mountains in Mongolia

Nonhuman Attunements is a series of essay films about how people relate to their animals and homelands in Inner Asia. During our fieldwork in Bayan-Ölgii, Mongolia in July 2016, we stayed with a family of herders who belong to the Adai-Irgit clan of Altai Tyvans. In the early morning, our hosts began making araga, a drink distilled from fermented milk, for a celebration called Kulun Baglaary, or “Tethering the Foals.” This essay film follows Dondog and his family over one day as they tether their foals, milk their mares, and offer praises to the Masters of the Altai Mountains, the nonhuman beings who guard this place.