In daily life, Mongol men and women shared many duties, although each also had some specific chores. For example, women set up and took down the tents, sewed clothes, and turned milk into other dairy products, such as cheese and butter. When not at war, the men’s most important duties were making tools and hunting. The men had to make their own military equipment, including saddles and stirrups, and they took care of the horses.
Mongol men often had many wives, sometimes capturing women from neighboring tribes. Chinggis Khan was said to have had hundreds of wives, although he always remained very close to his first wife, O’elun. Families arranged marriages between their young children. Parents from the ruling class did this to create political bonds that would last for generations. The young Chinggis acquired his first wife this way when he was only nine years old, although the actual marriage ceremony took place years about six years later. Following a Mongolian custom, Chinggis-still known as Temujin at this time-was left with the parents of his future wife.
Before the empire was built, Mongol children did not go to school. The Mongols did not have a written language until Chinggis introduced one much later, so they did not need to learn how to read or write. Sons and daughters learned the skills they needed from their parents. For sons, the most important skills were hunting and archery. Daughters watched their mothers carrying out the typical women’s chores. Education changed as the Mongol rulers interacted with the cultures of Persia and China. The wealthy hired tutors to teach their children how to read and speak the native languages, while the poor continued to teach their young the skills they needed for adulthood.
World History
