July is a month of birthdays in my family. The hubby’s birthday is first, closely followed by my mom’s, and then mine to round off the month. So, it’s always been an amazing month – socially and emotionally. Coming as it does in the middle of the year, it’s a logical time for a reset as well, to remember all that I meant to do this year and make sure I am on track for all my goals.
One goal this year has been to make the effort to step out of the house and daily routines and enjoy new experiences. Last year, while we were in London, we did a ton of that, but this year, after our move up north, we’ve reverted back to being homebodies. Both K and the boy dislike going out; the girl has her own extensive social circle and doesn’t really want to step out much with us as a family. And we’ve also been pretty heavily focused on setting down roots (buying a home of our own).
But this month, there was a massive heatwave, and it got so uncomfortable stewing in the house that we all decided to visit the Genghis Khan exhibition at the Royal Armories for K’s birthday. Not exactly his interest area, but that was the only thing on, and it was cheap (saving up every pound we have for our house down payment), so off we went, and it was quite an enjoyable time.
I never knew that museums could be enjoyable, and engaging until I moved here. The content is pretty kid-friendly and introductory level and well suited for people with minimal knowledge of the background of the Mongol Empire. The exhibition was also a well-curated mix – with a focus on the geography that made the rise and expansion of the empire possible, the art, cultures and traditions of the Mongols, the women of the empire, and also some of the scientific and cultural advancements that they brought to the regions under their sway.
I had mistakenly assumed that a nomadic culture such as the Mongols would not leave behind much in terms of art, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I was also surprised by the prominence of the women. It seems that Mongol women had far more power and autonomy. While society was of course patriarchal, women managed the mobile steppe economy, commanded troops, owned property, and served as political leaders. Several Khatuns (queens) even ruled the vast empire as regents during successions.
One famous Mongol woman was a warrior and wrestler and she declared that she would only marry someone who she could defeat at wrestling. She apparently never lost a wrestling match and all the defeated losers had to gift her a horse. Other Mongol women also went on to be queens or regents taking care of the empire while the men were at war, or when they died (which was quite often the case).
We also got to explore their weaponery, their yurts (huts), and general way of life.
The Mongols were also supposedly remarkably religiously tolerant. While they were brutal if there was opposition to their conquests, but if cities surrendered without a fight, there was a fairly good chance that the only slaughter would be of the top heads in charge, and they never indulged in forced religious conversion. That said, there is no denying the massive scale of the slaughters. Most cities did resist and paid the price with an overall death toll of almost 40-60 million!
On that note, we moved out of the exhibition space to explore the gift shop. We bought nothing (a first for us, as museum gift shops have always been a money sink for us), fooled around briefly taking pictures of us all pretending to be Anne Boleyn or knights of the round table.
Overall, this was a nice, pleasant day out. Thinking back, I wish we had done more, but with the world cup matches, we were all eager to come back home, chill, and settle down with the TV.
There are two more birthdays to celebrate this month, and so we will be planning more fun stuff to do for the rest of this month. After the rough couple of months I have had (work stress), I am hoping this month is a bit more relaxing and laid back.
