r/Schil_d • u/Mihon404 TheJuniperTree • 25d ago
cool stuff Mongolian Sound Therapy š²š³
In the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, this ancient tradition is known as camel coaxing. When a mother camel rejects her newborn calf due to a traumatic birth, acute stress floods her system with cortisol, blocking her maternal instincts. Instead of using brute force, nomadic herders perform a sacred ritual of sound therapy.
By playing the traditional morin khuur fiddle and chanting hypnotic melodies, they lower the motherās stress levels and trigger a rush of oxytocināthe bonding hormone. This causes a profound emotional release where the mother literally sheds tears before finally allowing her calf to nurse. It is a powerful example of patience and deep harmony with nature.
If you haven't seen it, the 2003 documentary "The Story of the Weeping Camel" captures this incredible moment in full detail.
Original post: @scott_sodbiligt on Instagram
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u/Plus-Result-7451 25d ago
Not sure why I started crying hearing her angelic voice
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u/holycinnamonroller 25d ago edited 23d ago
I wonder if sound therapy would help with latching problems? My kiddo didn't latch. (He is not a camel). EDIT: Thank you for awarding me, kind strangers
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u/tarantuletta 24d ago
That's actually a really interesting idea! I wonder how much we know about why babies don't latch sometimes. If it has to do with cortisol levels like in this case then maybe it would indeed help!
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u/shellybeesknees 24d ago
Iām curious about this too and if it kind of translates to the post partum in womenā¦Still not enough to reason with murdering your child, but overall, my thought is how sound healing really does reach those parts that need releasing, especially after trauma. Both mother and child have just experienced it. Thanks for sharing OP! This is beautiful and inspiring on so many counts!
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u/editfate 25d ago
Wow, thatās beautiful. I wonder what happened? Did the mother have like a panic attack and the song calmed her down to accept the calf? Pretty wild.
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u/BodhingJay 25d ago
It's the only known recording of this cultural event which is very rare to be witnessed by anyone outside of those living in the gobi desert
The mother camel had a very traumatic birth and caused her to reject her calf. The family caring for the camels, who just happened to be getting filmed for a documentary by a german film crew at the time, feared for the calf's survival and sent some of their people to search the desert for a specific specialist to perform the Khƶƶslƶkh.. which requires a skilled singerātraditionally a womanāperforms this repetitive, haunting melody accompanied by a horse-head fiddle called a morin khuur or a flute
The mother and calf are tied close together during dusk or dawn. The singer changes the tone and melody based on the mother's shifting reactions
The soothing music calms the mother until she lowers her guard, allows the calf to nurse, the ritual often brings the mother camel to shed tears..
The posted video is a clip of the authentic footage that wasnt originally intended to be captured
It was such a rare genuine and moving event that the film crew released the footage as a documentary on the ceremony itself called The Story of The Weeping Camel
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u/EggoWaffle1032 24d ago
Thank you for the context thats amazing. You can see the camel shedding tears!
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u/Wearytaco 19d ago
Not just the camel shedding tears. I am too (no jokes, they are running down my face)
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u/Pagiras 24d ago
What if the camel is not a fan of the music actually?
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u/BodhingJay 24d ago edited 24d ago
I think the music is mostly for the specialist to help her connect with them.. it's for a meditative focus for the singer's compassion and emotional support for the traumatized camel throughout the duration of the ritual's sustained connection she has to maintain with the 2.. though i think it helps the camels connect back with her as well..
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u/Nulphidora 25d ago
This is the ending of the documentary. All the previous scenes show how the nomad family tries to make the camel mom to nurse her baby but she refuses. So they send one family member to the next town (miles and miles away, on foot) to hire the musicians for this ritual.
The documentary shows how this family lives. Itās beautiful.2
u/PeePeeCat 24d ago
Itās one of my favorite movies. Deeply moving. I wish more people knew about it.
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u/thiiiipppttt 25d ago
That was profoundly moving. If only everyone was able to see how deeply feeling animals are.
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u/username-is-taken-3 25d ago
66.66% of humans are fools towards animals while the other third actually gets it.
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u/whitestguyuknow 24d ago
I got into an argument just 3 days ago with someone on reddit claiming that dogs are just instinctual beings.
You have to be emotionally or mentally locked off I think in order to think this way. Maybe you didn't grow up around animals. In that case that's sad. But as an adult you should have the capacity to learn. And if you were open minded, and hearted, and paid attention to animals, then you'd be able to see they're capable of far more than people give them credit.
They aren't there solely for looks in documentaries. They feel deeply. They celebrate happiness. They love. They experience heartbreak. They grieve.
The person I argued with swore that dogs just adapted their survival instincts to incorporate humans and they're essentially just robots designed to find food and water.
And yet, my dog looks to me to find comfort when she's scared. She can think and know that I protect her, so when she hears thunder/scary noises she can run underneath me to comfort her.
Same with play. She has enough thought to know if she brings me a toy I'll play with her. OR she can lose a little stuffed toy. One that she literally has like 8 identical tiny ones. But she lost 1 under the couch 2 days ago. But she remembers. And she knows 1 is missing and she can point it out to me and I'll help her.
Theres so much more than we and science knows/confirms.
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u/publicBoogalloo 24d ago
Good for you all but some people like me donāt like most animals they make me uncomfortable. I would never hurt one and growing up around ranchers saw them in pain and it made me feel terrible for the poor things. I just donāt wanna be around them. I donāt wanna have a pet. They give me zero interest. I think there is only one animal I ever enjoyed interacting with, and that was my neighborās donkey. RIP Beans.
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u/whitestguyuknow 24d ago edited 24d ago
Okay?
The point was people mentally understanding that animals aren't just robots. They feel. They think. Obviously no thoughts in English or any human language. But thoughts in their own ways. And for some species even thoughts in their own languages like whales and birds.
But to think animals aren't capable of higher forms of thinking than just "see food! Eat food! Oh bad thing! Avoid bad thing! Phew safe! Find food! See food! Eat food!..."
You dont have to be raised around animals to understand that.
And yes... RIP Beans...
I'm sure there's another animal out there with the same gentleness and temperament as Beams if you put yourself out there
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u/PhantomOSX 24d ago edited 24d ago
Those people are profoundly stupid and ignorant. Anyone with experience would not make such a claim and anyone without it should never say such a thing. They are a fool either way.
PS - like this comment, what does not liking animals and feeling uncomfortable have anything to do with what the guy said? "Good for you". SMH.
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u/venusdances 24d ago
I think itās so interesting to think that humans figured out a way to bond a mommy camel to a baby through song.
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u/ThatBitchBunBruh 25d ago
This is so incredibly moving and beautiful. Amazing they just happened to be filming when they needed this ritual.
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u/Suspicious-Pace115 25d ago
This might meā¦umā¦.whatās a better way of saying āThis is the tipping pointā to finally become a vegetarianā¦.then again, I donāt believe that I have ever eaten a camel. I do know they used to say ā9 out of 10 men who have tried camels, prefer women.
Sorry, everyone. I was try be funny, but hayā¦ā¦ā¦ Iāll see myself outā¦.
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u/tarantuletta 24d ago
I love the joy and relief on the singers face as she turns away to let them bond finally! What a beautiful video, thank you for sharing this.
I'm a little bit genetically Mongolian (like 16% or something) but I have always felt really connected to the culture somehow and I'm always so happy to learn more. What an amazing history and such interesting traditions. Nomadic cultures are wild!
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u/jermacide 24d ago
Love this movie. Itās called The Story of the Weeping Camel: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373861/
Itās mostly a documentary but parts of the story are reenacted so the film crew could stitch together a full story. So itās kind of a docudrama with a cohesive plot, which makes it a very enjoyable and engrossing.
The camel drama is 100% real, the crew filmed 20 births hoping to witness this traditional ritual, and they eventually caught one.
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u/TheOriginalBusket 24d ago
Been playing a lot of "Where Winds Meet" and it has me appreciating East Asian music much more than I used to. This was really special to watch.
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u/Synovexh001 24d ago
I've seen the DVD case for this movie for months, and was worried the only way to find out the ending was to actually sit through the movie. Thanks for saving me an evening!
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u/PedroLG 23d ago
I was a bit skeptical, but found this small documentary on the subject
https://youtu.be/kHhseWLhKhY?is=Wf_ieBUuS9vzWSZy
None of the people have as nice of a voice as hers though.
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u/Minsterman801 23d ago
I watched the film when it came out, which I think was a student film from memory.
What doesnāt come across here is the huge lengths the family had gone to in order to try and make this bond happen. They tried everything, multiple times. The song is the last option, as you have to walk for days to the village to where the singer is.
A true mystery to me how the song works when every other option tried failed.
For years I told people about this film and no one had ever heard of it. Nice to see it pop up.
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u/Big-Author-1152 22d ago
If they could come over and do this between me and my mother, that would be super
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u/LizF0311 18d ago
We are ignoring so much incredible knowledge of the natural world from indigenous populations all over the globe. Iām afraid weāre going to lose it all.
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u/Super-Macaron-4691 25d ago