Day #79: Erecting a ger

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I was fortunate enough to see a ger being erected today, at our latest stopping-point (I was nearly bitten to death by mosquitoes and horse flies in the process, though - I counted 30+ bites the day after). It was a joint effort between all 4 members of the family, men and women, plus our driver.

When we arrived the floor had already been laid and the door was in place, and the furniture had been arranged on the floor (the ger is erected around the furniture, since it won't fit through the door afterwards). The next step is to put in place the lattice wood frame that runs around the circumference, and then the poles that make up the roof frame are put in place and affixed to the lattice (we tried to help at this point, but may have been more of a hindrance). This stage took the longest as there was then a lot of adjustment to be made to the position of the lattice frame to ensure the ger was circular and level, and once everyone was satisfied, the lattice was fixed in place with wooden poles.

After that it was a matter of putting the various layers of fabric and covering over the frame: a layer of thin cloth to begin with, then the felt roof (the most physical stage of making the ger, as the rolls of felt have to be hoicked onto the roof), then a layer of waterproof plastic, then canvas and finally the white outer layer. Then it is just a matter of tying belts around the circumference to hold everything in place. The only part we didn't see was the final roof covering, which is just a small square that covers the peak of the roof, and can be moved using weights depending on the weather. The whole operation took maybe 3 hours, which is not bad for building your home.

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