I have spoken to Mongolians and heard the same kinda conclusions. Older generations, like boomers, are often a lot more religious. Millenials are less religious, but still a higher percentage compared to Gen Z. Millenials and Gen Z, of course whether they're religious or not depends on who you ask and there can definitely be very religious Gen Z but I hear that a lot of religious ritual for younger and younger generations become more symbolic and cultural rather than genuinely subscribing to those beliefs. This is pretty typical in many countries to be honest (by religion I am talking about mainly buddhism/tengrism).
With Mongolian religion, it started of with what is known as "Tengrism" which was not exclusive to Mongolia but was practiced throughout Central Asia as well. It was an animistic religion that centred around the sky God - Tengri, and reverence of ancestor spirits and nature. Tengrism in the modern day still is a deep rooted part of Mongolian culture, though a lot of Mongolians may not necessarily call themselves Tengrists or subscribe to that belief officially, it has always been a major part of Mongolian culture. For example, there are ovoos throughout the Mongolian countryside that are essentially cairns that are made that are put in place in order to be used as shrines or places of worship, for both Tengrist practices and buddhist, which are still used to this day. I think even wrestlers do some sort of ritual which involves circling around the ovoo.
So Tengrism really is an all pervasing part of Mongolian culture, even if Mongolians these days won't outright say "I believe in Tengrism/I'm a Tengrist."
Obviously Mongolia was Tengrist for the period of time before the conversion to buddhism during the Yuan dynasty, however the conversion to Buddhism in the Yuan did not exactly stop the Mongols belief in Tengrism, if anything they believed to something that could be described as a mixture between (vajrayana) Buddhism and Tengrism. This is similar to what happened in the other Khanates of the Mongol Empire. The Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate and Ilkahante all eventually converted to Islam in their own times, however this kind of coexistence of their original Tengrist beliefs and Islam still prevailed, just like the Mongols of the Yuan dynasty and Buddhism. If anything, to the Mongols who converted to Islam, Islam was yet another path towards Tengri for them.
If anything, Tibetan Buddhism itself is a result of a similar kind of intertwining between folk religion and a major religion. Before Tibet converted to Buddhism, Tibetans followed a folk religion called "Bon", which is speculated to have been a similar religion to the Mongols Tengrism, perhaps because of the animistic aspects and reverence of ancestors. It was easier for the Mongols to accept this form of buddhism that was the result of a neighbour from a similar culture and climate rather than a more Sinitic version of Buddhism from an agricultural society and with a very different culture.
This history between Tibet and Mongolia is why I love Tibmon so much but I digress haha.
Tibetan lamas and Mongol Khans had something of a symbiotic relationship. The Khans would provide protection to Tibet through the use of their military and in turn the Lamas gave the Khans spiritual legitimacy to rule. This is quite funny seeing as Mongolia initially invaded Tibet in the 1240's under Godan Khan but gradually began to realise that Mongolia lacked the spiritual leadership that Tibet had.
After the collapse of the Mongol Empire, many Mongols went back to subscribing to mainly Tengrism rather than Buddhism-Tengrist mix that was around during the Yuan, however all was not lost. There was still a lot of Mongol interference with Tibetan politics, however now ti was the Oirat Mongols turn to convert. I feel as if lots of people make the mistake of crediting the actions of Oirat Mongol factions onto the Chinggisid/Khalkha Mongols (the Modern Mongolia we know now), however "Oirat" and "Mongol" during this time were seen as seperate groups by both parties - enemies even!
The last Khan of the Nothern Yuan dynasty - Koshugtu, followed the Karmapa school of Buddhism, and tried to suppress the Gelug school of Buddhism in Tibet along with the help of the Choghtu Mongol clan. The Oirat Khushut faction however won this war, allowing for the Gelug school of buddhism to reign supreme in Tibet, and in 1642 the fifth Dalai Lama was installed. In fact "Dalai lama" is a term that was a result of the Oirat Mongols - not the Chinggisid !
I don't think Mongolia stopped being a buddhist completely after the fall of the Yuan, as I said, Mongol Khans still followed Buddhism and there was still a lot of Mongol influence and intereference in Tibetan politics. I certainly believe that he was upset at the Oirat Mongol victory, less so because his preferred school of Tibetan Buddhism was defeated but more so that it meant that trying to re-establish a strong influence in Tibet has failed and was instead won over by his enemies, the Oirats, who began to act more rebelliously once the Yuan dynasty fell. I do think Mongolia retained his buddhist belief and it still influenced Mongolian culture and politics (again, literally tried to suppress Gelug Buddhism), but I think the ratio between Buddhist belief and Tengrist belief favoured the Tengrist side during this time.
When Mongolia was occupied during the Manchu-led Qing dynasty a few decades later, is when I think his Buddhist faith became stronger. In fact the Manchu rulers installed many lamas throughout Mongolia and seemingly encouraged the Mongols to take buddhism more seriously again, however this was not all just because Manchuria wanted Mongolia to escape samsara because of his great compassion for him or something. It is said that quite a few of these lamas were installed specifically by Manchuria to "pacify" the Mongol population, hinting that they may have had pro-Qing beliefs and were put there to discourage rebellion. In fact, some Mongol ultranationalists to this day will argue that Tibetan Buddhism was used by the Manchus to suppress and pacify the Mongols. And to be fair, a good portion of Mongolian men chose to become monks during this time, however this may have had more to do with escaping certain duties expected of male citizens.
Many years later in the 1930s, Buddhism went through a dark age in Mongolia. Purges of Buddhist monasteries and monks took place under the orders of Stalin. If a monk did not disrobe, they would be killed. I think this event only really strengthened Monglia's belief in Buddhism to be honest. He can be quite proud and stubborn (saying this in the nicest way possible) and so seeing a major aspect of his culture get destroyed would only embolden him to cling onto those aspects even hearder in defiance, even if he had to do so privately. His communication with Tibet was also limited during this time because of everything going on so it was also a sense of doing it out of respect/love for him (yeah sorry Tibmon is canon in my heart).
Another timeskip, but with the downfall of the USSR and Mongolia's transition to a market economy in the 90s and early 2000s. This era, though promising, was extremely hard on Mongolia. Unemployment was high, and alcoholism increased due to the uncertainty and stresses of Mongolia trying to navigate itself in this new era after being communist for so long. I heard from Mongolians that this was kind of like a "wild west" time, the country felt chaotic and lawless. I think the stressors of this time along with the decades after the purges meant that Mongolia was very much preoccupied with picking up the pieces and get his nation afoot economically. This isn't to say that Mongolia did not jump on the idea after the democratic revoluton of the 90's, he most certainly did. A kind of neo-Shamanism began during this time and many buddhist monasteries reopened, there was even around 70 churches built in Mongolia by 2002!
However during the time after that, I feel as if Mongolia became more... protective of his religion. There was intially a lot of enthusiam post 1990 and a welcoming of many curious visitors, howeer in the years to come, Mongolian shamans/shaman associations became more weary of Western neo-pagans who were seemingly interested in Mongolian shamanism however would only study this ancient belief from outside sources and who were generally very appropriative in their approach. So religion opened up again during this time and he was certainly pleased as Monglia was never one in believing in suppressing religion, however after so many years of being repressed, you can understand why he would become pretty protective and weary of outsiders taking interest, especially Western neo-pagan types.
Nowadays, I think religion wise, it's not as if he goes to a temple or a shaman every week and goes out of his way to be extremely devout, simply because I think he doesn't need to. Buddhism, Buddhism-Tengrism and Tengrism are all pervasive in Mongolian culture, in the mofits of their art and in the lyrics of their music and during major holidays. There is no huge force that's stopping him from practicing or destroying his monasteries.
Whilst a lot of Mongolians these days, especially younger generations, would call themselves atheists or agnostic, there is no doubt that religion is a major part of Mongolian culture in which it cannot be divorced from. I wouldn't say Mongolia would call himself an atheist because the very existence of nation-personfication-avatar-being-things means that there is definitely something mystical about this world (as in, the hetalia universe) but I would say that as a baseline, if anyone asks him, he will say he is a buddhist, and if you ask him to elaborate he'll explain the Tengrism part of his culture. He may shake his head a bit at the loss of religion in younger generations (I make him more on the boomer-ish side sorry) though he acknolwedges that he himself is a little hypocritical in this regard because he isn't exactly devout in general (unless Tibet visits -) but he would never reject those beliefs, moreso they're just ticking along in the background and once in a while especially during major holidays he will go to a monastery or visit a shaman and when he is travelling in the country and sees an ovoo he'll always stop and pay his respects.
thinking about how when the Tibetan Buddhists were being run out by Bon nationalists they ran to the mongols for help and thinking of Tibet being exhausted and wary of who Mongolia even is anymore (it’s been a few hundred years he might as well be dead), walking into a ger terrified and having no idea what’s inside—
Only to lock eyes with his old friend who grins at him—holy crap he’s alive??— and then promptly being tackled and put into a bone crushing bear hug as Mongolia gushes and says how much he missed him
Mongolia is a general who’s been fighting against demons and dragons for decades, fulfilling his need for revenge against the savagery he’d seen first hand. The king finally invites him back to his palace to discuss a new strategy for dealing with the dragons. He eagerly awaits convincing the King to supply his army with more weapons so they can make progress against those soulless monsters
Tibet is a head religious figure, living in the harshest of conditions and tuning his mind to be one of the strongest and sharpest in the world. He runs a ranch for tiny monsters and dragons, saving then from “soldiers” who hunt them for sport. Because of his mind, he knows these dragons are breathing, thinking, intelligent beings, and after a lifetime of his friends and their human protectors being slaughtered by the generals’ “soldiers” he decided he had enough, and after pestering the king, is invited to the royal palace to discuss his case that these intelligent beings, fully capable of art and literature, should no longer be warred upon.
The king sets up this little meeting so the two men can debate, one who’ve seen the dragon’s inhumanity and cruelty all his life, and another who’s spent their life growing up alongside them. Whoever convinces him that they are in the right is who he will let dictate his policy towards the dragons.
On their very first meeting, Mongolia calls Tibet, a pacifist, a fucking idiot.
On their second meeting, Tibet throws rice at Mongolia’s face.
The King is loving it.
((TibMongol, Platonic or Romantic, anyone can be the king he’s a real tool))
Happy Holidays, @flyingsassysaddles! I wish I cleaned this up a lot more but originally I was going to try and write something for you. Problem is, I know very little about these characters and how they interact.
Tibet: mfw my crush actually agrees to have some tea with me
Mongolia: mfw my crush asks if I want some tea but he’s too cute for me to properly respond
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Organization for Transformative Works
Wah my Russia and Mongolia (with Tibet and Buryatia mention) fic set in the 1930's!
This is based around the incident in which Peljidiin Genden, Prime Minister of Mongolia at the time, allegedly slapped Stalin across the face and broke his pipe. Fun times.
