NAADAM FESTIVAL
Naadam Festival (on July 11th – July 13th): Naadam is a traditional type of Festival in Mongolia. The festival is also locally termed “the three games of men”. The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery and are held throughout the country during the midsummer holidays. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling. The biggest festival is held in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar during the National Holiday from July 11th – July 13th in the National Sports Stadium. Other cities and towns across Mongolia, have their own, smaller scale Naadam celebrations. It begins with an elaborate introduction ceremony featuring dancers, athletes, horse riders, and musicians. After the ceremony, the competitions begin. Another popular Naadam activity is the playing of games using shagai, sheep knuckles that serve as game pieces and tokens of both divination and friendship.
Naadam is Mongolia’s longest and most significant public holiday. It celebrates Mongolian independence, freedom and pride in Mongol history and culture. Held during the summer in the capital city, the atmosphere is very festive as Mongols enjoy their holiday season.
Every year, the official Naadam Opening Ceremony is held on 11th July. The ceremony takes the form of a drama spectacular, similar to that of the Olympics. Designed and choreographed differently each year, the spirit of the opening event is a strong message of Mongol freedom, spirit and pride.
A unique part of the ceremony is a parade of ancient Mongol white spirit banners. These spirit banners are made of horse hair and date back to the thirteenth century. Kept in the Mongolian Parliament House at all other times, it is only during the Naadam Opening Ceremony that they are paraded out in public.
Mongolian horse racing is vastly different from other horse race cultures, with its own unique history and culture. Betting on races is not part of Mongol horse race culture. In the national races, each race event is entered by four to six hundred horses. In total, some three thousand male horses compete in six types of race events at the national race in Ulan Bator. Unlike Western horse traditions, Mongol horses are raced from age one year. The youngest horses compete in a 10km event. Races take place on relatively straight courses rather than a circular racetrack. Adult horses and stallions compete in races that are 28–30 kilometres in distance. Race jockeys are all children aged five to fourteen years, both girls and boys.
During the Naadam season, across all of Mongolia’s three main cities, 21 provinces and 360 villages, the three manly sports are celebrated through competition (local Naadam). In horse racing events, this involves some fifty thousand horses across the entire country! The biggest national horse race in Ulan Bator is on 10–12 July. There are two races on each of these three days. The race finish line is located about 30 kilometres from Ulan Bator city.
One of the critical reasons behind the success of the Mongol army during the thirteenth century was the keen skill and technology of Mongol archers. Mongol bows were able to shoot twice as far in distance compared with any others. These remarkable bows were made using a special technique of combining animal horns and wood. Even today, Mongols continue to use this same technology for competing in the Naadam Festival. During the country’s communist history, women archers began competing in the national competition. Indeed, Mongolia’s first world champion was a female archer in 1971.
Naadam archery event categories are divided by gender, age and styles. While the official Naadam Festival runs over just two days, national archery events continue over ten. For visitors, the archery events offer wonderful opportunities to admire skills and take photos from different angles, including at close proximity to the athletes.
The earliest evidence of traditional Mongol wrestling dates back to the Bronze Age. Very recently, in September 2011, the Mongolian Wrestling Association organised a tournament of 6006 wrestlers, setting the world record for the most number of wrestlers any competition.
A ‘men only’ sport, Mongolian wrestling is unique from other wrestling traditions around the world. Most significantly, there are no weight or time limits. The longest match occurred during the 1998 Naadam final, taking 4 hours and 15 minutes! The absence of any weight categories reflects the sports core philosophy that a wrestler must be able to fight against any opponent of any size. It is the combination of speed, technique, strength and other skills that makes a champion wrestler.
Mongol wrestling costumes are very distinctive, comprising long, large boots worn together with small, tight pants and an open-chested top. The design of the open-chest upper garment can be traced back a few centuries when a female Mongol entered the competition disguised as a man by wearing a closed-chest top. This amazing woman went on to win the tournament. After her true identity became known, open-chest tops became mandatory.
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