July 11-13
This Mongolian festival, sometimes spelled Nadaam, spotlights three major sports events. Its history goes back to the 13th century when Marco Polo described a gathering of 10,000 white horses. Mongolian chieftains, after meeting for parleys, competed in horse racing, archery, and wrestling, the "three manly games" for a Mongolian. Later, the fairs included women and were held in July or August when the pastures were lush and the horses well-fed.
Today Naadam is held from July 11 (Revolution Day, a legal holiday in Mongolia) to July 13 in provinces throughout the country. The chief Naadam is in the stadium in Ulaanbaatar, the capital. In Inner Mongolia (the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China), Naadam is celebrated on July 20-26 on the Gogantala Pasture and at Lake Salim in the prefecture of Xinjiang. Other Naadams are held as people desire.
The fairs bring together the nomadic people who pitch a city of yurts or gers, felt tents. Wrestling is usually the first event; at Ulaanbaatar, several hundred participants make a grand entrance in special tight-fitting costumes that leave the chest bare, proving the wrestler is male, though today wrestlers often wear only tight shorts and boots. A legend has it that long ago many men were once defeated by a woman, thus the costume had to expose the chest. Titles awarded to top wrestlers are Falcon, Elephant, Lion, and Titan, and their prizes are silk scarves and horses.
The second sport is archery, a sport of great antiquity—sixth-century Mongols hunted hares with bows and arrows while riding at full speed. Modern contests are both on foot and horseback.
The last of the traditional sporting events is horse racing. In the national Naadam, the featured race is for children from around the ages of 6-10 who cover cross-country courses ranging from 5 to 30 kilometers. When night falls, a bowed stringed instrument called a matouqin is played, and people sit by their yurts talking, dancing, and drinking aromatic butter tea and kumys, a drink made of fermented mare's milk.
CONTACTS
Mongolian Tourist Board
State Administrative Bldg.-14
Sambuu St.-11
Ulaanbaatar-38, 210628 Mongolia
976-11-318-493; fax: 976-11-318-492
www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn
United Nations Office in Mongolia
12 United Nations St.
P.O. Box 46/1009
Ulaanbaatar, 210646 Mongolia
976-11-327870; fax: 976-11-324683
www.un-mongolia.mn
