Catalogue    Events    Naadam Festival

Wrestlin

Wrestling in the Naadam festival.

512 or 1024 wrestlers meet in a single-elimination tournament that lasts nine or ten rounds. Mongolian traditional wrestling is an untimed competition in which wrestlers lose if they touch the ground. When picking pairs, the wrestler with the greatest fame has the privilege to choose his own opponent. Wrestlers wear two-piece costumes consisting of a tight shoulder vest (zodog) and shorts (shuudag). Only men are allowed to play.

Each wrestler has "encourager" called a zasuul. The zasuul sings a song of praise for the winning wrestler after rounds 3, 5, and 7. Winners of the 7th or 8th stage (depending if the competition features 512 or 1024 wrestlers) earn the title of zaan, "elephant". The winner of the 9th or 10th stage, is called arslan, "lion". In the final competition, all the "zasuuls" drop in the wake of each wrestler as they take steps toward each other. Two time arslans are called the champions, or the "avrag".

[edit] Horse racing

Horsemen in Mongolia during Naadam festival.

Unlike Western horse racing, which consists of short sprints generally not much longer than 2 km, Mongolian horse racing as featured in Naadam is a cross-country event, with races 15-30 km long. The length of each race is determined by age class. For example, two-year-old horses race for ten miles and seven year old for seventeen miles. Up to 1000 horses from any part of Mongolia can be chosen to participate. Race horses are fed a special diet.

Children from 5 to 13 are chosen as jockeys who train in the months preceding the races. While jockeys are important component, the main purpose of races is to test the skill of the horses. ^[2]

Before the races begin, the audience sings traditional songs and the jockeys sing a song called Gingo. Prizes are awarded to horses and jockeys. The top five horses in each class earn the title of airgiyn tav and the top three are given gold, silver, and bronze medals. Also the winning jockey is praised with title of tumny ekh or leader of ten thousand. The horse that finishes last in the two-year-old class (the daaga class) is sung a song wishing them luck. ^[3]

See also: Mongolian horse

[edit] Archery

Women archery competition in the 2005 Naadam festival.

Mongolian archery is unique for having not only one target, but hundreds of beadrs or "surs" on a huge wall. In this competition both men and women participate; and it's played by ten-men/women teams whom are given 4 arrows each, the team has to hit 33 "surs". Men fire their arrows from 75 meters to away while women fire theirs from 65 meters away. When the archer hits the target the judge says "uukhai" which means "bulls eye". The winners of the contest are granted the titles of "National marksman" and "National markswoman".

See also: Mongol bow