Naadam

The three games

Naadam means “games”, and the festival is also called eriin gurvan naadam, “the three games of men”. Wrestling, horse racing and archery are recorded in the thirteenth-century Secret History of the Mongols; the games grew from the contests that followed weddings, gatherings and military parades, and later helped train soldiers. UNESCO inscribed Naadam on its Representative List in 2010.

The biggest is the National Naadam in Ulaanbaatar, which commemorates the 1921 revolution. Genghis Khan’s nine horse tails, representing the nine tribes of the Mongols, are carried from Sükhbaatar Square to the National Sports Stadium, where an opening ceremony of dancers, athletes, riders and musicians begins the competitions. People also play games with shagai, knucklebones used for play and divination.

Wrestlers, horses and archers

Hundreds of wrestlers — 512 or 1,024 — meet in a knockout tournament of nine or ten rounds, with no time limit; a wrestler loses when any part of his body other than feet or hands touches the ground. They wear a tight open vest, the zodog, and briefs, the shuudag, and each has an attendant, the zasuul, who sings his praises. Winners earn titles as they advance: nachin, the kestrel, after five rounds, then hawk, elephant, garuda and, after nine, arslan, the lion; a two-time lion becomes avraga, the giant.

The horse races are cross-country, 15 to 30 kilometres depending on the horses’ age, and the jockeys are children between five and thirteen. The top five horses in each class are honoured, and the horse that finishes last in the race for two-year-olds is sung a song wishing it luck next year. In archery, open to both men and women, teams of ten shoot at a low wall of small cylinders called surs — men from 75 metres, women from 65 — while a judge calls out uuhai at every hit.