Golden Eagle Festival

The eagle hunters of the Altai

The Golden Eagle Festival is held every year in Bayan-Ölgii province, organised by the Mongolian Eagle Hunters’ Association. It celebrates the traditions of Kazakh eagle hunters — bürkitshi — who train golden eagles and hunt with them. The first official festival near Ölgii was held in 1999, and today around three hundred practising eagle hunters remain, nearly all of them in Bayan-Ölgii. Events take place in central Ölgii and on the steppe about four kilometres outside town.

Competitions and horse games

Prizes are awarded for the best eagle at catching prey, the eagle that responds best to its handler, and the best traditional dress. There are also horse races, archery and bushkashi, a horseback tug-of-war fought over a goatskin. The festival became widely known through the 2016 documentary The Eagle Huntress, about a thirteen-year-old girl who took part and won — though parts of the film’s portrayal have been criticised as inaccurate.

Scholars and eagle hunters themselves have debated the effect of tourism: the commercialisation of the festival, the rise of hand-raised eagles kept for show rather than for hunting, and the changing motives of younger hunters. A smaller festival, with about forty participants, is held every September in the village of Sagsai nearby.