The Three Games of Men - Part I

Opening Ceremony

After doing my research on Mongolia before moving here, one of the things I was most excited to participate in was Naadam (AKA the three games of men), the biggest annual holiday celebration in the country, which dates back centuries to Chinggis Khaan.

Not unlike a mini Olympic Games, Naadam in Ulaanbaatar takes place over the Summer (11-13 July), features a month long calendar of cultural events and culminates in three full days of Mongolia’s top athletes competing in sporting events, initiated and concluded by an Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony. The only thing missing is something equivalent to a torch relay, although a representation of Chinggis Khaan’s nine horses did ride from Chinggis Khaan Square to the stadium to mark the beginning of the Opening Ceremony. These celebrations don’t just take place in UB, Naadam events run all across the country in many aimags (provinces) throughout June - August.

Naadam features three main sporting specialties – Wrestling, Archery and Horse Racing. You can also see Knuckle Bone throwing competitions, and at Danshig Naadam, a smaller Naadam event in August, there was a growing religious element to the weekend, making a comeback to the stage after the atrocities and genocide of the lamas and the Buddhist religion during the Stalin regime.

Danshig Naadam

Friday night saw a deel parade in Chinggis Khaan Square where I ran around like an annoying tourist and stuck my camera in everyone’s faces. We saw cute matching elderly couples, baby deels, shaman costumes and many of the more modern look where young women have customised their more fitted deels. You can see more pictures on my Facebook.

Deel parade in Chinggis Khaan Square

The most sought after tickets for the weekend in UB, were those of the Opening Ceremony. With people camping in lines overnight at the ticket office and tourists paying extortionate prices of over $100 USD for seats that were being sold locally for around $5 USD, I obtained my ticket through other means, which meant sitting alone. It wasn’t long before hoards of people started pushing through the gates, scrambling over seats and basically sitting wherever they wanted until the actual ticket holders arrived and sat on them until they moved. There were people yelling, kids screaming, men sliding down rails and cops trying to get people out of seats they didn’t have tickets for. With no shade and 30 degrees of sun burning down, umbrellas were swinging around everywhere. People who had sat for hours saving their seat in the front row couldn’t see a thing when latecomers stood with their entire family and umbrellas along the front rail and blocked the entire view. But none of it mattered once the ceremony began and everyone hunkered down to enjoy the show. I had umbrellas hitting me from all sides and one sitting in my lap. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, so I shoved mine amongst the rest and a woman came and sat under it with me.

Opening Ceremony

I think my favourite sport of the three is the wrestling. I love the movements, the traditions and the stories behind their actions. The best part is after they win their round and they perform an eagle victory dance. Oh, and I loved the chubby babies in the crowd dressed in wrestler costumes with their rosy cheeks, little blue vests, red jocks over their nappies and pointy toed black boots.

Wrestling and Eagle Dance

Whilst the wrestling is only for men, the archery saw men and women competing over a range of 60-75 metres. Again, it wasn’t necessarily the sport, but just watching the people. We saw children competing in archery as well, and all the judges would line up along the sides of the range in their vibrant coloured traditional deels and hats, clapping and cheering every time a child would release their arrow.

Archery competition

Rather than a target, archery competitors shoot at short wooden tubes stacked into pyramids. Every time they hit a target the judges wave their arms to show if it was a hit, or even they misjudged the distance. And they sing! A hymn of praise to the lucky archer. It’s so much more interesting to watch. In their long deels, boot and hats, I’m not sure how they didn’t pass out in the scorching heat.

Judges

On our way out, we discovered a shed near the back entrance where multiple knuckle bone throwing competitions were taking place. Men lined up around the target whilst the competitor threw a piece of flint at piles of knucklebones to see how many they could hit. Men moved from one game to the next with their tiny stools to try their luck.

Knuckle bone competition

That night there was a huge concert in Chinggis Khaan Square and from my balcony every night I could see fireworks in the square. In fact I’ve seen these most nights over Summer, there are no legalities around privately purchasing fireworks here.

Concert in Chinggis Khaan Square

to be continued..