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HOLIDAYS
AND FESTIVALS
 TSAGAAN
SAR (New Year- 3 days in February)
For more than 2000 years Mongols have been celebrating
Now Year according to lunar calendar. Each year of lunar calendar
is named after one of twelve animals, such as: mouse, bull,
tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, chicken,
dog and pig.
Still now, Mongolian New Year is a nation-wide
holiday celebrated as a greeting of the end wide holiday celebrated
as a greeting of the end of severe winter and beginning of
spring time, when Nature and people awaken and are inspired
for new life and deeds.
This holiday is followed by traditional sport
competitions, national song festivals and other events.
July
11, 12, 13 – Celebration of the National holiday “NAADAM”
"Nadaam" is the
world for "holiday" and at the same time the name
of the biggest annual event in Mongolia. The Naadam festivities
take place from 11th until 13th of July, mainly at the Naadam
Stadium in Ulaan Baatar.
The festival starts at 9am with a beautiful and colorful ceremony
at the Sukhbaatar Square, attended by hundreds of soldiers
in bright uniforms who play warlike tunes on brass instruments.
Two hours later the opening ceremony starts at the Naadam
Stadium with an impressive march of monks and athletes, making
a beautiful and colorful parade on Mongolian traditional music.
Outside the stadium, hundreds of Mongolians gather, expressing
their joy in huge crowds. The closing ceremony, with more
marches and dancing is held on the 12th, usually early in
the evening. At the Naadam stadium, all the wrestling takes
place. As for the horse races, they are held at Yarmag (a
village between the centre and the airport. The horse racing
may attract over a thousand horses to the venue, so one should
be prepared to watch his/her step very closely! The smaller
stadium next to the Naadam one is the scene for traditional
archery.
Although the festival can be
freely attended, presence at the opening and closing ceremony
requires tickets. Ancient Nomadic Tour has special Naadam
package tours, allowing you to catch the best of the festival.
Note that the Naadam festivities - and especially the ones
in the capital - are massively visited. People from all over
the country go to Ulaan Baatar and use the holidays for a
(family-) get-together, to celebrate and to attend the festival
and its fairs. Naadam is also visited by many foreigners,
especially Chinese people. Although Ancient Nomadic Tours
always arranges many accommodation reservations prior to the
festival, the large quantities of visitors during Naadam make
it virtually impossible to arrange any proper accommodation
short before the twelfth of July, when the festival starts.
Therefore, if you have plans to visit the festival, it is
highly recommendable to let us know well in advance!
 National
wrestling: Mongolian national wrestling has specific
features of its own: the engagements are not limited in time,
there are no weight categories, the area of the arena is no
fined and many pairs of wrestlers meet simultaneously. All
this makes it possible to conduct a contest of numerous opponents
within a comparatively short time. The naadam opens with the
contests of 16 pairs of wrestlers and lasts 14-15 hours. Within
that time a total of 512 or 1024 wrestlers take part. Their
wrestling apparel consists of national boots (gutul), a short
jacket with long sleeves, tight-fitting across the back and
with the chest open (zodog)8 and short trunks (shudag). The
material8 often top quality silk, is extremely durable.
The methods used in Mongolian
wrestling are not limited and include a variety of dashes,
holds, strikes, throws over the hip, shoulder and back, and
many other kinds of attack.
Before the beginning of the engagement the sportsmen perform
a kind of dance that reminds one of an eagle’s flights.
This serves, on the other hand, as a limbering up exercise,
and on the other, to show off the wrestlers’ fine build.
During the engagement each
contestant must have a second (zasuul), who not only advises
his ward, but also announces his titles at the beginning of
the third, fifth, and seventh rounds. The announcement is
made in order to encourage the wrestler and cheer on his fans.
In accordance with a long-standing
tradition, the commissions conducting the nationwide or aimag
naadams and sport organizations confer titles on the wrestlers,
depending on the number of the rounds in which they have won.
A wrestler who has come out victorious in the fifth found
is awarded the title of “Falcon”, and the sixth
and seventh rounds that of “Elephant”, and in
the eight and ninth rounds that of “Lion”. Anyone
who has been a victor two or three times at a national naadam
receives the title of “GAINT”. At present the
country has over 200 wrestlers who have won titles at nationwide
naadams, including ten “Caints”, 34 “Lions”,
56 “Elephants” and more than hundred “Falcon”.
Wrestling has always been a
favorite sport of Mongolians. Live radio and TV broadcast
arouse keen interest throughout the country.
Mongolian wrestling has developed
further as one of the main national sports during the years
of the people’s rule. In 1962 our national wrestling,
federation became the member of the International Amateur
Wrestling Federation. Our young sportsmen also train regularly
in free style wrestling, judo and sambo, and have achieved
remarkable results. They have won dozens of gold, silver and
bronze medals at major international tournaments.
 Archery:
The target consists of 360 small leader rings fixed to a wall
40-50 cm high and 4 m long. Men shoot at this target and must
store not less than 15-18 points; women shoot 20 and must
score not less than 13-17.
The bow has no sight. The arrows are made of thin willow twigs
and the feathers of the powerful griffon-vulture. The hexahedral
point is made of bone. The bow string is very tough, prepared
from the tendons of three years old bulls.
Archery consists are accompanied
by the “ukhai”, a choral tune resembling a drawing
folk song. In accordance with ancient custom on either side
of the target several men stand singing the “ukhai”
to cheer on the contestants, and they make sign with their
hands to indicate the results of the shooting.
As a rule, during naadam, individual as well as team archery
championships are organized. The one who scores the most points
is the winner.
In 1963 the Mongolian archery
federation joined the International Archery Federation and
our archers have participated in major world contests.
 The
horseracing: People have loved races since time immemorial.
There is an established system for selecting the horses, training
them and for conducting the contests. This system was involved
by stockbreeders over centuries.
In the races held during national
festivals, including naadam, the participants are in six age
groups and the distances range from 15 to 30 kms. No special
tracks are prepared; the horses cover the distance in the
steppe jump over natural barriers. First the competitors go
to the finishing line, and from there to the starting line,
where the signal to start is given. Thus the distance is actually
doubled.
Mongolian horse breeders take
careful note of the physique and build of the horse and of
any peculiarities which point to its speed and endurance as
a racer. Depending on the stage of nourishment and other qualities
affecting speed and endurance, the horses are trained for
15-20 days, with a strict died.
The riders are, as a rule,
boys and girls aged between six and twelve. Before departing
for the starting line they form circles and sing the ancient
melody of “Ghingo”, which cheers on the riders
as well as the racers. This is a kind of limbering up. During
the race the riders cry “goog”, which makes the
horses run faster, straining every nerve.
The five horses which come
in first are led to the central stand and are arranged there
in order of the places held. The traditional libation is performed
by pouring airag on the head and crupper of the horses, and
the riders are presented with rewards. The winning horses
are called the “airag’s five”. The libation
and glorification rendered them are the highest honour paid
to all who have reared and cared for them, as well as to the
riders.
It has become a custom with
us to present gold medals to the winning horses and, according
to an ancient folk tradition, they are given poetic names,
just like the fine wrestlers and marksmen competing in “The
Three Games of Men”.
Traditionally the winning horse
is honoured with odes and songs which in fact praise the toiling
stockbreeder, his love for animals, his knowledge of their
habits, and his tireless work for his people and country.
In the form of a canon praises are heaped on the winning horse
depending on its final position, its speed, build and habits.
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