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The annual Naadam Festival takes place for two days from the 11th of July each year. A procession of horses opens the event and then the games begin.

We arrived at the stadium for the opening ceremony about an hour before the gates opened and stood in line behind a few dozen others.  The bleachers are divided into 18 sections and arranged so that spectators in one section can not enter another.  There are no assigned seats, so once the police open the gate, there is a mad push to get to the best seats, first choice being those in the shade or as close to the center of the field as possible.  We were very lucky as ours were in section 17, which provided a clear view of the field. Sections 1 and 18 were more central, but two tall flag-poles would have obstructed any photo taken of events on the field.

The opening ceremony began with a grand procession of about 20 mounted horses carrying riders in the elaborate costumes of Mongolian soldiers of the Chinggis Khaan era.  They circled the inner track of the stadium, and then ceremoniously placed five poles around a small circular platform.  Each 12-foot pole had a circular tassel dangling from the top - a tassel made from the hair of a horse's tail.  The circular platform was in the center field just in front of the main viewing stand and served as a kind of altar.  The participating athletes in wrestling and archery lined up and, one by one, stepped to the platform, bowed, and walked around it in a good-luck ceremony.  Later, during the wrestling tournament, each winner proceeded to the platform once again, bowed, and then walked around it.

The wrestling event is interesting in that there are no weight divisions and the tournament proceeds by process of elimination.  The two wrestlers bow toward each other until their heads touch.  Then each attempts to throw the other over, the loser being the first one to touch the ground with any part of the body other than the palms of his hands or the soles of his feet.  There is no time limit, so some bouts last only a few seconds, while others may take several minutes.  There may be 5 or 6 bouts taking place at the same time on the field, until finally the number of competitors has been whittled down and we reach the championships at the end of the second day.  The exact time of the Naadam Festival's closing ceremony depends on the final bout of the wrestling tournament. 

Archery events are held a few minutes' walk away from the main stadium.  Both men and women participate, the men standing about 75 meters from the target and the women about 60 meters.  What amazed me was that the judges stand only an arm's length away from each side of the targets.  They're certainly a trusting bunch! 

Since the horse is at the center of Mongolian life, the horse-racing events are the most exciting part of the Naadam Festival.  There are six categories of racing, with the highlight of the festival being the 30-kilometer race by the six and seven-year-old horses.  The two-year-old horses race a course of about 15 kilometers.  There is no race track. The course for the 30-kilometer event literally goes around a mountain!  It's quite exciting to see them flying around the mountain, racing toward the goal several kilometers away. First one spots the cloud of dust kicked up by the lead horses.  Then one spies the horse and jockey through the dust.  The jockeys are all children between 5 and 13 years old! 

Since the horse-owners and riders are unable to enjoy the main events during the festival's two-day run, on the third day an informal festival is held in the field where the horse-race events took place.  It is here that one can get up close for some truly spectacular photographs.  Unfortunately, we learned of this only in the late afternoon of the third day and missed out on the opportunity.

Mongolia is more than just gers and sports.  The Mongolian Folk Song and Dance Ensemble at the National Academic Drama Theater was excellent. While I was in Ulaanbaatar, I was able to catch two different performances of traditional music and dance, including the famous Mongolian throat-singing.  One part of the program featured the world-famous contortionists, all of them between the ages of  seven and fourteen. 

I spent my last full day in Ulaanbaatar visiting museums and temples.  The Natural History Museum was a personal favorite, and included the complete skeletons of various dinosaurs.  The Museum of Mongolian Fine Arts featured rock paintings from as early as the Paleolithic age (40,000 to 12,000 BC), as well as more recent thanka (long hanging scrolls) and graphic paintings from the 19th century.   To complete the visit, I took in the Bogd Khaan Palace Museum and then to the Temple Museum of Choijin Lama.

As I flew back the following day, I reflected on the unforgettable experiences of the past week - the spectacular scenery and sparkling mountain air, the friendliness of the people, the exciting climax of the Naadam Festival....Mongolia had truly exceeded all my expectations, and I knew that this would not be my last visit to the Nation of Horses.

Featured are archery, Mongolian wrestling, and the racing of horses. Dust flies as the 30km race nears the finish line!