Celebrating Naadam

I was the first one up this morning. I made some tea and stared out the window. Below, in the street, a man washed his hands in a rain-filled pothole, rinsing his face before sitting at the bus stop. My observations were interrupted by a nice Belgian man, who came in the kitchen. We chatted for a while before anyone else got up. He's with a group that was hiking in the national park, came into UB for the two-day Naadam festival, and will be going to the Gobi for 10 days on Sunday. I waited until 8am before I woke Max and Micheal Ann. We had tea, bread, and jam before going to Sukhbaatar Square for the beginning of Naadam Madness.

At the Square, approaching form the south, we saw the honor guard riding horses to the parliament building to collect the nine yak tails to be delivered to the stadium. As I snapped pictures I noticed a building just beyond the riders. It was the MPRP office building which had been torched in the riots. I took a few pictures of the soot stained concrete mass. I'll have to look at my previous pictures for a good "before and after" set of shots. A military band played when the riders returned with the yak tails. Like a little Mardi Gras parade we fell in line behind the horses and walked to the stadium. Greg had joined us at the square, so we all walked slowly, talking about the morning. Somehow the crowd got way ahead of us, and the horses stopped for traffic. We were able to get very close. Their horses are much smaller than ours, as they are built for efficiency in the plains, desert, and mountains. We followed the beasts and their riders across the bridge, but they were too fast for us, as we strolled.

Outside the stadium a sea of humanity flowed in opposite directions. We found our section easily but then it's open seating once you get in your designated area. We sat to the right of the end zone (this is imagery, not representative of fact). The opening ceremony was extravagant, relative to Mongolian standards. There was the honor guard with the yak tails, followed by dancers, and (my brother’s favorites) contortionists. My brother says Mongolia has more contortionists than any other country. Although I originally doubted him, he might be right. Some of the the performers looked like they were as young as five or six. Maybe Dave's kids can take it up! Anyway, after the Mongolian Olympic team circled the field, the wrestling was on. It was fascinating, and I'd put money down to see the Hufford boys in the mix. There are no weight classes. Two guys are paired up and the winner goes on to the next round. We figured there were over 500 participants, given it is single elimination and nine rounds. You win by getting your opponent's elbow, knee, or back to touch the ground. I saw one 300+ guy grab a man half his size, swing him like a child, and let him fly. He won. There was a junior class for younger kids, and we even saw a couple of three year olds on the field in uniform. Uniform is a blue or red denim Speedo, with a top of red or blue that includes sleeve, half a back, and no front. It ties around the midriff with a rope. It looks like they put on a long sleeve shirt but didn't get it over their head but pulled it behind to cross their shoulder blades. (Refer to pictures) The match starts with the wrestlers dancing around their coaches. They wrestle. Then the winner wears a special hat and does an eagle dance while circling the yak tails, which are in the middle of the stadium on the sideline. Several matches occur simultaneously on the field. Some matches are over quickly and others last quite a while. We watched one pair go for over 40 minutes. A number of spectators left their seats for lunch, but we stayed for over an hour before walking to the archery area. Again, fascinating. The archers were practicing; the men in a line, with the women 20 feet in front of them. The women didn't seem to mind the arrows whizzing by them. I was horrified to see 4-6 judges at each target. Standing at the target! Like, having to jump out of the way of errant projectiles. Talk about a dangerous job. The archer's target looks like a stack of Styrofoam cups piled up in a row one foot high and ten feet wide. If the archer knocked over one or more of the cups, he scored. Sounds easy but they were shooting traditional bows made with bone, and the arrows had shot glass size balls of metal at the end. To cover the long distance of the range, the arrows were shot high in the air, requiring the archer to calculate for the arch and wind when aiming.

We left the stadium for lunch at Millie's Cafe, followed by a stop at the market and internet. Once at the guesthouse, I packed my bag for a late departure tomorrow. Luckily, we will have another full day of Naadam activities before we leave. Our first stop tomorrow will be the Shagai competition: a contest of flipping sheep ankle bones at a target. Hmmm.Read more