Ulaan Baatar - The Nadaam Festival

John had a horrible night- fever and diarrhea and it was questionable whether he would make it to the Nadaam Festival, but trooper that he is, he decided to chance it. We had a bit of a snafu when Flora had us wait by the square for the Flag Ceremony…which we had missed by hours. We raced to the stadium for the opening ceremony and managed to get a front row seat.

It was an impressive sight- there were marches, skydivers, and people in costumes (both in the ceremony and people in traditional dress in the stands). They even had a dance to Mongolian rap music.



Then the wrestling competition started. There were 512 huge half naked Mongolian men and there were no weight divisions. There were no time limits- so the bouts continue until the wrestler falls. Before each elimination bout, the wrestlers limber up and honor the judges and their individual attendants with a short dance called a devekh or “eagle dance”. After the bout, the winner does another eagle dance. The winners are given wonderful titles depending on how many rounds they win: Falcon (5 rounds), Elephant (seven), Lion (for winning the tournament). One wrestler was given the name “Eye-Pleasing Nationally Famous Mighty and Invincible Giant”. The wrestling continued for 2 days until the final bout.

We had our share of watching the wrestlers and headed for the archery competition. The competition is for both men and women (the women standing a little closer to the target). The target is a pile of round rings on the ground. After each shot, the judges (who stand right next to the target as the arrows are whizzing by!) yell out and raise their hands in the air to indicate the quality of the shot.

Finally, we had to see the knucklebone games.

We weren’t quite sure of the rules, but a group of 4 men shoot a knucklebone from a short flat board across the lawn to another board. Whatever the rules, the games got quite animated.
After a full morning of the Festival, John and I decided to bag it for a while and rest in the hotel while the group continued the museum trek.
We managed to rally for dinner. Before dinner, we went to what was supposed to be a huge festival in the square. It turned out to be a band that played a few bars of Big Band music- before stopping and switching to canned music. The crowds didn’t seem to mind. Organizational skills don’t seem to be a strong suit for the Mongolians.
We’d noticed that there is still a Soviet stench in the people- similar to the feeling we got in Georgia and some of the other ex-Soviet republics. The life seems to have been drained out of these people and they don’t seem to enjoy life, they are very dour. The big question- is it years of communism or is it the nature of the people?