This was the festival I had come to see and it was much larger than I had anticipated, lacking the intimacy I had hoped for. I was really pleased that we had experienced the training situations and I also appreciated having visited the small Naadam on Tuesday, July 9th in Mandalgovi in the Gobi.
As you can see here, the Mandalgovi venue was quite a bit smaller than the stadium in Ulaanbaatar and looked somewhat like the small regional fairs I've seen in the USA. Lots of food vendors, rides for kids and games.
Although there was a larger sports stadium nearby, the wrestling was being held in a smaller venue at a dusty field.
The formalities were much less rigorous - I was impressed they were letting this boy wrestle even though he had no costume.........
.......and that the judge held his baseball hat with the same sanctity as the regular hat.
We were intrigued by one match that was taking place. Our guide told us that these two men had been wrestling for over an hour and were getting tired. The rules have no time limits which can present a problem for the overall contest, as they need to know who the winner is before progressing to the next round. As a result, the two coaches - in mustard and in purple - were putting their hands all over the contestants trying to entice them to fight to get the match finished. They would place their hands in the proper positions and were very involved.
It truly was a team effort....all very measured and gentle and insistent, taking place over and over again as the wrestlers held their positions and then separated to break the deadlock.
Even we were relieved when the match was finally over!
Away from the wrestling, people were out having fun flying kites....
........riding some four wheeled contraption.....
.........enjoying the bouncy house.......
...........the trampoline.......
........throwing darts at balloons.....
.........and the children were adorable! I was pleased to have seen this much simpler venue.
At the National Naadam in Ulaanbaatar, we were first introduced to a 'sport' unknown to me, called knuckle-bone shooting. It is recognized by UNESCO on their Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLBXeYg7TsE. This link gives some of the flavor of the event, and more information than you probably want. However, it is fascinating. There are two smoothed out sheep knuckle-bones remaining as the 'target' on this platform.
The tournament was held in a large open air room packed with hundreds of men. A team of shooters aim a 'marble' to hit the knuckle-bone targets, which you can just see to the right of this group. There was lots of action - the team threw the shooting 'marble' back to the shooters, passing it from one man to the next, while singing. It had a complexity that was tough to figure out. As one match finished, people picked up their equipment and moved elsewhere to join up with another group. There was lots of singing - it was a very busy, interactive event that demanded focus from the shooters.
The person shooting at the knuckle-bones sits on a tiny stool - notice how the right leg is turned at such an angle for balance. As with the wrestling and archery, the stripes on the ribbons represent accomplishments. This man was still in the match at the end of the day, so no doubt he was very good.
Both the board and the shooting 'marble' are made by the shooter - the board may be wood or bone, the 'marble' made from deer horn. It seemed that the middle finger is used as the trigger, which I thought would be quite awkward. Older people are able to use some type of bow if they wish. I liked that it includes people of all ages and we saw at least one woman, although the vast majority were men.
Much of this was explained to us by this knuckle-bone master who was very proud of the UNESCO recognition and hoped we would tell our friends about Mongolia - so there you are!
The wrestling at the main stadium had the same dynamics as I described in the training section and from the local Naadam. On the first day, the crowd had pretty much left after the Opening Ceremony and there seemed little excitement over the outcome from the many matches going on at the same time. By the afternoon of the second day, there was more interest and the crowd would cheer as they saw the matches coming to resolution.
There was less 'hands on' involvement from the coaches.
The victor did his 'eagle dance' around the banners - the more popular ones were cheered enthusiastically. The wrestling ended about 8 pm that night - it was broadcast on TV, so we enjoyed watching it in close-up detail as we ate dinner. We shared the Mongolian's excitement.
Outside the archery venue we saw this Ul boov, or 'shoe sole cake' - a traditional cake eaten during the Mongolian New Year. It is topped with sugar cubes and aarul (sweet dried curds). The layers must be in odd numbers. Young cake creators are allowed to stack three layers. Older generations can add another two layers with the eldest family/village members able to go to seven. Our guide told us that if one is VERY distinguished, like a President, one can go as high as nine layers - the height reflects one's status. I have no idea how one eats it, other than breaking it apart.
The archery was in a much smaller arena, with less enthusiastic attention from the crowd. There was lots of coming and going - both with the archers moving back and forth and the audience staying only short periods. The rituals were exactly as we had seen during the training.
As we had seen previously, the archers lined up along the line and took turn aiming and shooting.
I particularly enjoyed seeing the female archers on the second day.
As in the training, I kept trying to catch that arrow leaving the bow - but no luck.
The most popular event of all were the horse races. Although the venue is over an hour from Ulaanbaatar, by the time we arrived early on the Friday the stands were all full and the finish line area was packed.
Some people were riding around on horses - we admired this family who had all dressed in matching deels.
The fence line where we settled our positions was crowded with families sitting on mats and folding seats. It was well 'policed' - a very strong show of force. Our guide said that people consider it very good fortune to touch the winning horse, so it is possible the police line was to stop people storming the horses. Happily the family I was sitting near had a grand-daughter who spoke English and they were very protective of me - telling people nearby not to crowd me. It was a bit awkward, though, as seating on the ground meant one had to find a patch relatively free of some type of dung. I also find that my long legs take a lot of space! Comfortable crossed legs is no longer an option!
During the long wait there was some entertainment with skydivers and planes bursting colored trails.
The family had a very cute baby!
We finally caught sight of the first horse and rider.
They got closer.
They were still a few hundred yards from the finish line when they passed us. Although the crowd was excited and cheering, I was really pleased that they didn't crowd forward and make photos impossible. Most of the jostling happened before the winners appeared.
Other riders followed.....
.......etc, etc.......
By then the winners had been established.....
....and the crowd began to dissipate.
Before I left, there was one horse that had decided he was done!, The rider was trying to be persuasive with his whip, but the horse kept saying he'd had enough!
Afterwards, we had lunch, Khoorskhoor again, and spent time looking at the entertainment. I imagine pool table owners would shudder to see this one out in the field. Many of the other activities were similar to those we'd seen at the regional event in Mandalgovi.
Kites were flying.
The cannon 'mister' was very popular - people basked in the cooling spray. It also helped settle the dust.
People were creative in the way they set up games. This bingo used an egg carton to store the ping pong balls as they were called and hand-made cards for the numbers.
We had hoped that taking the time for lunch and looking around would allow the traffic to clear - no such luck. I would say it took about an hour for us to even ge out of our parking lane into the flow of traffic!
But, we got to make eyes with a baby in the car next to us!
One of the treats of Naadam had been to see our faithful guide - Bat-Orgil - dress up in his traditional deel. He had taught us lots over the two weeks and seen us safely through some interesting situations.
After the horse racing, we spent more time at the main stadium, then our group had dinner at a lovely restaurant. These were the excellent folk Nadine and I traveled with - Aussies, Canadians, Irish with me as the sole American. It was hard to believe it was all finished now and that people would be heading in different directions tomorrow. It has been an excellent journey!
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