Naadam

Trip Start May 12, 2007
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Trip End Aug 09, 2007


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Flag of Mongolia  ,
Saturday, July 14, 2007

This past week has been absolutely crazy. Naadam officially began Tuesday afternoon with the military band playing songs in Sukhbaatar Square (the main square in UB). Unfortunately I missed that because I was volunteering during that time, but I did get to go to the opening ceremonies the next morning which were so much fun. The ceremonies were held in the biggest stadium in Ulaanbaatar (and Mongolia for that matter), which probably seated about 5,000 people. The amazing thing to me was how many tourists and foreigners were there--probably about two tourists to every Mongolian! You wouldn't think that Mongolia attracts that many tourists because of how remote it is, but surprisingly, especially around Naadam, you find thousands of people flocking into the capital from all corners of the world. The opening ceremonies consisted of a performance of the military band, followed by a parade of Mongolians dressed in beautiful costumes and riding around on horses, and finally a performance of some traditional songs and dances. They wasted no time to start the actual games though--as soon as the last performance was complete, the wrestlers rushed out onto the field and started warming up. The traditional costume for wrestling was unlike any costume I'd ever seen, consisting of red tight speedo-like shorts and a tiny blue jacket that is tied with a string across the chest so that the bare chest is exposed. As legend has it, the reason the jackets are designed in this way is because many years ago before there was a uniform, a woman secretly competed in the wrestling match and won, humiliating all of the men she beat (because wrestling is considered a male-only sport in Mongolia)... so from then on, people decided to have a costume that exposed the chest so that no mix-up about gender would ever occur again!

Unlike the kinds of wrestling matches I've seen in America, there are no rings or boundaries that the men have to stay in, no specific amount of time designated for each match, and the men are given one chance only to wrestle because there are not multiple rounds. The only real rule is that the loser is the person who falls on the ground first, no matter how much time it takes or how much the two men have moved around the field. My friends and I watched wrestling for a little while, and then headed outside the stadium to catch a glimpse of some archery (both men's and women's) and ankle bone (of a sheep) throwing competitions. I even was able to participate in a game of ankle bone throwing, and to my suprise, won! So the rest of the day, I basically walked around the area of the games and watched different matches here and there. The day was capped off with an amazing fireworks display in Sukhbaatar Square around 11pm, puttng an end to an exhausting but exciting day.

The games continued on into Thursday, so I went back to the stadium to watch a little bit more until only one wrestler, the champion that year, remained (out of 512 men who has entered!). Although the games had finished, people were still very much in holiday-mode. Shops and stores continued to be closed for the entire rest of the week and into the weekend, just starting to open as of yesterday and today. It's really been a great week, full of activity and relaxation...but starting today, it's back to work! I have an interview with another family in the ger districts and then off to volunteer.

Next week I am off to the countryside for the week for the rural component of my research, so I will be sure to update again before I leave!
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