It's the biggest Mongolian social event of the year – Naadam, a festival revolving around the "three manly games," including horse racing, wrestling, and archery. Women are now allowed to compete in all but wrestling.
The celebration is held throughout Mongolia, but the top draw is the three-day event in the capital, kicked off by a grand opening ceremony.
And then it's time for the most popular of the three manly sports, wrestling.
The rules are simple. It's a single-elimination tournament with no weight classes. If any part of a wrestler's body, aside from his feet or hand, touches the ground, he's out.
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| Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons |
A wrestler must wear an open-front shirt because once a woman – disguised as a man – won the tournament, humiliating the rest of the field. Afterward, the uniform rule immediately went into effect to remove any doubt as to the sex of the participants.
The second most popular event is horse racing.
Boys and girls as young as five compete in distances ranging from nine to 15 miles through the desert in search of glory.
Not nearly as many people attend the ...
archery sessions.
or ankle-bone shooting, a new event added in recent years, featuring contestants
flicking sheep bones at targets
several feet away.
Sadly, it's time to wrap up another trip. Mongolia might not be on your wish list, but it probably should be if you enjoy wildlife, solitude, and a glimpse into what much of the world must have looked like centuries ago before metropolises littered the landscape.
I've never been to such a wide-open country, a place that even though almost 1,000 years have passed since his death I could still imagine Genghis Khan charging across the horizon at any second.
But it's still not an easy place to get around. Although I prefer backpacking, it's a good idea to consider organized tours in rural areas, which is most of Mongolia.
Reliable travel information is sometimes hard to come by, but at least as far as we were concerned, Alexandra and I had a positive experience with Ganzo at Travel Gobi Mongolia.
Do your homework. I heard several negative comments from travelers who didn't get what they expected with other agencies.
As always, thanks for reading my blog and sharing in our journey.
Once again, I'll close with my customary reminder. My passion is traveling. I'm not sure about yours, but I'll bet it isn't working 9-5. Sadly, we spend far too many hours obsessed with climbing the ladder of success and chasing dollars, rather than chasing our dreams.
Death will visit us soon enough. Don't put off your adventures too long because one day it will be too late.
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