The Three Games of Men: Opening Ceremony

A bit of a misnomer, as women are now allowed to compete in the Archery portion and girls the Horse Racing portion of Naadam, the traditional Mongolian festival. The other Game of Men, wrestling, is still left to the men, which I think is a fine way to leave it.  But I get ahead of myself.

We spent almost two weeks in the Gobi back in October of 2009, so you might wonder why we ventured back to Mongolia so soon when there were so many other countries in Asia left unexplored (Myanmar, Laos, and Bali to name a few that were on the tops of our list to visit) not to mention huge swaths of China that we just never found time to explore (Yunnan and northwestern China, although Jeff did get to Tibet; I hope to get a guest post out of him at some point when he has a few minutes). The answer is, I wanted to see the Naadam Festival. 

Here's a Wiki tidbit if you have not recently brushed up on Mongolian cultural festivals: "

The biggest festival is held in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar during the National Holiday from July 11 – 13, in the National Sports Stadium. Other cities and towns across Mongolia and those with significant Mongolian populations in China, have their own, smaller scale Naadam celebrations. It begins with an elaborate introduction ceremony featuring dancers, athletes, horse riders, and musicians. After the ceremony, the competitions begin.

Naadam is the most widely watched festival among Mongols, and is believed to have existed for centuries in one fashion or another. Naadam has its origin in the activities, such as military parades and sporting competitions such as archery, horse riding and wrestling, that followed the celebration of various occasions. Now it formally commemorates the 1921 revolution when Mongolia declared itself a free country."

Jeff would have scheduled our Naadam in a village, to gather the local color. However, since I was in charge of this trip, I wanted a gander at the Big Kahuna: Naadam in Ulaanbaatar. And while we would have been steeped in the Mare's Milk of Naadam by viewing at a local village, the spectacle that awaited us in U-B was made of win.

The statue in the middle of Sükhbaatar Square. Can you guess who? Did you guess Chinggus? Ha! Wrong!! This gentleman would be none other than Damdin Sükhbaatar,  leader of Mongolia's 1921 revolution. The spot was chosen because that was where Sukhbaatar's horse had urinated (a good omen) on July 8, 1921 during a gathering of the Red Army.

Here's Chinggus:

But I have gotten ahead of myself again, haven't I? These photos were taken in Sükhbaatar Square, where the Opening Ceremonies "begin" with the gathering of the Nine Flag. The Warriors carry the flags from the square to the National Stadium on horseback.

The flags are either horse or yak tail. Looking at the photo, I would say horse, but I heard yak somewhere along the line, so I won't take a firm position on the topic. Our guide did tell us that the flags were over 900 years old. I do believe that parts of them might be quite aged, but the animal hair one assumes is more recent.

The Warriors rode from the Square to the Stadium; we were ferried in a van and managed to squish ourselves into the well overstuffed stadium in time to see the flags ride in.

Horses, being horses, the lead beast pitched a wee equine fit and refused to trot over the squishy rubber bit covering the electric wires.

Of course, horses being horses, the rest of the gang followed suit. Although Jeff and I debated this one a bit: did the riders take pity on the lead guy and go around so as not to make him look bad, or did Horse ESP carry the day and what One refuses to do, All refuse to do?

At the end of the day, none of the horses went over the rubber bit. Chicken or egg, we will never know.

Tomorrow: More Naughty Equines, Astonishing Displays of Horsemanship and some Awesome Skydiving Meets Traditional Dancing.

Comments

[Ann E.]

LOFF the naughty horses!!!! My boys say that they were clearly wise to avoid being eaten by the squishy rubber thing.

[Debbie Hanson]

Perhaps they should have practiced trotting over the squishy rubber horse eating monster before the festival. ;)

[Janet Campbell]

Funny how horses across the world, do the same darn things.
There was a scary ogre under that mat, the same ogre resides in the corner of all indoor arenas.

[Ellen]

And they got even naughtier! Horses are horses, wherever they be.

[Air Jordan]

To be the best we can possibly be,
to grow, and learn in every adversity,
and not lose the success that's ours to be
requires control of our thoughts explicitly. Do you think so?