The Nadaam Festival In Bayangol And Arriving At Hustai National Park, Mongolia
To everyone who travels in Mongolia in the early summer, it is obvious that the whole country is busy preparing for the Nadaam Festival. The name "Naadam" literally means “Games," and it is a traditional summer festival held every year in all of the provincial capitals of Mongolia, as well as in the national capital of Ulaanbaatar. The games include the three “Manly Sports," which are most cherished by Mongolians: Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery. The festival is also locally named "Eriin Gurvan Naadam" which means "The Three Games Of Men." Women have started participating in the archery competitions, and many young girls ride horses alongside the boys in the horse races, but Mongolian wrestling is still reserved for men only. Tuya told us that the Mongolian traditional wresting outfit, which includes a pair of shorts that resemble a diaper and a shirt that covers the arms and leaves the chest bare, was designed many hundre...