Naadam (Mongolian Naadam Festival) (, classical Mongolian: Naɣadum, , literally "games") is a traditional festival celebrated in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Tuva Republic. The festival is also locally termed "eriin gurvan naadam" (), "the three games of men".
The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing, and archery, and are held throughout the country during midsummer. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling.
In 2010, Naadam was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.
Overview
Origins
Naadam is the most widely watched festival among Mongols and is believed to have existed for centuries in one fashion or another. It 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, including weddings or spiritual gatherings. It later served as a way to train soldiers for battle and was also connected to Mongols' nomadic lifestyle. Mongolians practice their unwritten holiday rules that include a long song to start the holiday, then a Biyelgee dance. Traditional cuisine, or Khuushuur, is served around the Sports Stadium along with a special drink made of fermented horse milk (airag). The three games of wrestling, horse racing, and archery are recorded in the 13th-century book The Secret History of the Mongols. During the Qing dynasty's rule, Naadam became a festival officially held by sums.
It began to be held annually in 1639 with a dance festival dedicated to the High Saint Zanabazar. In this festival of Shireet White Lake, Bokh Lama won in wrestling, and Bonkhor Donir's horse won the championship.
In 1772, a great festival was held to worship Khentii mountain. It is called the Festival of Ten Governments. In 1912, the Ten Government Games, which used to be played with losing points, became an annual state game. Until the death of Bogd Khan in 1925, the Ten Government Festival became a state festival. Ten Government Games have been held 125 times.
Communist era
Naadam during the period of the Mongolian People's Republic was associated with the Mongolian Revolution of 1921. The first official military parade in Communist Mongolia took place in 1921 in honor of the victories of Damdin Sükhbaatar in the revolution. It was celebrated as a Buddhist/shaman holiday until secularization in the 1930s under the Communist influence of the Soviet Union.
The anniversary parades of the Mongolian People's Army on Sükhbaatar Square were generally held on jubilee years (specifically in 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986 and 1991), alongside the International Workers Day and October Revolution Day parades. General T. Galsan was the longtime commander these parades. During these events, party and government leaders viewed the events from the top of Sükhbaatar's Mausoleum. After 1991, the communist practice was abandoned with the exception of 1996 when a parade in the National Sports Stadium commemorated the 790th anniversary of the founding of Mongolia and the 75th anniversary of the revolution.
Many of the celebrations were celebrated with the participation of foreign communists who visited the country, including Mikhail Suslov, Józef Cyrankiewicz, and Władysław Gomułka.
Modern celebrations and traditions
The two largest Naadams held in Mongolia today are the Danshig Naadam and the National Naadam. The former was only instituted as an annual event in 2015, having previously been held irregularly and commemorates Mongolia's independence from the Qing dynasty, and also coincides with Mongolian State Flag Day. The latter formally commemorates the 1921 Revolution a decade later, when communist invaded and deposed Bogd Khan, spillover from the Russian Civil War. Naadam also celebrates the achievements of the new state. Naadam is also celebrated in different regions of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia in July and August. In the Tuva Republic, Naadam is on 15 August.
The three sports are called Danshig games. They became the great celebration of the new nation, where the nobility got together to dedicate to the Bogd Khan (Jabzundamba Khutugtu), the new head of state.
Genghis Khan's nine horse tails, representing the nine tribes of the Mongols, are still ceremonially transported from Sukhbaatar Square to the Stadium to open the Naadam festivities. At the opening and closing ceremonies, there are impressive parades of mounted cavalry, athletes and monks.