Video: Naadam: Mongolian "Olympic Games"
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
What do you associate with Mongolia? If you have never been there, then for sure - with Genghis Khan and his formidable horde, horse and sword, who built the largest empire in the world. Indeed, the Mongols are proud of their conqueror ancestors and remember them constantly. Nevertheless, modern Mongolia is an extremely peaceful country. And one of her main holidays, Naadam, although everyone fights on it, rides on horses and shoots from a bow, no more belligerent than the Olympic Games.
There are holidays like Naadam in many states of Central Asia - both Kyrgyz and Kazakhs are not averse to measuring their prowess and setting them on fire by shooting from a bow. But the center of the military tradition is in Mongolia, and therefore the festival of men's fun is the most responsible there. Naadam celebrated on July 11-13. The Naadam Games are especially solemnly held in Ulan Bator, at the National Sports Stadium.
Unlike the Olympic Games, Naadam cannot boast of such a variety of disciplines - all water sports are for some reason excluded from the program. There are three main nominations: "Mongol bekh" (not running at all, but wrestling), "morin uraldaan" (horse races) and, of course, "suryn harvaa" (archery).
Mongolian men are all either wrestlers or passionate fans. The fight is arranged in a very traditional way: each athlete even has a "herald" - "zasuul", who sings songs of praise in honor of the hero. Whoever wins in all circles of the struggle on Naadam receives the title "lion" - "arslan". The winner of the races is called "the first in the tumen" (tumen - 10,000 soldiers): the distance of the races is 15-30 kilometers! And the best in archery will be called the "people's shooter": to get this title, you need to hit 33 leather "sura" targets within a team at a distance of 75 meters. By the way, well-aimed Mongolian women also compete with bows.
Although we are talking about the peaceful nature of Naadam, many note that the cult of Genghis Khan has become very strong in Mongolia recently. Or maybe the Mongol warriors, having lulled our vigilance, are simply training before the next conquest of the world?
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