We were warned not to eat the hosher after 2pm...not to drink too much airag...to watch out for the drunk people...and the drunk horses. Those horses were everywhere, their tramples quieted by the loudness of the crowd. Mongols roamed the stadium grounds in their fanciest dells, and the air smelled of delicious, delicious hosher. It was Naadam.
1. The opening Ceremonies
My family took me to the Sukhbaator Naadam, to which the stadium was not too far outside of our little soum area. We got there for the opening ceremonies, and got to watch the parade of fancy dell wearing people, and watch the spectacle of balloon dancing, contortionists, horse head fiddling and traditional singing. It was awesome. One of the little girl contortionists, who was preforming her routine with three others on a neon green platform, started bleeding from her elbow near the beginning of the routine. There was blood everywhere over the neon green cloth, and I honestly cant even imagine how much it had to hurt to finish.
2. Hosher
My host mother had her own hosher cooking ger, number 42 in the rows and rows of hosher gers, to which we visited after the opening ceremonies. A hosher is basically a dough pocket filled with meat, fat, and potatoes, and then fried in oil. When ordering a hosher at Naadam, you simply stick your head in the door of the ger and yell out a number, and you are brought delicious, delicious hosher. I followed my sister straight into the ger and got to hang out on the inside. We sat on a blanket and ate some fried deliciousness, and drank some raisin tea. As orders were shouted in, and hosher was being cook.
3. Gambling
From what I have understood, there are no casinos in Mongolia, but at Naadam, there was a row of gambling opportunities. People sat low near the ground with wheel of fortune and price is right type wheels and small wooden boxes with dice in them. You could either spin a wheel and hope it lands on a face of currency, or place a bet on what number the shaken dice box would reveal. It was quite the spectacle. My host sister took a gamble. She lost.
4. Kites
I have been wanting a kite since I got here, since it is so windy here with wide open fields. i have looked in the market with no luck, and at Naadam, I saw my first kite being flown in Mongolia. I, of course, quite happily bought one. After Naadam was over, my host mom saw it hanging up in my room after a good evening of kite flying. She said kite flying was for little kids. Oh well.
5. Neigh.
There are countless good horse stories that came out of Naadam, but here are a couple.
I found out my sister is pretty afraid of horses. Given my lacking sense of 'danger' and my general attribute to not pay attention, I was a prime suspect to get run into by the horses that were at Naadam. My sister yanked my arm many a time to pull me away from a horse's path (that, in my defense, were quite a ways away from colliding with me), and would always yell, 'DANGER!' Even if she saw a horse standing in the distance, we would take a long path around the horse, because, 'DANGER!' This one time, we ran into some of my sisters friends, who were sitting atop their horses, and she kept her distance while talking to them. She then told me to go pet the horse...and when I went to go pet the horse, she yanked my arm back, and yelled 'DANGER!' I think she set me up.
The long distance horse races are 24 km long. There are riders of many ages, even kids that looked about 4 years old. It was pretty cool to see the horses race in at the finish. After each race a cloud of dust lingered from being kicked up by all the horses. My host dad, sister, and I were in close proximity to a horse that just finished a race, and after exchanging a few words with the guy atop the horse, my dad petted it, and instructed my sister and I to do the same. My sister was very hesitant, but she did, and I did also, only to realize that the horse was soaking wet. It never really occurred to me before that horses sweat, but after racing 24 km, it is reasonable that they do. My host dad then instructed me to rub my horse sweaty hand on my face. I reluctantly did so, and then, since our hands were all still sweaty, I followed my dads example, and rubbed the rest of the sweat off on my calves. I was only left to imagine that in the Mongolian culture, this probably symbolized in some way that we were gaining the strength of the horse by wearing its sweat, but I was told later that it is good luck.
6. Tug of War
While walking around the inside fo the stadium between wrestling matches, my host sister and I got pulled in for a match of tug of war...random people vs the police. My backpack was snatched off me and drinks taken from my hand as I got pushed towards this tug of war rope. As much as we pulled, of course, the police won. We soon left the area, and later when leaving the stadium, a random lady who i had never seen before grabbed us and drug us to the front of the stadium, where we met another random lady. After a brief san oh, she handed us each 5000 tugriks, and we went on our way. My host sister relieved my confused mind as she said the money was for playing tug of war. Major win.
7. Archery
The archery portion of Naadam wasn't like I expected it to be. Contestants did not shoot at targets, but rather shot at rocks lined out on the ground. Judges stood right next to the rocks as arrows were shot at them, to see if the area landed in a certain area. Come to find out later, the arrows had no points on the ends, but rather soft tips..for safety.
8. the wrestling matches.
A wrestlers uniform consists of a red speedo, most likely with stars on the butt, and a half jacket thing that covers the back and forearms, and ties in the fron for stability. They wear such skimpy outfits to ensure that women do not wrestle, but the men kind of look like they are dressed like wonder woman. For mongolian wrestling, the first one on the ground is the loser. To start all wrestlers come out, with their arms spread and stomp around in slow motion. After someone wins, they also do the same thing. I think this was my favorite part of the whole spectacle.
The final wrestling match at Naadam was quite the funny happening. The match consisted of 4 men, maybe the best two from different age groups? One group started hard core wrestling right away, and the other two men, just stood and watched, wrestling little bits occasionally until they were the only two left out there. The crowd laughed. Then the weather turned a little sour and it started to rain as the wind drastically picked up. As the match was still going on ( Mongolian wrestling matches can sometimes take quite a while) one of the judges tent on the field up and blew over, tramping all the judges inside. The crowd laughed more as the judges eventually crawled out. The people in the other two judging tents were quick to run and brace their tent poles after. As if this wasnt enough distractions for the main event at Naadam, a stray dog decided to leisurely walk through the middle of the field during the match. A policeman leisurely followed to try to catch the dog. About three fourths of the way down the field, the police, to my surprise (Mongolians dont really touch dogs), reached down and grabbed the dog, and the dog snarled and bit him right on the field! The policemen then carried the dog off of the field and out of the stadium as the other policemen laughed and jeered him. About the time the dog was escorted, another gust of wind came and knocked down another judges tent. haha. The wrestling continued and then in a fast surprising move, the underdog wrestler won the match.
9. The End
Naadam ended with our hasha dog, Bartok, getting all the leftover hosher trash. She was so incredibly happy.
Coming up Next Post:
A giddis (animal innards lunch)
and the stories around me meeting my second sister from Ulaanbaator!!
 |
| delicious hosher |
 |
| Cody and Adam got fancy dells to wear. |
 |
| the hosher tents |
 |
| My sister and I |
 |
| Raisin tea and hosher |
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| My host mother's hosher ger |
1. The opening Ceremonies
My family took me to the Sukhbaator Naadam, to which the stadium was not too far outside of our little soum area. We got there for the opening ceremonies, and got to watch the parade of fancy dell wearing people, and watch the spectacle of balloon dancing, contortionists, horse head fiddling and traditional singing. It was awesome. One of the little girl contortionists, who was preforming her routine with three others on a neon green platform, started bleeding from her elbow near the beginning of the routine. There was blood everywhere over the neon green cloth, and I honestly cant even imagine how much it had to hurt to finish. 
2. HosherMy host mother had her own hosher cooking ger, number 42 in the rows and rows of hosher gers, to which we visited after the opening ceremonies. A hosher is basically a dough pocket filled with meat, fat, and potatoes, and then fried in oil. When ordering a hosher at Naadam, you simply stick your head in the door of the ger and yell out a number, and you are brought delicious, delicious hosher. I followed my sister straight into the ger and got to hang out on the inside. We sat on a blanket and ate some fried deliciousness, and drank some raisin tea. As orders were shouted in, and hosher was being cook.
3. GamblingFrom what I have understood, there are no casinos in Mongolia, but at Naadam, there was a row of gambling opportunities. People sat low near the ground with wheel of fortune and price is right type wheels and small wooden boxes with dice in them. You could either spin a wheel and hope it lands on a face of currency, or place a bet on what number the shaken dice box would reveal. It was quite the spectacle. My host sister took a gamble. She lost.
4. Kites
I have been wanting a kite since I got here, since it is so windy here with wide open fields. i have looked in the market with no luck, and at Naadam, I saw my first kite being flown in Mongolia. I, of course, quite happily bought one. After Naadam was over, my host mom saw it hanging up in my room after a good evening of kite flying. She said kite flying was for little kids. Oh well.
5. Neigh.
There are countless good horse stories that came out of Naadam, but here are a couple.
I found out my sister is pretty afraid of horses. Given my lacking sense of 'danger' and my general attribute to not pay attention, I was a prime suspect to get run into by the horses that were at Naadam. My sister yanked my arm many a time to pull me away from a horse's path (that, in my defense, were quite a ways away from colliding with me), and would always yell, 'DANGER!' Even if she saw a horse standing in the distance, we would take a long path around the horse, because, 'DANGER!' This one time, we ran into some of my sisters friends, who were sitting atop their horses, and she kept her distance while talking to them. She then told me to go pet the horse...and when I went to go pet the horse, she yanked my arm back, and yelled 'DANGER!' I think she set me up.
 |
| This is the youngest horse racer that I saw. I think he was 4 years old. |
The long distance horse races are 24 km long. There are riders of many ages, even kids that looked about 4 years old. It was pretty cool to see the horses race in at the finish. After each race a cloud of dust lingered from being kicked up by all the horses. My host dad, sister, and I were in close proximity to a horse that just finished a race, and after exchanging a few words with the guy atop the horse, my dad petted it, and instructed my sister and I to do the same. My sister was very hesitant, but she did, and I did also, only to realize that the horse was soaking wet. It never really occurred to me before that horses sweat, but after racing 24 km, it is reasonable that they do. My host dad then instructed me to rub my horse sweaty hand on my face. I reluctantly did so, and then, since our hands were all still sweaty, I followed my dads example, and rubbed the rest of the sweat off on my calves. I was only left to imagine that in the Mongolian culture, this probably symbolized in some way that we were gaining the strength of the horse by wearing its sweat, but I was told later that it is good luck.
6. Tug of War
7. Archery
The archery portion of Naadam wasn't like I expected it to be. Contestants did not shoot at targets, but rather shot at rocks lined out on the ground. Judges stood right next to the rocks as arrows were shot at them, to see if the area landed in a certain area. Come to find out later, the arrows had no points on the ends, but rather soft tips..for safety.
8. the wrestling matches.A wrestlers uniform consists of a red speedo, most likely with stars on the butt, and a half jacket thing that covers the back and forearms, and ties in the fron for stability. They wear such skimpy outfits to ensure that women do not wrestle, but the men kind of look like they are dressed like wonder woman. For mongolian wrestling, the first one on the ground is the loser. To start all wrestlers come out, with their arms spread and stomp around in slow motion. After someone wins, they also do the same thing. I think this was my favorite part of the whole spectacle.
The final wrestling match at Naadam was quite the funny happening. The match consisted of 4 men, maybe the best two from different age groups? One group started hard core wrestling right away, and the other two men, just stood and watched, wrestling little bits occasionally until they were the only two left out there. The crowd laughed. Then the weather turned a little sour and it started to rain as the wind drastically picked up. As the match was still going on ( Mongolian wrestling matches can sometimes take quite a while) one of the judges tent on the field up and blew over, tramping all the judges inside. The crowd laughed more as the judges eventually crawled out. The people in the other two judging tents were quick to run and brace their tent poles after. As if this wasnt enough distractions for the main event at Naadam, a stray dog decided to leisurely walk through the middle of the field during the match. A policeman leisurely followed to try to catch the dog. About three fourths of the way down the field, the police, to my surprise (Mongolians dont really touch dogs), reached down and grabbed the dog, and the dog snarled and bit him right on the field! The policemen then carried the dog off of the field and out of the stadium as the other policemen laughed and jeered him. About the time the dog was escorted, another gust of wind came and knocked down another judges tent. haha. The wrestling continued and then in a fast surprising move, the underdog wrestler won the match.9. The End
Naadam ended with our hasha dog, Bartok, getting all the leftover hosher trash. She was so incredibly happy.
Coming up Next Post:
A giddis (animal innards lunch)
and the stories around me meeting my second sister from Ulaanbaator!!
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