Mongolia VI: NAADAM (part a)

[selenak]

My friends, I spoke too early. Only yesterday I finished uploading all the Naadam photos, and there is no way I can present them only in one single post. I'll have to split the festival up. This is both due to all the spectacle there was, and due to the fact your faithfull chronicler was now armed with a proper camera again, having returned to the Mongol capital where there are, of course, the relevant shops.

In case you were wondering: "What IS this "Naadam" she's been going on about like a superhero comics foreshadowing the big battle at the end?" The annual Naadam festival celebrates the traditional three most beloved Mongol sports, archery, riding and wrestling. It used to be all male, but in the last few years competition for women was added as well, and I have, among other things, a fabulous photo of a fierce old lady archer. (BTW, speaking of female archers, the icon for this entry used to be Katniss but then I thought this implied some unfortunate things about Naadam = Hunger Games, which I did not want.) But it is the greatest event of the year, celebrated all over the country, and in the capital of course biggest of all, and it made for a wonderful finale to my three weeks in Mongolia. And the opening ceremonies are on an Olympic level.



On the first day, the weather was still mixed - it would become sunny throughout on the second day - but no one cared. What yours truly, being married to punctuality, just was the slightest bit bothered about was the one hour and a half delay at the start (which turned out to be true for just about every event ever, which is fairly typical), and I'd like to claim it was all on behalf of the people who had to hide all this time under white curtains in order to release the balloons later, but no, it was on my own behalf. Have a photo of the arena-in-waiting:



Mind you, the kids - who didn't have to hide, and were to participate in the dances and parading later - found ways to pass the time:





The spot ont the boy's cheek is the Mongolian flagg painted on. A lot of kids did this. And then, at last, it was time for the balloons to be released and the ceremony to start:







Enough balloonery. As mentioned in the previous post, the riders with Genghis Khan's banners arrived from where they had been standing guard, at the parliament, to plant his banner in the arena.














Banners planted. Incidentally, two of the guards in historical armour would remain there in front of the banners through the rest of the games; every two hours, the soldiers were relieved by comrades. The rest got on their horses again and very kindly treated us to a circle run:



Then it was time for the blessing dances to begin.



For which from all corners, dancers ran into the arena:









Have a glimpse at some still waiting their turn:




Shamans:








Representatives of the three disciplines took place in the parade as well, of course. Here are (some of) the archers:



Who were the only ones who didn't get to demonstrate their art during the opening ceremonies, for safety reasons.

Riders:









Note these are all adult equestrians, which means none of them actually competed in the games. They are there to demonstrate riding as part of Mongol history. No, the horsemen, or rather, horseboys and girls who would compete showed up as well:



Lots more of the young jockey when they're horseracing in the next post. Have another adult on horseback for historical reasons, this one carrying the horse fiddle, a unique Mongol instrument:



Remember which of the three big disciplines is still missing? Here they are:







This archer would like you to know he can wave and show off as well:



The wresters would be the ones to remain in the central arena, though, as the ceremonies concluded, and start their competitions. Next to the banners of Genghis Khan, no less:



Not all of them, mind. The younglings, aka the 16 years olds, were waiting here:





While the veterans were watching from up there:



The archers had their own arena, or rather, shooting field.





The guys at the end of the line are the judges. If an archer hit the targets, they'd sing a short victory song for him/her and open their arms as well, so the archers could see that (the noise level from the crowd drowning out the songs if you weren't standing next to them.) On to a more detailed presentation. Archers:










Judges:





Of course, the levels of skill demanded were different. The archers you just saw started from the middle to two thirds. There were later some who'd shoot across the whole length.









And the lady I mentioned earlier:



And now... the horse races await! In the next post.

Comments

[astridv]

Great picspam, thanks for taking the time to make these posts!

Love all the bright colors and gorgeous clothing... that must've been amazing to see live.

(I've alreays bemoaned the fact that sometime in the middle ages northern Europe moved away from long belted tunics for men; I find them so aesthetically appealing.)

[selenak]

Belted tunics are awesome. Maybe the current day badass leather coat for anti heroes is a sort of comeback?

[lilacsigil]

Wow! I love all the national costumes and that they're keeping their great traditions alive and well.

[selenak]

Same here. Mind you, they don't dress up like this every day, this is a holiday thing; I'd say about a third wears traditional Mongolian gear during every day situations, the rest goes in jeans and shirts/sweaters. But after all, it's not like we wear formal wear in every day situations, either!

[watervole]

INteresting to see a Chinese/Japanese flavour to some of the costumes. Makes me remember that Mongolia and China have interacted a lot (war, trade, etc)

[selenak]

Quite. The Chinese are trying to get around having been ruled by the Mongols by claiming Khubilai Khan, Genghis' grandson and the founder of the Yuan dynasty, as Chinese. Which the current day Mongols see as one of several ominous signs China intends to swallow them and treat them like Tibet (i.e. resettle a lot of Han Chinese, make the Mongols a minority etc.), not least because Inner Mongolia, which as opposed to Mongolia is ruled by China, has a population where only a fifth are still Mongols. But at the same time, the mutual influence of Chinese and Mongols on each other is undeniable.

(One thing the Mongols never took from China, btw, is the Chinese alphabet. They adopted the one from the Uigurs instead before ever conquering China, and it was used until the 1930s, which was when everyone had to change to Kyrillic writing.)

[skywaterblue]

Mongolia seems like one of the few countries left in the world to be self-governed by its native people who are keeping their native culture well and truly alive. Good on them!

[selenak]

Of course, there are several clouds on the horizon. The biggest being that they have copper and those types of material one needs for computers in the earth - and 49% of those mines are owned by foreigners. (Which is why someone once said about the Mongols that they were beggars living on a golden hill.) Also, there's China making noises about wanting to "reunite" them with Inner Mongolia (which the Mongols I talked to take to mean "we want to treat you like Tibet and resettle lots of our people in your big country until you're an ethnic minority", since only one fifth of the population of Inner Mongolia are still Mongols, the rest are Han Chinese. And on the other side of the border, there is Russia with dear old Putin...

[skywaterblue]

A very depressing story indeed. They're sandwiched between two rather rotten neighbors and China most certainly has the resources and interest right now.