Naadam Festival

Month : July
Place : Naadam, Monglia
Famous For : Traditional Festival
Attractions : Wrestling, Horse Racing and Archery

Naadam is a traditional type of festival in Mongolia. 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 the midsummer holidays. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling.

Major Attractions

Naadam is the most widely watched festival among Mongols, and is believed to have existed for centuries in one fashion or another. Naadam 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.Many horse lovers go to Mongolia to see the famed Naadam Festival in early July. The event - featuring the three "manly arts" of horse racing, archery, and wrestling - is spectacular, and stadium seats are hard to come by. But for a unique thrill, try sampling Naadam in a small provincial city. You"ll see the same competitions but instead of watching them from assigned seats, you will be part of the crowd watching them ON horseback. Everything is set up for viewers on horseback -- the height of the wrestling "stadium", the stands dispensing cold drinks, the hawkers with souvenirs (geared to Mongolian tastes; there aren"t many foreigners who experience Naadam this way).