Nadam Festival
 In Mongolian the word nadammeans "amusement and entertainment, or game," and that is certainly what this festival is all about. It takes place during the seventh or eighth lunar month, "when the livestock have become stout and strong, the meadows are rich, and drinking water abounds."
The Nadam Festival is a traditional occasion for Mongols to get together for a few days of festivity. In the past, herdsmen in the region gathered in summer to sacrifice to celestial beings as well as to amuse themselves in celebration of a thriving animal husbandry.
The Nadam Festival dates back about 2,000 years, and is believed to have originated in Mongolia somewhere between 200 BC and 200 AD.Horse racing, wrestling, and archery are three of the most popular and traditional activities of the fair, while singing and dancing in traditional style are also a great highlight. In Mongolian tradition, a man can prove his worth by impressing with his skill in horse riding, archery, or wrestling, which are considered the "Three Manly Virtues" of the Mongol men.
Nowadays modern activities such as track and field sports, equestrian polo, horsemanship, tug-of-war, basketball, volleyball, and even motorcycling are included in the celebration of the Nadam Festival. So if you have free time during July and August, this is a great time to join in the fun and traditional pastimes with the local Mongolian people.
 Horse racing
Horse racing of Mongol can generally be divided into two: walking race and galloping.
In walking horse racing, horses compete in speed, resistance, steadiness and beauty via running with alternating side steps (the front hoofs and hind hoofs move in turns). The horses for racing are generally older than five years and the riders are always adults. The race require a highly lofty horsemanship so that the rider is able to rein the horse to walk steadily, beautifully, and as fast as possible, without running.
Galloping mainly tests the horses' speed and resistance. Therefore, the winner is the first one who reaches the finish line. The stepping way of galloping is quite different from the pace in the walking race in that in the former, the four hoofs should run by each pair of hoofs hitting the ground at the same time, with the two pairs of hoofs hitting the ground in alternate turns.
Most of the riders are male, while at the same time, children around twelve or thirteen take a major part, for they generally have a nimble and light body. For the sake of lightening the load of the horse as well as the safety of the rider, galloping horses usually are not equipped with saddle or with only with a light and handy saddle. The riders usually wear magnificent colorful uniforms and a red ribbon tied around their head, as to show the riders' soldierly air and manner. The distance of the race usually covers twenty-five to thirty-five kilometers.
As galloping horse racing is more common and widespread than the walking race, more people take part in the game, from tens to hundreds.
As soon as the race starts, riders mount their horses as soon as possible and raise their whips to speed. Meanwhile, the audiences shout and jump for joy and encourage the riders. According to the Mongolian convention, horse praising should be done after the race is over. Horses placing in the race are all ranked in front of the platform by their finishing order and then are praised with words that are recited and sung by senior citizens of high prestige. Afterwards, they will spill kumiss or fresh milk on the horse that won the first place, bestowing blessing upon it.
Besides the traditional ways of horse racing, new types of horse racing have come forth in recent years, such as obstacle racing and figure racing, which greatly enrich and improve this sport.
Wrestling
Wrestling is popular among the ethnic minorities, especially the Mongols on occasions of the Nadam Festival.
Mongolian wrestling is different from both Chinese wrestling and the sumo wrestling in Japan and is distinguished by its own rules, methods, uniforms, and fields.
The rules and methods for wrestling is: there is neither a separation of grade (no age and weight distinction) nor a fixed number -- any even number of 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 will do. All the wrestlers are matched by arrangement or by drawing lots; judges, who enjoy high prestige and command universal respect, start the matches.
There is a special uniform for wrestlers. Made of cowhide or canvas, a tight half-sleeve jacket is for the upper part of the body, whereas a pair of loose wrestling trousers is for the lower part of the body. With a pair of Mongolian boots are worn, as well as a colorful cloth chaplet around the neck. The field for wrestling is very small.
The game adopts single-elimination rules; the loser is not allowed to compete again. Half of the wrestlers will be eliminated every time. As soon as the judge gives an order to start, the opponents first shake hands to show respect to each other, and then begin to wrestle.
There is no limitation of time and the opponents can freely choose any ways or skills, such as ticking, pulling, kicking, tripping, pushing, holding, lifting, and so on. However, wrestlers are not allowed to hold their opponent's legs, nor kick arbitrarily, nor pull the other's trousers. Whenever any part of the person above his or her knees that touch the ground, he or she is the loser.
An area of lawn or soft space is used as the field, where audience can sit around on the ground and wrestlers face each other in the middle. Before the wrestling start, a challenging song will be sung in order to build up momentum and power by the person of each side. Moreover, whenever wrestlers enter or exit the wrestling ground, they have to imitate the action of a tercel, which is jump to go forward full of power and grandeur.
Archery
Archery has two types -- to shoot arrow at a standstill and to shoot while riding. The arrow's pattern, weight, length, or pulling force can be chosen freely without any limitation. Generally, each archer has nine arrows to shoot in groups of three arrows per turn and the result depends on the numbers of arrows that hit the target.
To shoot from a standstill means to draw a bow to shoot while standing still. The distance from the target to the archer is in accordance with specific conditions, but it is usually fixed in the same competition.
To shoot while riding is to draw a bow and shoot while riding a horse galloping on a special track. Generally, the track is a special channel that is four meters wide, eighty-five meters long, and half a meter in depth. There are two targets standing on the left side while one on the right. In the competition, an archer, entering the track on horse and drawing a bow while the horse speeds, aims at the target to shoot at his best.
The mass sports activities such as horse racing, wrestling, and archery play a very important role in both physical training and the enrichment of grassroot-level culture life.
Winners of the three sports are usually given horses, camels, sheep, brick tea, and silk as awards.
At the start of every Nadam Festival, herdsmen and herdswomen will converged from all directions in complete-new national costumes, riding their horses and carrying yurt and all kinds of meat and milk products on their light wooden cart. While putting up the yurt on the greensward, people begin to simmer tea and stew meat. As smoke curls upward from kitchen chimneys on the whole grassland, all the people will be absorbed in a joyous atmosphere.
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