The three day event officially celebrates the Mongolian Revolution and independence, although the festival is said to predate Chinggis Khan.
Each Naadam festival starts with an opening ceremony that features horse riders, wrestlers, athletes, musicians, monks, and dancers.
The Naadam Festival is locally known as "Eriin gurvan naadam," which means "Three games of men." The games include archery, horse racing, and wrestling.
The Naadam festival in Ulaanbaatar has gained international recognition and has featured guest appearances from political and world figures including U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S Vice President Joe Biden.
The Festival is celebrated within each province or soum (small administrative district) of Mongolia and each organizes a Naadam Festival of their own. Ulaanbator hosts the largest festival of them all. In 2010 the festival was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Visitors of this festival will get to see firsthand, the nomadic history, culture and traditional sporting events which make this fascinating country famous and will no doubt leave a lasting impression for many years to come.
As quoted by Chinggis Khan “It’s not how many breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.”
At the Naadam Festival this is definitely guaranteed.
