Naadam festival

In early July, I celebrated my first Naadam in Mongolia. Naadam is a huge deal, an annual 3-day national holiday where the 3 "manly sports" are highlighted: wrestling, archery and horseracing. Our little American contingent went to the local stadium to see the opening ceremonies and soak up some of the Naadam festivities. Outside the stadium it was like a state fair, with food and all kinds of vendors. The main food is khuushur (pronounced hoe-shur), which is basically a fried meat pie. But if you want to experience Naadam like a true Mongolian, then you drink airag. I finally decided to bite the bullet and take a sip this year. Airag is fermented mares' milk, and it's pretty foul. But I did it, so now I can be called a "Chinggis" Mongol (that's an authentic Mongolian). Interestingly, part of the awards ceremony for the horseracing involves each person drinking airag and then pouring some of it on the horse's head. Strange, I know.


Here's some photos - if you can't immediately access them, use my username and password (maysus2001@yahoo.com; banderas) to view.


http://www.kodakgallery.com/MyGallery.jsp?&