Posts about Naadam Festival
Naadam Festival Tickets
Naadam Festival in Mongolia
If you are lucky enough to be visiting Mongolia during the annual Naadam Festival, it is a good idea to arrange Naadam Festival tickets in advance.
Most festival tickets that are available to foreigners are procured by tour operators. If you are taking a Mongolia tour during the festival, chances are that your tour operator has already arranged tickets for you.
If you are traveling to Mongolia independently, it is a bit more difficult to get Naadam Festival tickets. Try contacting a Mongolia tour company to see if they have tickets you can buy, or contact the tourism board to ask about arranging tickets.
Some events at the festival do not require tickets. If you don’t plan to go to the opening ceremony or the wrestling or archery tournaments in Ulaanbaatar, you can watch the events in the countryside without needing Naadam Festival tickets.
Naadam Festival in Mongolia
Opening Ceremony, Naadam Festival in Mongolia
The Naadam Festival dates are July 11 to 13 every year.
The annual Naadam Festival in Mongolia is the highlight of the summer. The festival takes place over three days, and involves three sports: horse racing, wrestling, and archery.
The festival begins with an opening ceremony in the national stadium in Ulaanbaatar. The ceremony includes music, military demonstrations, impressive acrobatics on horseback, and dancing. The ceremony is followed by the start of the wrestling competition, which is a single elimination tournament.
Meanwhile, the horse races start in the countryside. They can be viewed from locations around Ulaanbaatar and further afield. Most of the participants in the race are young children, and the races range from around 15 to 30 km.
Many Mongolians bring their gers (nomadic tents) to the horse racing grounds. During the the Naadam Festival in Mongolia, they make the rounds to their neighbors’ gers to share vodka, fermented mare’s milk, and traditional mongolian foods while they wait for the horses.
The final sport in the festival is archery. There is a multi-target system for archery, and both men and women are allowed to participate.
In the evenings during the festival, the streets of Ulaanbaatar are alive with revelry and celebrating. The festival is a great time to be in Mongolia, and offers a unique glimpse into the country’s culture and heritage.