Naadam

The festival is also locally termed "eriin gurvan naadam" (эрийн гурван наадам), "the three games of men".

It 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, including weddings or spiritual gatherings.

Traditional cuisine, or Khuushuur, is served around the Sports Stadium along with a special drink made of fermented horse milk (airag).

The three games of wrestling, horse racing, and archery are recorded in the 13th-century book The Secret History of the Mongols.

The first official military parade in Communist Mongolia took place in 1921 in honor of the victories of Damdin Sükhbaatar in the revolution.

The former was only instituted as an annual event in 2015, having previously been held irregularly and commemorates Mongolia's independence from the Qing dynasty, and also coincides with Mongolian State Flag Day.

The latter formally commemorates the 1921 Revolution a decade later, when communist invaded and deposed Bogd Khan, spillover from the Russian Civil War.

They became the great celebration of the new nation, where the nobility got together to dedicate to the Bogd Khan (Jabzundamba Khutugtu), the new head of state.

[9] Genghis Khan's nine horse tails, representing the nine tribes of the Mongols, are still ceremonially transported from Sukhbaatar Square to the Stadium to open the Naadam festivities.

At the opening and closing ceremonies, there are impressive parades of mounted cavalry, athletes and monks, alongside elements of uniformed organizations.

It begins with an elaborate introduction ceremony featuring dancers, athletes, horse riders, and musicians.

Mongolian traditional wrestling is an untimed competition in which wrestlers lose if they touch the ground with any part of their body other than their feet or hands.

Wrestlers wear two-piece costumes consisting of a tight shoulder vest (zodog) and shorts (shuudag).

Winners of the 7th or 8th stage (depending on whether the competition features 512 or 1024 wrestlers) earn the title of zaan, "elephant".

All the archers wear leather bracers up to the elbow on their outstretched arm, so that the deel's cuff does not interfere with shooting.

They are placed on top of each other forming a wall three-high, which is approximately 8 inches high by 5 feet wide.