In the Naadam, for practical reasons, all matches are contested at the same time, meaning that the competition is structured in rounds/stages. If you lose a match, you’re eliminated from the tournament. Thus, an anniversary year Naadam, with 1024 participants, will take 10 rounds to produce a champion: Round 1 – 1024 wrestlers Round 2 […]
A Legacy of Strength and Honor Bökh, which means “firmness, reliability, vitality” is an integral part of Mongolian cultural heritage. Mongolian Traditional Wrestling known as “Bokh” is one of the oldest and most respected sports in Mongolia. “Bokh” is not just a form of physical competition but also a symbol of respect and endurance. It […]
Souvenir products and toys are miniature forms of culture and represent the tradition of that particular country very well. Most Mongolian souvenirs are made of animal by-products and natural materials. Below I have found the Top 10 souvenirs and toys of Mongolia that are considered to be very unique by tourists and travelers. 1. Tsatsal […]
Board games include shatar (Mongolian chess), draughts (checkers) and the deer game. These are very ancient games. Mongolian Chess Shatar or Mongolian chess is considered to be the king of the board games. It needs keen intelligence, creative thinking, and patience; chess is a type of intellectual sport. There is even a folk saying that […]
Requiring solid thinking and problem-solving capacity, brainstorming games have a long tradition in Mongolia. These kinds of oral games are popular among people even today and contribute to developing creative thinking. Here are some examples of these types of games: How Can You Cross The River? One person wants to get grass, a sheep, and […]
Breaking the chain and Dropping a handkerchief game has become known among Mongolians since around 1960s and mainly school children play them during their break time. Two groups of children stand hand-in-hand, resembling a chain at a distance of five meters from each other. Someone on one side shouts, “Break the golden chain!,” and another […]
From a very young age, Mongolian children in nomadic societies grow up involved in the everyday herding activities of their families, such as stopping lambs and calves from going to pasture, keeping lambs away from their mothers during milking, and learning the practice of herding animals based on actual practice. Before riding horses, Mongolian children […]
One of the Mongolian traditional games is the disentangling game. Without a doubt, this must have been originated from a nomadic livestock breeder’s livelihood as a demand to untie and disentangle difficult knots, ties, and entangled things. Consequently, parents took much care to train their kids to learn how to disentangle things and created a […]
Shagai (Anklebone) games are an important part of Mongolian traditional games. There are myriad kinds of anklebone games which attract both children and adults. Researchers identified 80 variations of Mongolian ankle bone games, such as “Catch Ankle Bones”, “Flick Anklebones”, “Horse Race”, “Wrestling”, “Set Four Difficult”, “Calculation”, “Guessing”, “Comply Four Colours”, “Construct A Star”, “Cat […]