The Nadam Festival, usually held from June 4 to 9 (lunar calendar), is one of the most exciting and colorful festivals in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At the center of the festivities are the fierce horse racing, archery and wrestling competitions, the traditional sports of the Mongolian warriors (the three "manly" sports, though young girls and women participate in the horse racing and archery contests).
In Mongolian, the word "Nadam" means "amusement and entertainment" and can be traced back to 1225AD, when Genghis Khan mounted an expedition to the west and conquered Khwarezm. In order to celebrate the victory they held the magnificent Nadam Fair. The Mongolians used this exciting gathering as a big occasion to compete in the horseracing, Mongolian wrestling and archery, which were regarded as the three basic skills of men.
Gradually more and more events were added to the festival, such as marksmanship, chess, reciting epics, polo, film, drama, singing, dancing and track and field competitions and so on and so forth.
There are three kinds of Nadam, the big one, medium one and small one. The big Nadam requires the participation of 512 wrestlers and 300 horses and usually lasts 7-10 days while the medium Nadam will have the participation of 256 wrestlers and 100-150 horse, lasting 5-7 days. And 64 or 128 wrestlers and 30 or 50 horses will take part in the small Nadam, which lasts 3-5 days. Anyone can apply to compete in Nadam, regardless of his or her ethnic origin and religious belief.
In addition to sports competition, people also make good use of this gathering to hold talks and establish relations in economic trade or to interchange goods.
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