Mongolian Naadam Wrestling Clubs

Wrestling, horse racing, and archery, together the eriin gurvan naadam or three games of men, are already described in the 13th-century Secret History of the Mongols, so the form is genuinely medieval. The gathering that became Naadam began in 1639 as a dance festival dedicated to the Buddhist saint Zanabazar, and in 1912 the Ten Government Games were fixed as an annual state event, which set the competitive, once-a-year shape Naadam still runs on. UNESCO inscribed Naadam on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010.

You start younger here than almost anywhere else: in Mongolia the wish that a newborn boy grows up to wrestle sits close to a blessing, and small children turn up early to learn the basics. The first things taught are not throws but the devee, the eagle-imitating dance every wrestler performs entering and leaving the ring, and how to wear the kit: the open-chested zodog jacket, the tight shuudag briefs in red or blue, and upturned gutal boots. Nobody expects you to win; they expect you to strut, spread your arms, and keep everything but the soles of your feet off the ground, though in the national style even a hand down is fine while a knee, elbow, or back ends it.