The Eye of Tengri: Los Angeles Naadam 2015

Naadam in Los Angeles

Two days ago I saw Naadam (Наадам), Mongolia's summer sports festival, in Los Angeles, thanks to the Mongolian Association of Los Angeles (Лос Анжелесийн Монголчуудын холбоо). The event was held in spacious Griffith Park, north of the Observatory, south of the Zoo, and next to the golf course. Although I'd seen several Naadams in Mongolia, this was my first Naadam abroad. I ran into some Mongolians I knew here, as well as some fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs, for those who know) from Mongolia. The event also attracted quite a few businesses, such as representatives of Mongolia's airline MIAT and the Korean company Coway.

The main Naadam tent, on the north side of the field, naturally

I showed up at 11:00 AM, as stated on the announcement on the LA Mongols site, so I was put to work setting up chairs and tables. In Mongolia, the stated time of an event is often actually the time people start setting up for the event, so those who don't want to help ought to show up one or two hours late.

Just like the local Naadam in Khashaat that I witnessed, the events took place in the center of a giant ring of inward-facing tents.

Baby's first Naadam. Hello Rinchen!

The celebration got underway close to 1:00 when a procession in traditional costume marched around the inside of the circle with the Mongolian flag and finally raised it in the center of the ring.
Cultural performances dominated the first half of Naadam, including dancers, singers, a gymnast, a морин хуур (horsehead fiddle) player, and the rock band Dayan (Даян хамтлаг).

Getting ready to raise the Mongolian flag

Young girls don their хатан (queen) outfits for the cultural performance

Horsehead fiddle (morin huur) player

A selection of medals to be awarded to the victors

Prize statues

Rock band Dayan performing at the 2015 Los Angeles Naadam festival

Huushuur (хуушуур), creamy airag (айраг, fermented horse milk) and other food for the public was provided by Golden Mongolian Restaurant (Алтан Монгол зоогийн газар) Los Angeles's REAL Mongolian restaurant, who set up a tent on the west side. So many people lined up to get huushuur from them, a couple of my friends were in line for two hours.

The line for huushuur (хуушуур)

After the cultural performances, the wrestling finally started.

Unfortunately, there was no archery or horse-racing - the other two major Naadam events. It's a lot easier to get a park use permit for wrestling than archery or racing, perhaps because of greater perceived danger, as I discussed in "Safety in the Art of Archery." Hopefully future events can incorporate more of Mongolian culture.

Wrestlers at the 2015 Naadam in Los Angeles. Notice the other guy on the side. Several matches take place simultaneously, so there's never a dull minute

One of the final events was a national costume fashion show.