Mongolian Games and Sports

Mongolian kids play many of the same games that American kids play. Soccer (called football in Mongolia), basketball, volleyball, and ping pong (called table tennis here) are all popular sports. Mongolian kids also jump rope and play red rover and tag.  Like American kids, Mongolian kids play computer and video games.  But most Mongolians do not have internet in their homes, so kids have to go to internet cafes to play online.  Teenagers and men like to play pool (called billiards here). In the winter, kids ice skate on outdoor ice rinks.

Ice skating in Choibalsan

  

Sheep--khon

Goat--Yamaa

 

Horse--mor



Camel--Temee

sheep or goat ankle bones--shagai

There are some games that are unique to Mongolia.  Children and families play games with sheep ankle bones called shagai (pronounced “sha-guy”). There are many different ways to play. The sides of the bone are given names—horse (mor), camel (temee), goat (yamaa), sheep (khon). One way is to drop on the floor about 20-30 shagai (the more the better) and then flick one into another, but you have to hit a bone that has the same side up as the bone you flick. So you flick a camel into a camel or a goat into a goat, for example. You collect the shagai that you hit. You get to keep flicking until you flick one that doesn’t hit another bone or if you hit a bone that doesn't match the one you're flicking. The person who collects the most shagai wins.  It’s kind of like playing marbles. You can also play a horse race with shagai. You lay 10 shagai in a straight line, leaving out 1 shagai for each person who’s racing and 4 shagai to roll like dice.  You set your shagai next to the line of shagai and roll the 4 shagai. You can only move forward if you roll a horse. The person to move up the line and reach the end first wins.Shagai are also used to tell fortunes.  In fortunetelling, four shagai are rolled on the ground; the two convex sides, horse and sheep, are considered lucky, with horse being the luckiest. The sides with concave 

Shagai horse racing.

 indents, goat and camel, are deemed unlucky; rolling all four sides on one throw is considered very good fortune.

 

Wrestling at Naadam

Mongolia has three national sports that come from the warrior history of Mongolia. First is wrestling, second is archery, and third is horse racing. A Mongolian warrior had to be very good at all three skills because they were used in war. But today, they are sports played for fun. The national holiday, Naadam, features competitions of the three “manly” sports.

The wrestling and horse racing are different from what Americans know. In wrestling, the object is to get your opponent to touch the ground with any part of his body between the knees and the shoulders.  And it looks like you can do just about anything to achieve that goal. The costumes wrestlers wear are very interesting. They are usually bright red and blue. The bottoms are like speedo bathing suits.  And then they wear sleeves that go on the upper part of the arm and across the shoulders.  The story behind the outfit is a good one.  Women are not allowed to wrestle, but many, many years ago a woman entered a wrestling competition disguised as a man. She defeated many men and her gender was discovered only after she became a champion. From then on, the wrestlers are required to wear the costume that shows their chest in order to prevent women from entering wrestling competitions. When the wrestlers enter the field, they do an eagle dance, flapping their arms like an eagle, then they crouch down and slap their thighs on the front and back. It’s to show their strength and power. The winner of a match also does a victory eagle dance at the end of the match.

The horseracing is not on a round track like it is in the U.S. Horse races take place out in the countryside. They race straight out to a certain point, and then turn around and come back. It’s difficult to watch a horse race. You can’t see the whole thing. You have to stand at the start/finish line and you get to see the start and the end. Interestingly, the jockeys riding the horses are children.  Children start riding horses when they are as young as 4 or 5 years old. The children who race horses are usually 7 to 12 years old.



Mongolian horse racing. This photo was taken by my fellow PCV Kate Borkowski.