Project 3 essay

Cultural Artifact Literacies

Introduction

Every country and nation has their own uniqueness. For example, festival days, musical instruments, historical artifacts, valuable people, and such. The most interesting thing about that is, those things are all had been made up by human beings. Mother Nature hadn’t created any artificial documents, or statues and even celebration days for people. Only history and civilization had created those things by the time beings.

In this essay, I will write about how people in my country Mongolia have been celebrating a festival called “Naadam” (Naadam Festival by Nomads) since 1206. The whole point of this celebration is to promote our country’s declaration. Mongolian people also have been applying our national sports such as horse racing, wrestling and archery in those days. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate what this festival is, and how the meaning of these days are shifting over time. 

I will divide this paper into # sections. Firstly, I will talk about the background of myself being associated with “Naadam”. Secondly, I will mention the history of this festival. Thirdly, I will discuss why this is enormously important to our people in terms of nationality. Fourth, I will state the problems and conflicts which are known to my observations. And lastly, I will put down the ideas which can solve those issues from my perspective

Background information

I never knew that I would be deeply associated with “Naadam” (WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT NAADAM FESTIVAL BEFORE YOU ATTEND?) during my childhood. My family always used to take advantage of this holiday, such as taking trips to the countryside to explore our nation’s attractions, or travel to different countries which were unknown to us. Then one day, my father received a racing horse as a gift from his friend. This present has changed our family’s attitude towards the festival completely. At the beginning, we did not know how wonderful this is and how we can share it generously with our surroundings. I only watched other people racing their horses (The Mongol Derby) until then. After having our competitors, the actual horse racing thing has become our blessing. 

The Sacrifice People Make and Its Prizes

It takes a lot of time, wealth and unimaginable effort to be able to participate with the owned horses. We nourish our animals, we take care of those precious beings, cheer them to success, and the successful run comes with prizes. There are various types of race competitions depending on where it is being held, the age matter, and what time of a year. Therefore, the prizes could range from a small amount of money to even luxury SUVs, such as LC200, LX570, G-class. People might wonder about why only SUV cars are gifted, that’s because our country’s enormous challenge is harsh tracks and heavy roads. Thus, the horse owners appreciate off-roading vehicles in order to visit their animals and observe natural fascinations. 

History of Naadam

The history of our cultural festival started from 1206 AD. The most remarkable and widely known king of our “The Great Chinggis Khaan” (Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan) has declared Mongolia after uniting nomadic tribes and clans during his rise. He has conquered the majority parts of Asia, the whole east side of Europe, and even Arabian territories were under his control. Historically after his conquest, “Chinggis Khan” have realized that our nation needs to have our unique and admirable festival which will help our people to feel more proud of our country and of our ancestors’ creations. Therefore, people have started spending some days of summer abnormally. So, the idea was to show our military power, such as archery, wrestling, horse riding, and to make more appearances of Mongolian traditions. It was not just about Mongolian cultural events, but whole nomadic lifestyles were shown. Then, our king decided to celebrate “Three Games of Men” (Naadam, Three Games of Men in Mongolia.), and after we named “Naadam” which means “Happy Festival”. 

Here is the picture of “Chinggis Khan”

Issues/problems

The festivals are great and fun, but they all seem to have some conflicts. The reasons can be described by its crowded attendants and messy participants throughout the nation. There are several problems that appeared in my sight and how to solve those conflicts without interfering people’s movements. These are three main issues which are related to the festival. First is the use of victuals. Second is secret bribes which leads certain competitors to overpower. Third is people’s behavior towards the festival.

Unsafety of Food

When it comes to celebrating any national ceremony or festivals, we eat specific kinds of food which represent the meaning of those days. As I have mentioned before, during “Naadam” we eat “Huushuur” (Shelly)  and drink “Airag” (Airag - Айраг.). The “Huushuur” is a very delicious dish that people dine mostly. It is meat based meal covered with white flour and gets fried in a deep oil to be cooked. Therefore, civilians tend to eat so much “Huushuur” and the result of absorbing too much fried food possibly leads to food poisoning. 

There are some pictures of “Huushuur”.

Overdrinking of Alcohol

Why I mentioned the beverage is because the drinks we mostly use during “Naadam” contain alcohol. Our nation drinks the “Airag” and pure vodkas to celebrate the national declaration. “Airag '' is a national alcoholic drink which is made by shaking horse milk. I think it is clear to see the problem I have come up with, the overdrinking. We usually have problematic situations just because of drunk people’s behavior. Even normal people lose their modesty after drinking too much alcohol. These conflicts are all about the human behavioral tasks which are difficult to solve. 

Here are pictures of “Airag” and its container we use traditionally.

Another problem with these is people who run food markets or dining places. The life in my country is very varied, thus, some people use celebration days for business purposes such as selling “Huushuur” they make. Why is this a conflict is because usually the meals they prepare don’t necessarily qualify the standard of cleanness and/or food healthiness. Those places are mainly placed around the events’ areas and are considered as a street food type. It is very famous around the nation however, the outcomes are not favorable.

Birbes Behind the Curtain

The bribe occurs in every country and every field. People use it to solve their problems and/or make the tables turn to their sides. As I mentioned, during “Naadam” the main event consists of “Three Games of Men”. Bribes especially happen between wrestling competitions and horse racing tournaments. This is getting so much more popular now, and the fact that how it is realizable to people makes them outrageous. The reason is, these sports are meant for the men and require their pure skill and agility to take down the opponent. It is not all about the strength that matters, but actually intelligence which leads people to success. Even in Mongolian Derby, the more you know about horses and more competitors have connections with their rides have a superior chance of winning. However, these meaningful and valuable traditions are becoming even less fair for average to poor people, as the riches are playing with their ways. 

The Political Impact Towards Naadam

These conflicts are various depending on the situation and which year is currently residing. What I mean by year is, the Mongolian Government (Politics of Mongolia)  and politicians play a big part in “Naadam”, which is not a very pleasant thing. Therefore, the ongoing political party gets to plan and make schedules. In my opinion, any civil organizations or festivals that are associated with politics can never be as traditional and as genuine as it could possibly be.

Mongolian Government House.

Potential Solutions

Speaking about solutions, I need my whole country to have the same thought. These problems that I mentioned above are fundamentally behavioral issues which are too late to be changed for some certain people. What I have in my mind is, we need to switch the understanding about Naadam, to become a very traditional and honest festival where every person is on a similar level of living without any trouble. The idea of my solutions should start even from the bottom of the elementary educational system, with a proper strategy of teaching the way citizens must behave towards our valuable artifacts. Our “Naadam” possibly will be changed in the next few decades and centuries, and the most concerning thing to me is if this precious festival will still preserve its meaning and national tradition.

Conclusion

To conclude my essay, every nation has their own exclusive and uncommon festivals. So for our nation ’“Naadam” is one of the true delights and blessings. It was a pleasure to state my country’s most unique festival and how it means for our history accordingly. Any person is welcome to visit our country and experience our cultural artifact through our “Naadam”. People can have great meals and can watch fun activities of “Three Games of Men”. This Declarational celebration will be a huge part of our country forever.

Works Cited

Mongolia 2020 | Grandes Viajes a Mongolia 2020 | Viajes De Lujo Por Mongolia“Airag - Айраг.” Airag - Fermented Mare's Milk - Mongolian Beverage, www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/airag.html.

Composer, Keith O' Sullivan, director. Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Sept. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfGs2DKFnA.

"Naadam Festival by Nomads." The Travel Magazine, 8 Dec. 2016. Gale General OneFile, https://link-gale-com-proxy2-cl-msu-edu.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/apps/doc/A473198075/ITOF?u=msu_main&sid=ITOF&xid=6c29ece7. Accessed 11 Feb. 2020.

“Naadam, Three Games of Men in Mongolia.” Diplomat Magazine, 5 Aug. 2016, www.diplomatmagazine.eu/2014/07/07/naadam-three-games-men-mongolia/.

“Politics of Mongolia.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Mongolia.

“The Mongol Derby.” The Adventurists, www.theadventurists.com/adventures/mongol-derby/#1.