In few countries is the national festival so deeply associated with its past, and so relevant to its present, as in Mongolia. The Naadam Festival celebrated in the capital Ulaanbaatar each July, is a UNESCO-inscribed Intangible Cultural Heritage. Some suggest its origins date back to sports played by the army of Genghis Khan, as a way of testing strength and skill and the oldest surviving Mongolian language book, The Secret History of the Mongols mentions all three main sports of the festival – horse racing, archery and wrestling. Today, the main festival marks the 1921 revolution that created the modern country.But while the Naadam Festival in the capital is an enormous spectacle hosted by the President, one that attracts the best sports men and women from around the nation, in further flung locales Naadam is celebrated just the same, but in more romantic settings where the participants interact with the crowd.And there is no more picturesque destination in Mongolia than the Gobi desert. Here, nomads continue to herd goats for their cashmere wool in an environment that seems barren in parts, roamed by wild Bactrian camels, black-tailed gazelles, marbled polecats and Mongolian wild ass. Together with their horses, the nomads live in white yurts called gers as if time hasn’t changed for centuries – bar the solar panels on some of their roofs.Gers throughout the country are usually fairly basic, simple furniture surrounding a central wooden heater to keep the nights warm. But at Three Camel Lodge, a National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World, the architects have created versions built in tradition that offer as much comfort as possible in a seemingly inhospitable land. Importantly, it’s not just tradition it is keeping, but culture that it is also supporting. It started the Gobi Naadam Festival, just five years ago, attracting local participants from all around south Mongolia to an authentic version set on the great plains of the desert.As the festival begins, vehicles driven from camps hundreds of kilometers away form a large circle around a makeshift horse pen of the finest breeds in the desert. In the early hours, young boys and girls age 5 to 13 ride out to distances of 15 kilometers and more to begin their cross country race back to the start point. The site of the dust being kicked up signals their arrival in dramatic style.Meanwhile, musicians practice traditional Mongolian songs on the two-string Morin Khuur and the Yangqin, a hammered dulcimer. Young dancers dress in traditional, colorful, deel dress and practice to the sounds that instantly evoke the atmosphere of Asia’s largest desert.Despite impressions, the Gobi has very little sand, just a few percent, though it dunes rises spectacularly at the Khongoryn Els, some 100 kilometers long, 6 to 12 kilometers wide and up to 300 meters high. Instead it is a rain-shadow desert, with exposed bare rock and endless grass plains.During summer, temperatures at midday can hit 50 °C (122 °F), so the festival starts early, and takes a noon break. It’s in these conditions that the wrestlers compete, wearing the distinctive blue zodog, a tight collarless jacket that exposes the chest to ensure that no women take part. Bouts only end when one is forced to touch the ground with anything other than his feet or hands, and the uncontrollable power of the man mountains sometimes run in to the audience. The victor then performs a shamanistic falcon dance, floating around the arena as if in slow motion.All the while, the third sport is narrowing down to its champion. Male and female archers wearing full deel dress shoot four arrows each, aiming at 33 “surs,” small woven cylinder targets, using only wooden bows and arrows. The most playful of the competitions, kids run to repair the knocked-down walls of the surs while supporters surround the archers to see up close their shooting technique. All the while, the several hundred gathered at the Naadam get to taste airag – fermented camel milk.Back at Three Camel Lodge, the festival performers gather once more for a mesmerizing sunset show with the most unreal backdrop of the endless plains. The stage is set amongst the gers that are both homely and historic, built with a lattice wood structure and covered in felt and canvas. Nothing much has changed in their appearance in millennia, back as far as 2,500 years ago. Even Marco Polo recorded its use in the 13th century. Here, through bright decorative wooden doors, the 35 tents sit like pods on the rugged terrain, providing warmth and coziness under the unobscured starry sky.Follow us on Twitter – @Cultravel Read more