Mongolia’s festival highlights nomad equestrian prowess, competitions

Altay Nomad Games 2019

Bayan-Ulgii: The Altay Nomad Games-2019 festival is to take place in Altay, Bayan-Ulgii, the westernmost of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia, on September 20-21.

Organized by the Eagle Hunters’ Association of Altay for the third year, over 40 eagle hunters of Altay, Sagsai and Tolbo will be participating in the festival, competing in how well they trained their eagles, Mongolian news agency MONTSAME reported.

During the festival, contests for horseback archery and horse racing amid expectations by organizers that 100 horses would join in the competition.

The festival will also feature traditional equestrian games such as kiz kuar (a young woman chases a young man on horseback) and tenge ilu (a rider must pick up coins from the ground at full gallop).

The games aim to preserve and celebrate nomadic traditions, organizers said.