Celebrating the Ulaanbaatar Winter Festival

Описание: (13 Feb 2017) LEAD IN:
Hundreds of Mongolians have been celebrating the annual Ulaanbaatar Winter Festival, in temperatures of around -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).
The festival includes winter sports, traditional ethnic performances and a costume contest.

STORY-LINE:
Against an urban backdrop on the banks of the frozen Tuul river, keen participants brave the freezing conditions to compete in winter sports.
This is the annual Ulaanbaatar Winter Festival which draws hundreds of people to celebrate the coldest months of the year.
Archery and ice bowling are the most popular competitions.
Battur Nyambuu is among those taking part in the ice archery. He has practiced most weekends for the last 14 years and looks forward to the winter festival every year.
The 55-year-old engineer shoots arrows at balls lined up on the ice about 40 metres away.
"The biggest difference between shooting in summer and winter is that winter requires a lot more patience," says Nyambuu.
"Recently there was one competition on the river when it was -32 Celsius (-25.6 Fahrenheit) and the wind was very strong. So it was very hard, because everything freezes. It tests your tolerance," he adds.
The festival also includes traditional ethnic performances and dancing, along with a costume contest.
Badamtsetseg Dalantai from Ulaanbaatar spent three days making her outfit, with a design inspired by the Tsaatan (reindeer) people of Mongolia's northwest Khuvsgul province.
"There are many ethnic groups in Mongolia and the Tsaatan (reindeer people) are one of them... Since you don't see the Tsaatan's traditional outfits that often in the city, I decided to wear this costume today," she says.
The traditional woollen costume is paired with reindeer fur boots - an ideal outfit for cold weather and high altitudes.
The festival has been held since 2010 and has become steadily more popular every year, according to Batsukh Davgajamts, Head of Ulaanbaatar City Tourism, who wore a traditional Mongolian deel.
"The aim of this festival is to advertise Mongolian nature, the Mongolian winter, especially Mongolian traditions, games and traditional clothing, in order to increase tourism," Davgajamts says.
Davgajamts invites locals and tourists to join him and his family for milk tea and dried curds in his ger, as a break from the cold.
Mongolian traditions are also embraced with a modern twist. Shijirmaa Dorjnyam – a singer, musician and dancer with the Ulaanbaatar Ensemble – gives a Mongolian traditional folk long-song performance mixed with trance music.
Long-song – a ritual form of expression used at celebrations and festivities – is listed as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.
Dorjnyam combines this with beat-box style elements on a mouth harp, to the cheers of young fans.
"My musical style incorporates beat-box sounds," Dorjnyam says. "I play this with trance music, and they go pretty well together."
Mongolia is keen to preserve its unique culture, and share it with the world.
The high tourist season is summer, but this festival aims to show that these traditions can be enjoyed whatever the weather.

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