ULAANBAATAR (UCAN) -- Church attendance dipped between July 11 and 13, as most people in the capital headed for the countryside or, if not, visited the local sports stadium or racetracks.

Little girl riders in yellow rider's vests pose with there grandmother after they rode 23 kilometers in a naadam horse race.

About 45 of the regular 70 Massgoers were at St. Mary's Parish in Ulaanbaatar on Sunday July 13. They giggled when Father Stephen Kim announced that his horse, 4-year-old Emmanuel, placed 53rd in one of the horse races during Naadam (summer games), the most important annual festival in Mongolia.A local farmer named Khalgai had presented the horse to the parish priest as a gift. "Presenting a racehorse is one way Mongolians express their deep respect and appreciation," Father Kim told UCA News. "The horse usually stays with the presenter's herd, but officially it belongs to the one to whom it was presented," he added.

Khalgai, who like most Mongolians uses just one name, enrolled Father Kim's horse for the Naadam races, a very special occasion for Mongolians. Horse races during Naadam are highlights of the Mongolian national festival held every July 11-13 to commemorate the 1921 People's Revolution and the anniversary of the Mongolian state, the 802nd anniversary this year.

Mongolians have celebrated what is known locally as the festival of the "three manly games" -- archery, horse-racing, wrestling -- for more than 800 years, according to historical records.

Children as young as 4 years old ride horses across the Mongolian grassland for 10 to 28 kilometers, the distances depending on the horses' age. Usually 200 or more horses compete in each race. These races do not involve betting or formal prizes, just appreciation for the best breeders and horses. Mongolia is a largely agrarian society, with close to half of the country's 2.5 million people involved in herding livestock.

Although the number of Massgoers dipped on the Sunday during the games, many who went had made it their priority in a country where the Catholic Church is just 16 years old with only 520 baptized Catholics.

"We bought our sons new clothes and made the usual favorite food, huushuur (fried meat dumplings), then went to church on Sunday. I play (liturgical) music and my elder son is an altar boy, so we never miss Sunday Mass," Maral said.

Instead, he and his family watched the races on television. "My children are quite young, and it would have been dangerous to take them to the races," he told UCA News.

Rubbing a race horse down after the race.

Anar, 12, said he enjoyed this Naadam because his father took the family out of the city to the riverside or to the mountains during the festival.

"We made fried dumplings and went away for the day to a nice place, climbed the mountains and collected rhubarb. My mom made rhubarb pie in the evening," he recounted. The boy added that most of the time his father is too busy or tired to bring the family out. "On Sunday we went to church too, because our mother is very serious about it," he continued. "She says it is the most important event of the week, so she never allows us to miss Sunday Mass."

Enhee, another young parishioner who attended Mass that Sunday, said he was still able to hang out with friends and visit sites in the capital during Naadam. "My friends and I went to the stadium to see the opening ceremony. It is getting more and more spectacular every year," Enhee commented.

"Horsemen dressed up as warriors from the middle ages bring in the nine white banners made of yak tails, and parade around the stadium," he said. "The white banners mean peace and it is very meaningful for every Mongolian. In wartime they use black banners. The white ones signal it is a time for enjoyment and fun."

About half of Mongolia's people are Buddhists, while another 40 percent have no official religious affiliation. Shamanists and Muslims each account for about 4 percent of the population, and 2 percent are Christians. Catholic missioners arrived in Mongolia in July 1992 at the invitation of the government, three months after it established diplomatic ties with the Holy See.

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