Golden Eagle Festival

The Golden Eagle Festival (Mongolian: Бүргэдийн баяр, Kazakh: Бүркіт той) is an exciting yearly celebration held in Bayan-Ölgii Province, Mongolia. It is organized by the Mongolian Eagle Hunter's Association to honor the traditions of Kazakh eagle hunters (bürkitshi), who train and use golden eagles for hunting. During the festival, people show off their skills with their eagles, wear beautiful traditional clothes, and ride horses.

There are fun competitions, like seeing whose eagle can catch prey best, whose eagle listens best to its handler, and who looks the nicest in old-fashioned outfits. Other activities include horse racing, archery, and a game called bushkashi, where people on horses pull a goatskin.

The festival became well-known around the world after the 2016 documentary The Eagle Huntress. The movie followed a young girl named Aisholpan, who was the first girl to win in the competition. Some people have talked about how tourism might be changing the old ways of eagle hunting.

There is also a smaller event called the Sagsai Golden Eagle Festival, held each September in a nearby place called Uujim. It has about 40 participants and is very popular with photographers and journalists.