Tsagaan Sar Alternative meaning: The Mongolian Lunar New Year or the White Moon Festival The Mongolian Tsagaan Sar (English: White Moon) festival of the lunar New Year, is often celebrated around the same time as the Chinese New Year. However, Mongolians generally deny any Chinese origin or influence, so the celebration is sometimes referred to as the Mongolian New Year or Asian New Year when translated into English.

The White Moon holiday is celebrated two months after the first new moon following the winter solstice. In 2007, White Moon falls on Feb. 20. After Naadam, Tsagaan Sar is the second-most important Mongolian holiday.

Naadam (HaagaM) is the national festival of Mongolia held from July 11th to 13th. The festival is also called "Eriin Gurvan Naadam," meaning "men's three variety of games." The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery, and are the only ones that are held throughout the country. However, now women also participate in two of the 'three manly games' via. archery and horse-racing.

The main festival is held in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, although other cities and towns across Mongolia have their own, smaller scale Naadam celebrations. It begins with an elaborately produced ceremony featuring dancers, athletes, horseriders, and musicians. After the ceremony, the competitions begin. 512 wrestlers meet in a single-elimination tournament that lasts nine rounds. Mongolian traditional wrestling is an untimed competition in which wrestlers lose if they touch the ground. In dress and style, it resembles the Japanese sumo.