Inner Mongolian Lion Dance
Inner Mongolian Magshikh
CLICK HERE to see our video demonstrating the different wrestler’s dances.
Mongolian wrestling is an ancient and traditional art with many ritualistic elements. One important element for all styles of Mongolian wrestling is the “Devee” or wrestler’s dance, which can be likened to a “Hakka” performed by New Zealand rugby players before a match in order to inspire fear and show the warriors’ spirit. In Inner Mongolia, one of the Devee is called “Magshikh”, or what most people refer to as the “Lion Dance”. It is the ritualistic dance that is performed by the Bokhchin (wrestlers) of Inner Mongolia as they run out onto the wrestling field in preparation for their next match, and it is also performed as well after the match by both the winner and the loser.
Each style or variation of Mongolian wrestling has its own variation of these dances. For example, there is a dance from Inner Mongolia’s Hulunbuir region called “Kharailtaa”, and rather than a lion dancing, it resembles a deer bounding or prancing. It is often referred to as the “deer prancing” dance of Hulunbuir. Additionally, Khalkha wrestlers of Mongolia (the country) do the “Han Garidiin Develt” or “eagle dance”, which has its own ritualistic procedure, distinct from the other dances of Mongolian people from different regions. Each of these unique dances imitates different animals, and have their roots in Mongolian Shamanism. To see a video of these distinct wrestling Devees, CLICK HERE.
The dance is performed before a match during the “Bokhchin Uliya” or song of the wrestlers as they run out onto the field, and can also be performed after a match by both the winner and the loser of the match in order to show respect. Before the match it serves as a warm up and a way to show your spirit as a warrior and the elegance in your movement. Paired with the Jangga (ribboned necklace worn by decorated wrestlers), the movements of the dance looks like a lion prancing and shaking its mane.
This dance is always performed going north because in Mongolian culture the elders and highest honored guests always sit in the north of the competition. This is the same for the rules of where people sit within a Mongolian ger or “yurt”. The door of the yurt is always facing south so when you enter the yurt, the most respected people will always sit in the northernmost place. These specific cultural rules regarding direction are also applied to the direction in which the wrestlers will perform their lion dance in order to show respect to the honored attendees of the Naadam.
The beautiful Magshih, “Lion Dance”, is an important piece of Inner Mongolian wrestling culture and perhaps one of the first things you have to learn when coming to train Mongolian Bokh in Inner Mongolia. The better you become at wrestling, the more pride you’ll take in showing your spirit and giving respect and tribute to this unique culture.
