| Yağlı
Güreş: Grease Wrestling is the Turkish national
sport and every year, in July, wrestling championships are
held in Kırkpınar, outside Edirne. The contest is made
more difficult by the fact that the wrestlers smear
themselves with oil.
|
Allah Allah
illalah
May we prosper
Our patron is Hamza the
wrestler
Our ancestors were wrestlers
Two valiant men
take the field
One blond one dark
Both seek the prize
Do
not despair when down
Do not boast when uppermost
When
above do not let go
Meet leg trip with leg trip
Send a
prayer to Muhammed
I hastened to the spring
May God be
with both of you.
|
 |
|
For
630 years the celebrated Kırkpınar oil wrestling
tournament has commenced with this chant. The master
of the festival, known as the
cazgir, recites a prayer for the wrestlers. Then the drums
zurna (a wind instrument with a double reed) begin to play,
hundreds of wrestlers bow in salute, and the first
pairs lock in combat on the green meadow.
There are several versions of the story about how
the Kırkpınar wrestling tournament began, the best
known relating how Sultan Murad I’s general Süleyman
Paşa crossed the Dardanelles with a vanguard of
forty warriors on two rafts, and commenced the march
through Thrace. At every halt the men engaged in
wrestling bouts as a way of forgetting the hardships
of the journey. One day when they reached a meadow
at Ahırköy near Edirne they began wrestling as
usual. As the sun set only two wrestlers remained,
neither able to inflict defeat on the other. They
continued to wrestle into the night until finally
both collapsed and died of exhaustion. They were
buried where they fell, and the next day a spring of
crystal clear water appeared on the spot.
|
|
|
This meadow was
there after known as Kırkpınar or the Forty Springs
in memory of the first Turkish warriors to set foot on
European soil.
The historian Osman Nuri Peremeci
writes in his History of Edirne that a Wrestlers Lodge was
established in Edirne soon afterwards, and that here the local wrestlers
held matches twice a week during the winter. But in summer, they wrestled
outdoors in the flat meadows near the city.
During the spring festival of Hıdırellez a three day tournament was held
on the meadow of Kırkpınar, which is situated today near the village of
Samona over the frontier in Greece. Famous wrestlers from all over the
Ottoman lands would gather here for the event, and the Wrestlers Lodge
would provide food and accommodation for the contestants. Today the
Kırkpınar Grease Wrestling Tournament is still held annually at Sarayiçi
in Edirne.
|
 |
|
The
17th. century writer Evliya Çelebi’s
description of the tournament in his Travels
begins:
One hundred to one hundred and fifty pairs of wrestlers gird their
leather trousers and fifty pairs of wrestlers gird their leather
trousers and grease themselves with yellow butter. Then legs a straddle
like human dragons they grasp one another with the strength of lions and
display their skills to the spectators.
|
|
|
|
Today, hundreds of wrestlers from all over Turkey
who have been preparing for the tournament over the previous year, pour
into Edirne for this festive event. Just as they have been for centuries,
makeshift restaurants, coffe houses, stalls and funfairs are set up
Sarayiçi.
The mood at the wrestling field itself is one of intense
excitement.
Wrestlers wearing the traditional tight pants made of calf or goat’s
leather grease their bodies not with the butter of yesteryear, but with
olive oil poured in ewers from huge cauldrons. The event begins with the ceremonial auction of a ram to the highest
bidder, who becomes the master of that year’s tournament. After the
opening prayer, the loud rhythmic sound of drums and zurnas breaks out and
the wrestling commences. The monotonous music is exhilarating, and the
spectators begin to identify with the losers and sharing the thrill of
victory with the winners. The scene takes on a dreamlike unreality, all
other sounds eliminated by the relentless beat of the music. For three
days the wrestling field is never empty. If enthusiasm shows any sign of
waning the musicians switch to a faster rhythm.
The eleven classes of grease wrestling run from the
lowest known as teşvik (encouragement) up to the highest known as
baş güreşler (head wrestling). All the wrestlers struggling to come
first in their class also aspire to become one of the başpehlivan,
or master wrestlers.
The matches between the başpehlivan take place on the last
day, when
excitement soars to a climax as the losers are eliminated, finally leawing
the last two contestants alone on the field to wrestle for the gold belt.
The championship fight may last many hours.
|
|
