Kırkpınar
| Kırkpınar oil wrestling festival | |
|---|---|
Oil wrestling tournament in Istanbul
|
|
| Country | Turkey |
| Reference | 386 |
| Region | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2010 (5th session) |
Kırkpınar is a Turkish oil-wrestling (Turkish: yağlı güreş) tournament. It is held annually, usually in late June, near Edirne, Turkey since 1346.
Before each bout, the wrestlers pour olive oil over their entire bodies, and the matches take place in an open, grassy field, with the contestants naked except for trousers made of leather, which extend to just below the knee. Victory is achieved when one wrestler either pins the other to the ground (as in many other forms of wrestling) or lifts his opponent above his shoulders.
It now holds a Guinness World Record for the longest running sports competition.
The history of oil wrestling links back to 2650 BC with evidence from Ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other regions in the Middle East. The Babylonian body of evidence, a tiny bronze, was excavated near the Chafadji-temple. The bronze clearly concerns oil wrestlers as both athletes are depicted with olive vessels on their head.
The oldest known proof of the existence of oil-wrestling in Ancient Egypt is found in limestone from the tomb of Ptahhoteb near Saqqara from the fifth dynasty (about 2650 BC) from the same period as the Chafadji-bronze.
Another appealing proof is about 4000 years old and painted like a cartoon in a tomb near Beni Hasan in Egypt. The deceased, who occupied this tomb, is assumed to have been a famous oil-wrestler in his time. In the first picture, the greasing of the wrestler and the oil stored in a reed stem is seen. In the second picture the wrestling starts. The last picture down shows the three step triumph of oiled wrestling, which is unchanged to this day. From this the basic rules of the sport can be traced.
Centuries later, the Persian Empire conquered Egypt, and the Persian shah occupied the throne of the Pharaoh's. It was during this period that oil wrestling began in Iran.
The history of the oil-wrestling tournaments as they are known today links back to the Persian Mythical Era, which, according to Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, started 1065 BC. The legendary pehlivan of this era is called Rostam, a hero depicted to constantly save his country from evil forces.
...
Wikipedia