Yagli gures Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Yagli Gures, or properly, Yağlı Güreş, is the Turkish national sport. It is commonly known as Oil Wrestling (sometimes as Grease Wrestling) because the wrestlers douse themselves with olive oil. The wrestlers are known as pehlivan, meaning hero, and wear a type of hand-stitched lederhosen called kisbet (sometimes kispet), which were traditionally made of water buffalo hide, but now also of calf leather.Unlike Olympic Wrestling, Oil Wrestling matches may be won by achieving an effective hold of the kisbet. Thus, the pehlivan aims to control his opponent by putting his arm through the latter's kisbet. To win by this move is called pacha kazik. Originally, matches had no set duration and could go on for one or two days, until one man was able to establish superiority, but in 1975 the duration was capped at 40 minutes for the baspehlivan and 30 minutes for the pehlivan category. If no winner is determined, another 15 minutes - 10 minutes for the pehlivan category - of wrestling ensues, wherein scores are kept to determine the victor.
The earliest depictions of wrestling are found in the Beni Hasan Temple in Egypt. The sport of Oil Wrestling dates back to 2650 BC in Egypt and Assyria. In the Ottoman Empire, wrestlers learned the art in special schools called tekke, which were not merely athletic centres, but also spiritual centres, similar to those attended by the Japanese Sumo wrestlers, where it was taught that man is not just matter, but also spirit. Since competition without the harmony of matter and spirit would be detrimental to the development of good character, wrestlers oil one another prior to matches as a demonstration of balance and mutual respect. Equally, if a younger man should defeat an older man, he kisses the latter's hand. Wrestling was introduced to the Turks by the neighbouring Iranians, who call it Pahlavani, who in turn received it from India, where it is known by many names, among them, Pehalwani.
Matches are held all over Turkey throughout the year, but in early summer the wrestlers gather in Kirkpinar for the annual 3-day wrestling tournament to determine who will be the baspehlivan (chief hero) of Turkey. Every year, around 1000 wrestlers attend the tournament. Ottoman chroniclers and writers attest that the Kirkpinar Games have been held every year since 1362, making them the world's oldest continually sanctioned sporting competition. Only about 70 times were the Games cancelled. The matches have been held there since 1924, where they were moved after the Balkan War. The original site had been some 35 kilometres distant.
Kirkpinar, on the outskirts of Edirne (the second capital of the Ottoman Empire until the fall of Constantinople in 1453), was once the site of the summer hunting palace of the Ottoman Sultan.
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