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Kirkpinar olive oil
wrestling festival, Edirne, Turkey.
Wrestling has always been a popular sport in the Mediterranean world,
especially with the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. But Turkish
wrestling has an interesting history all its own. The tournament
called "kirkpinar" begins almost 700 years ago. There is legend that
forty soldiers who had just captured some towns decided to make camp.
But they were too excited from their conquests to relax, so they
decided to wrestle. Two of them wrestled for a very long time, but
neither could win. Rather than calling it a draw (saying it's a tie),
they kept wrestling and wrestling. The others, tired from the
wrestling and warfare, went to bed. At sunrise when the spectators (people
who watched) came back to see how the match had ended, they found the
two wrestlers standing upright in a deadly embrace (hug). Rather than
giving up, they had died in competition.
Their bereaved (sad, mournful) friends buried them under a fig tree.
Visitors to their graves discovered a spring of water coming from
between the two tombstones and called it Kirk Pinar, meaning "The
Spring of the Forty." Over time this site became known as a center for
wrestling as a tribute to (a way to honor) the two wrestlers who
didn't give up.
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Traditional Turkish Wrestling is shown in the Turkish miniature
painting at the right. Suleyman Han is shown watching traditional
wrestling about 1500 A.D.
Note the black leather pants that are worn. Wrestling is still popular
today, and the wrestlers wear the same style of leather pants.
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Olive oil is poured onto the wrestlers now because it makes them
slippery and harder to pin. Turks believed that it leveled the playing
field (made everyone equal) and caused each pair to wrestle longer, in
the spirit of the original match.
Modern oil wrestling (called kirkpinar, or yagli gures) is very
popular in Turkey. It is the national sport and a tournament (sports
contest) is held every July. Competition is divided into categories by
weight. After three days, the champions are chosen.
Wrestlers wear leather pants just like those shown in the miniature
painting above, and cover themselves with olive oil before the matches.
Referees decide the winners.
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