Buzkaschi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Buzkaschi in Mazar-e Sharif , Afghanistan
Buzkaschi in Afghanistan

Buzkaschi ( Persian بزکشی, DMG buzkašī , from buz , “goat” and kaschi , “take out”, ie “grab a goat”) is a traditional equestrian game in Afghanistan and other Persian and Turkic-speaking parts of Central Asia . In Kyrgyzstan it is a national sport and, like in Kazakhstan , Tajikistan and Uzbekistan , it is called Kok-boru or Ulak Tartish .

The game is played by 20 and more players, and games with more than 1000 participants have already taken place. At the beginning of the game, a dead goat , sometimes also a dead calf , is placed on the playing field, which is usually just a large piece of open steppe , which must be picked up at a gallop and placed before the judge. Everyone is played against everyone, which makes the game very unpredictable. Everything is allowed to get to the goat.

If you succeeded in getting the goat, in the next moment you will almost certainly be the center of a dense rider group who sweeps across the steppe at full gallop and whose only goal is to prevent the current owner of the goat from going to the Judge to arrive. The game can take a long time - up to a few days - due to the large number of riders. Since the game is very tough and even the use of the riding crop is permitted, players usually wear thick protective clothing and head protection. Such protection is not mandatory.

Winning a buzkaschi is associated with high social prestige and can also mean a high price - often a valuable horse.

The Uyghur Diaoyu competition in Maralbexi (chin. Bachu ) district of the Kashgar administrative district in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China is on the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China (2nd list, 816, VI-44).

At the request of Kyrgyzstan, UNESCO added the equestrian game to the list of the world 's intangible cultural heritage in 2017 .

In popular culture, the competition appeared in the 1988 action film Rambo III .

literature

  • G. Whitney Azoy: Buzkashi - Game and power in Afghanistan , Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, Ill. 2003, ISBN 1-577-66238-5
  • Mahendra Ved: Afghan Buzkashi - Power games and gamesmen , Wordsmiths, Delhi 2000, ISBN 81-8741201-1
  • Hanne Mörmann, Erich Plöger: Buskaschi in Afghanistan , CJ Bucher, Lucerne and Frankfurt / M. 1978, ISBN 3-7658-0267-0
  • Roland and Sabrina Michaud: Bozkashi-Reiter in Afghanistan , Blanckenstein, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-926678-05-4

Web links

Commons : Buzkaschi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ HB Paksoy: The traditional Oglak Tartis among the Kirghiz of the Pamirs. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1985 (excerpt)
  2. ↑ Wéiwú'ěrzú diāoyáng 维吾尔族 叼羊 ( Photo ( Memento from July 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ))
  3. ↑ UNESCO: Kok Boru. Accessed August 5, 2020 (English).