Yesterday morning, I woke up looking forward to having a quiet day of reading, writing, and enjoying coffee as a solid start to the weekend, which is on Thursday and Friday here, but instead, I rushed to get ready for a rather unique experience. My neighbor called just after we woke up and asked if I'd like to join him and a few others at a "Buzkashi" tournament. I'd heard of this sport a few years ago when writing a paper on the Pashtuns, but never imagined I'd have the opportunity to actually see it in person. So, of course, I went.
We traveled about 30 minutes to Balkh City, which is one of the oldest cities in the world and a home place of Zoroaster (father of Zoroastrianism). I will write another post about this city in the future. From there we traveled to Dalatabad, where we had lunch in a small restaurant with a Pashto friend. The restaurant was of typical Afghan style. You walk through a sort of rug-curtain, remove your shoes and step onto a platform where men (and men only) sit lining the walls to eat. (I've never been surrounded by so many large beards, and truly, wish they could come to the Whiskerino Festival in Nashville. I'm quite sure they would all be top contestants.)
We all had to wear Shalwar Qamiz to try to blend in, which I'm sure was laughable, but at least we were warm and comfortable. We drove to the Buzkashi field on a long, bumpy dirt road. Our Pashto friend put us in a place of honor, on the front row with our feet dangling from the seats. This meant we had to raise our legs when the riders would come by to make sure we didn't have our legs crushed. He also took us to meet riders and get on one of the horses; word has it that our friend was quite the player in his day. I wish we could've seen him. We were so close I even had a horse bite my shoe in the midst of all the excitement.
I'll mainly let the videos and pictures speak for themselves, but here's how it works. "Buzkashi" literally means-- "goat dragging" in the Tajik language. It is the national sport of Afghanistan, but it was banned during Taliban times. Buzkashi players ride various horses-- of which I was surprised to see, not only Quarters and Arabians, but some draft breeds as well. The players wear long, thick robe-like garb, a hat, and tall leather boots. The field is a few hundred meters long with a flag at one end and a circular goal area at the other. The stadium is set up with the circular end as the hot spot near the seats, and the flag is at the opposite end of the field from spectators.
The game begins with a headless goat (or calf) in the circle. The referee and/or announcer blows a whistle to begin the game. The riders charge in for the goat and lean all the way to the ground to grab it. This is quite challenging when riders are rearing up and using short leather whips to ward off other horses or players. Its quite difficult to see what's going on even if they're right in front of you. Once the goat is off the ground, the rider will try to break free of other players to round the flag and come back to drop the goat in the circle. Winning riders gain honor, and they get a money prize, which usually starts low and grows until the game is over. There are various types of Buzkashi, but in the game we watched, there were no teams. It was every man for himself and there were probably a hundred horses on the field. Hard core.
Cheers to a Happy New Year!
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