THE POWER OF BODY AND SPIRIT

Little boys are playing leapfrog in the town square at sunset, shattering the early evening calm with their noise, whooping and screaming... You can never tell what year it is out there because this picture does not change: children playing against the background of the old stone walls.

As with all of our history, Azerbaijan's sports traditions are rooted in antiquity. Many of them are still in place - some intact, others slightly changed.

Gulas wrestling

Gulas is popular sport wrestling that has been practiced in Azerbaijan since ancient times. It is held in specially designed areas called zorxanas. A zorxana is a kind of sports arena that takes its name from two words of Persian origin: "zor", which means strength, and "xana", meaning the house, hence the house of strength. The first mention of zorxanas dates back to the Safavid era (15th-16th century). Pahlavans, as gulas wrestlers are called, were held in high esteem and honour at that time, and their heads, pahlavanbasis, ranged among prominent public officials.

Pahlavans also competed using special implements such as zorxana milis, maces, shields, weights and yekbargirs. They would exercise before the competition to the accompaniment of folk musical instruments, apparently, to draw inspiration. This was followed by sessions with heavy implements to train agility and endurance, and only then pahlavans faced each other in a wrestling bout.

Pahlavans and strongmen were of great importance to society because in the case of incursions or skirmishes between villages or an attack of aliens, pahlavans were at the forefront of the defence of their compatriots.

Stepping onto the carpet, wrestlers were obliged to greet each other and then take part in what was called "meydan gazmak" - a ritual dance, which consisted in walking about the arena with light, dancing moves to music. Then, after the judge's signal, a handshake and hitting each other thrice shoulder to shoulder, athletes would begin their bout to the sounds of the nagara [drum] and zurna [wind instrument].

A long time ago, wrestlers used to wear pieces of mirror on their knees which served as indicators: if a fighter broke them up in falling to his knees, he was considered to be defeated. Now the rules of gulas have been adapted to conventional, modern regulations, and the score is kept by points awarded. It should be noted that gulas goes beyond a mere sporting event - it is also a show and a form of art. Artistry and plasticity demonstrated by pahlavans made gulas an indispensable attribute of holidays and folk festivals, as well as part of the cultural heritage. After all, the pahlavan is a permanent hero of epics and folktales.

Covqan and other games

Ancient people spent most of their time riding on horsebacks. Their life, its various stages and significant events were so closely associated with horse riding that this practice was extended to cover many types of events and sports activities related to horses. Importantly, not only boys but also girls were taking an active part in such events, struggling, competing and fencing on equal footing with men. In addition to horse racing, there were other popular competitions such as horseback wrestling, "qilinc sallama", "yambaqapma", "covqan" and "buzqasi".

Today, covqan is an equestrian team game included in the list of national sports. In general, it is considered to be the ancestor of the modern polo game played on specially trained horses. Covqan is the game favoured by the upper class and aristocracy; members of the Shah's family often took interest in it, too. The rules of the game are not complicated: participants are divided into two teams that try to drive the ball into the opponent's goal using their mallets.

Other popular equestrian games include "papag-oyunu", "sur-papag" and "qiz-qov".

In "qiz-qov", literally "a girl chasing", the artistic aspect of the game is just as important as the sport skills of participants. A young man on horseback and his female opponent, also mounted, take their respective positions on a racetrack, with the young woman having a head-start of some 12-15 metres. The entire distance of the racetrack does not exceed 400 metres. The young man is to catch up with the young woman, in which case he is allowed to hug and kiss her at full gallop. But on the way back the rules change: now she is to catch up with the young man, and if she does, she can award him - not with a kiss, but with hefty blows of a heavy whip, and the more liberties he allowed himself at the first stage of the competition, the harder she tries. The young man makes every effort to dodge the blows, hanging to the one, then to the other side of the saddle and accompanying all this with pleas for mercy, which is an additional entertainment for spectators.

"Papag-oyunu" is a rather comic game, in which each of the five horse riders including one horsewoman seeks to snatch off, at full tilt, a papag [sheepskin hat] from the head of their opponents, while making sure that their own hat would not be snatched off. The woman's hat must not be removed, at that. The holder of the greatest number of hats is declared the winner in this short game.

"Sur-papag" is a kind of basketball on horseback. A hat, or a fur-covered ball that performs its role, is to be thrown into hoops mounted on poles. The team that scores a greater number of successful shots into their opponents' hoop wins the game. The game is complicated by a condition that a player is disallowed to get off the horse in order to pick up the hat which fell on the ground.

Intellectual games

Many sports are games in fact. One of them is "diradoyma", which is more often played by children and teenagers, mostly during the holiday of Novruz. According to the rules of the game, children are divided into two teams, draw a circle on the ground and have a toss-up. Based on the results, one of the teams takes its position inside the circle, the other outside it. Each player inside the circle puts a belt under his foot. Those outside the circle try to snatch at belts, while those inside the circle are kicking with their feet to prevent this.

Caravans travelling the Silk Road transported not only goods, spices and foods but also spiritual values including traditions, cultural customs, etc. This is how the game of "qalaqapi", better known as "Go", came from the East - Japan and China - and spread in Azerbaijan. Instead of conventional white and black stones, Azerbaijanis used white and black sultana raisins to play the game; hence it is sometimes called "kismis oyunu" ["game of raisins"]. In contrast to many other sports, both professional and amateur contestants can vie with each other in qalaqapi competitions. A qalaqapi player who has acquired the highest skill is called "ustad", a teacher. There is also a rank of "talib", a pupil, and "usta", a master. The game is played by two players, one of which receives black stones and the other white stones. The objective is to have surrounded a larger total area of the board with one's stones than the opponent.

On the whole, qalaqapi was widespread throughout Azerbaijan - in Tabriz, Saki, Derbent, Naxcivan, Ardabil and Susa [Karabakh]. There were many players of this game, mostly from among intellectuals, at the beginning of the last century. However, there is evidence that the game became very popular with ordinary people as well. In addition to being an intellectual board game, qalaqapi is also a philosophy that reflects the mind set and lifestyle of the players.

Backgammon, or "nard" in Azeri, which is known worldwide, is on the list of the national sports, too. In addition, chess was also widespread in Azerbaijan. In the 12th century, when the level of cultural development was high and science and the arts flourished, chess was one of the favourite forms of entertainment in the palaces of Shahs. Famous Azerbaijani poetess Mahsati Gancavi was so skilful a chess player that records of her games have survived to these days. Travelling through the Caucasus, Alexandre Dumas played chess with poetess Xursudbanu Natavan, the Karabakh khan's daughter, and was impressed with her performance.

The above shows that we had not only active games involving physical activity and training but also intellectual board games. This suggests that the ancient sports traditions aimed at developing and maintaining good health of both the body and the spirit.