Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival
Long regarded as Turkey’s national sport, oil wrestling has been practiced since ancient times. It’s a bizarrely captivating sight, as bare-chested participants, clothed only in a pair of kispet — wrestling tights that resemble lederhosen made from water buffalo hide — slather themselves in olive oil and attempt to wrestle each other to the ground. The hottest ticket of the wrestling season is the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival in Edirne, which, with a history dating back to 1392, is regarded as the oldest wrestling contest in the world and has even been placed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage list.
Typically held in late June or July, the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival takes place over three days, with participants competing for the coveted 14-carat Kirkpinar Golden Belt and huge crowds of all ages turning out to cheer them on. The small town of Edirne — an easy day trip from Istanbul at around 2.5 hours away by bus — is overrun with visitors during the festival, and the atmosphere is electric, with traditional Ottoman bands and drummers, plenty of food and drink stalls, and carnival-style entertainment keeping the audience amused between bouts.
The event itself kicks off with a grand opening ceremony led by the Kirkpinar Aga, the festival’s patron, with a parade of the golden belt through the city, pre-festival prayer in Edirne’s Selimiye Mosque and dramatic procession of marching bands. The bands’ rhythmic music also accompanies the wrestling matches, which take place in the town’s stadium and start off with the ritualistic greasing of the pehlivans (wrestlers) and a bowed greeting. There’s a cap of 40 minutes on each bout, and hundreds of pehlivans take part, with matches classed by height and ability, not by weight, and competitors as young as 12 and from all religious and ethnic backgrounds taking part. The festivities come to a close with the crowning of the overall winner – or Chief Pehlivan – on the final day, after which the celebrations continue long into the evening hours.
Discover more things to do in Edirne
- Contributed by Zoe Smith
Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival in Edirne from Istanbul Things to Do
