Off with the head and... Play Ball! (Buzkashi and Hissar)

It does get the Semi-Nomadic juices flowing. Especially when seeing a dead carcass being dragged, trampled, thrown, tugged and eventually claimed as a prize for a brief moment - This is one the joys to nomadic life. Generally with games there are clear rules but this I don’t know? In a way I am still clueless as to what the point was to this game? Either way it got the crowd going.

Buzkashi is one of the great sports to capture a culture. Rarely played nowadays it only occurs on special days. Being Navrus (Persian calendar New Years), Hissar, 45 minutes from the Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe is one of the best examples left in the world to capture this spectacle.

Days earlier I asked around to make sure all the information is correct - 10am and by the river. I went by taxi after two blocked off buses and security checks. I arrive to a buzz and a large crowd gathering in the hills surrounding the paddock/field. Horses gradually arriving from all corners of the surrounding villages. It felt a bit like a school carnival atmosphere. As I walked towards the crowd I noticed sunflower seeds were being sold by every shopstand. The sound of people chewing and spitting go hand in hand with the sight of the discarded seed either on the ground or flying past your face.

A large horn that would blow out a slightly piercing yet chanting sounds with drum beats in the background. This went on for 20 minutes as the horses started to build up near the small stand for the ‘important people’. Lying just over the fence is a black sheep’s carcass - its head cut off, lying there waiting to participate in the game as ‘ball’.

Buzkashi means ‘grabbing the dead goat’ it’s a mix between polo and rugby. Polo in that the players are on horseback trying to get the ball (but with their hands) and rugby as the game is mainly played in ruck ‘n’ mauls. Said to be dating back to Genghis Khan days it’s suppose to represent courage, wit and strength. Gifts are given to the winners.

I didn’t see the ball get thrown in as an old man went in my way. But the process to prepare the ball is important for the longevity of the ball. The day before the ‘boz’ (ball) has its head cut off, its lower legs removed and soaked in cold water. This is to toughen it up because it’s going to get a beating.



Even with a slight knowledge, it seemed all the hustle and bustle was for an objective that I still find hard to figure out. Even at the end there is an assumption you knew what you were looking at. It is not for the animal rights crew.

The aim is to gain possession and carry it up field and around a post. But you can’t see anything as for most of the game the ball is on the ground under a swarm of horse’s legs. When the jostling for possession finds a gap and a rider has possession he would either start circling the field or head to the corner with his other hand in the air bull riding style - this is where most of the crowd were watching and would create emphatic cheers from the crowd.

Most of the time its guys whipping the horse in either the butt, side or around the face to get closer to the ball. It’s rather a hostile environment, which at times can incorporate the spectators as well. When there is a breakaway but there is no one in full possession there is no care where they are going, they just want possession. That means sometimes the game moves to the crowd causing the crowd to scramble for their lives.

It’s a tug of war on horseback at times and can create many injuries. Most horses wear traditional gear with riders wearing special headgear, which makes them look war like. It is a tough game for not only the players but the horses, who really must feel like they are at war.

By the time the second carcass came out to play - A baby cow - I started walking around to the other side of the paddock. I was still questioning the rules to the game when I then found a large crowd behind the paddock sitting on the hill. They were their watching wrestling on a football pitch slightly softened by the rain a few days earlier. 4 matches at a time and there were no mats.

This was probably what made the day even more special. Being Tajikistan’s national sport (they have won Olympic medals.) It was like being taken back 80 years. Packed crowd on the hills, crowd roaring in that old fashioned cheer. The playing area cordoned off by spectators. One guy with a yellow singlet underneath his blue wrestling Karate style uniform would be mela-dramatic. Every fight he would walk off after and not stay in the rectangle. The crowd loved to hate him. I would say there would have been a crowd in the 4000 mark all up in the day.

Whilst watching I had some plov a local dish of rice, meat, vegetables drenched in fat and oil. I ate this with some really friendly locals. Most of the day I was asked if I was media due to the camera. It was a real country Tajiki crowd rough as guts at times but lovely people.

Throughout the day I needed to go to the toilet. Highly policed and no toilet at Buzkashi I held on till I reached Hissar town. Near the market I went to one of the worst toilets ever. For me to say that after all this time says something. A smell that can only be accepted if you are about to pee yourself (I hadn’t even entered.) As I went in all I saw were concrete slabs aligned side by side about hip height, no doors and all squatters - I see heads bobbing up and down and as I walked to find an available booth all I see are guys of various ages squatting in the middle of a poo. And this is not side on action, this is frontal. That surreal experience will take a while to leave my memory.

A few days earlier I went to the Hissar fort 5km from town. It was eventually after 2 centuries taken over and used as a stronghold for Basmachi that was until it was destroyed by the Red Army. When the Soviet Union became what it was, Central Asia became apart of it. With the Tajik people coming under Russian rule in the 1860s and 1870s. The Red Army was part of the Bolsheviks who took over the Tsar of Russia in the 1917 Revolution. But Russia's hold on Central Asia weakened and for a brief period Tajikistan created problems for the Bolshevik. In Nov 1921 a guy called Envar Pasha would try and set up a pan Turkic state - under the rebel group - Basmachi.

Realising what Pasha was doing on the sly the Bolsheviks sent 100 000 men to what was already in the area to defeat him. Gave tax breaks and lands back to residents to kill off support and it worked. By 4 Aug 1922 he died - how and the location has not been confirmed, just speculation. It was kept under wraps so no nationalist rally could happen. The Basmachi kept going but by 1925 Russia’s control of the Tajik area was fully restored.

Now the fort has a reconstructed entrance and that’s it. The hill has outlines of the fort and its possible to walk along it but that’s about it. Instead you go there for the views of the hills on one side and on the right side the entrance to where the landlord’s room was and a view back to Dushanbe. Really a great sight, especially after the constant days in Dushanbe. I was lucky enough to see a wedding with dancing, music and a cracked windscreen down the middle of the wedding car.

Buzkashi was the reason I started Central Asia in Tajikistan and I came here not to see a carcass get flung around but to capture a life that once was. It’s not a sport that encourages a re-watch and it maybe classed as cruelty to animals eventually when the Animal rights crew get a hold of it. But I did think that if the animal rights crew came here, they would have no chance. This is a tradition that goes back so long. Hopefully even though it is cruel (and I wouldn’t want it to be done to me) we can keep a capsule on how we use to entertain ourselves and for a brief moment enjoy what life once was.

*****In Hissar market, half the workers were under 18. That is a realistic view of this place. It’s 50 years behind, apart from a few modern cons it’s like looking back at a time my dad grew up in.

---

---

---