While the Spanish have bullfights, and the Italians
cockfights, and the English go hunting with hounds, the Turks have
camel wrestling. Camel wrestling is now mostly restricted to the Aegean
region though it was once more widespread in Anatolia. In the winter
you will see elaborately saddled camels being paraded through the
villages with the owner extolling just how his camel is going to make
mince-meat of anyone rash enough to challenge his beast. The camels
are all fully grown bulls specially fed to increase their bulk further,
and the sight of them wrestling one another would seem to promise
some spectacular action.
In reality it doesn't happen and camel wrestling is more akin to
comedy than to blood-sport. Bull camels normally wrestle and butt
one another in a knock-out contest for precedence in a herd, and
more importantly, precedence in mating. In the arena two bulls are
led out and then a young cow is paraded around to get them excited.
It's very easy to know when a bull is excited as streams of viscous
milky saliva issue from his mouth and nostrils. Mostly the two bulls
will half-heartedly butt each other and lean on the other until
one of them gives in and runs away. This is the really exciting
bit as the bull will often charge off towards the crowd, with the
conquering bull in pursuit, and the spectators must scramble hurriedly
out of the way. The antics of spectators trying to avoid a thousand
kilograms (nearly a ton) of camel running towards them can lead
to pure comedy and is the best part of camel wrestling. Miraculously
there are few accidents. Occasionally two bulls will get down to
it and actually try to wrestle one another, feinting in here and
there, eventually locking a fore-leg inside the leg of the opposition
and leaning on him to topple him over in a dromedary's version of
a wrestling fall and pin.
The sport is a declining one as the cost of keeping, feeding and
training a camel solely for competition doesn't come cheaply, and
only a rich man can afford to do it. Large bets are wagered by owners
and spectators alike, though how you tell just which camel won can
be difficult to determine. What happens when they both run away?
- it happens. It's worth going once just to see and it's quite nice
to know that there isn't a lot of blood and gore involved in the
sport, it's really quite gentle.
Today there is a camel wrestling league in the Aegean region. You
can watch the show around Mugla and in Selcuk, nearby Ephesus.
