Traditional Sports

The sports in this section are largely variations of wrestling (aba wrestling, grease wrestling), horse race, jereed, camel wrestling, bullfighting, cockfighting, hunting etc.

Jereed was very popular all over Anatolia 50-60 years ago, although today it is only seen in some parts of the Kars- Erzurum region and in the Aegean. The great interest felt by Turkish people in horse rising, and their considerable success at it, turned first into an entertainment and later into a sport. The jereed was a kind of a javelin game played either on horse or on foot, although today it appears as a cudgel. The mounted variation is played with two teams, each consisting of ten people. Riders throw the jereed while approaching each other at the gallop. Avoiding the jereed, and particularly catching it in mid-air, earns a score. When or how to throw the jereed is pre-determined. The game is played by men, and generally performed at weddings, on special days or at fairs.