Tajikistan - 2017

Today’s experience was one of the reasons I wanted to visit Tajikistan in early spring, which coincides with Navruz, the Persian New Year.  Each year at this time, one of the world’s most spectacular events occurs – buzkashi – a cultural sporting event that is also known as dead goat polo.

The literal meaning of ‘buzkashi’ is ‘goat pulling.  It is a traditional Central Asian sport that involves horse-mounted riders competing to be the first to drag a headless goat carcass between two markers, such as small mounds of earth, or as we saw today, between two pairs of tyres laid out at opposite ends of a large flat field.  The game is not restricted to the field, however, and the competition often intrudes into the spectator area – potentially dangerous if you can imagine about 150 horses all stampeding into a crowd of onlookers.

The goat carcass (with a few spares) is prepared the day before the event.  It is heavy (being the weight of goat minus its head), and dragging is done by leaning over while riding the horse and grabbing the carcass by its legs using a small hand-held noose.  Apparently they used to use small calves for the competition, but as the carcasses came apart too easily during the competition, goats were substituted and have been used now for quite a while.

Buzkashi was banned for many years because the President thought it competed against his narrative of a modern, forward-looking nation.  However, his son likes buzkashi, so it was re-introduced a few years ago, but only in remote areas.  The location of buzkashi varies each year, and it has gradually been approaching the capital each year.  It is never held in Dushanbe for security reasons, however, and this year the event was held in a rural area named Luchob to the north-east of Dushanbe (latitude 38°41'16"N, longitude  68°41'10"E).  The location is determined after rich men compete with other to host the event by offering prizes, which typically include cars (this year, three cars were prizes), goats, camels, carpets, DVD players, and so on.  The site is chosen according to who offers the best array of prizes.  The venue is always on a flat area of government land with steep slopes beside it for the spectators to use.  Our drive to Luchob took about 45 minutes; last year’s buzkashi was about four hour’s drive away from the capital.

Between 150 and 200 horses were on the field today, with competitors coming from all parts of Tajikistan, as well as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.  There are no formal teams, and each rider is competing as an individual for the prizes, which are won each time a rider gets the goat carcass between the ‘posts’ (tyres).  There were about 1,000 spectators, all of whom were local people apart from our group of a dozen visitors.  There were no women; it is the custom for local Tajik women not to attend buzkashi as they are apparently not interested.

The riders wear Russian tank helmets, mostly left over from the war with Afghanistan.  The only other protection is some bandages wrapped around riders’ legs to provide some padding.  There are no rules apart from a prohibition on hitting other riders or the horses with their whips.

We arrived in Luchob at about 9:45am.  It was immediately apparent that the setting was stunning, being a small alluvial flat beside the river with steep slopes on each side.  We had to cross the swirling waters of the river on wet boards that were only a few centimetres above the fast moving waters of the river, and after doing so, we had quite a bit of time to watch the preparations for the competition which began at 11:00am.

There were types of play.  Some of the time was spent with half a dozen or so riders on horses engaged in furious actions to be the one to grab the

carcass, surrounded by other riders trying to get into the inner circle while more than a hundred others who were nowhere near the middle sat on their horses waiting for the outcome.  The other style of play occurred when one rider managed to grab the carcass and break out of the huddle, at which point every rider on the field chased that rider in the hope of grabbing the carcass away from the holder.  This was the animated stage of play as over a hundred horses rode at full speed across the field towards the markers – and also the most dangerous as the riders seldom stopped at the periphery of the field.  After passing between the two tyres, the victor dropped the carcass and rode off to collect his prize, while the other riders reverted to the first style of play in an attempt to get the carcass.  Once the carcass was grabbed, the game usually returned at speed back onto the field.

Buzkashi is known for being extremely dusty.  That wasn’t an issue today, as mud rather than dust was the challenge.  We had rain overnight last night, and the already muddy field quickly turned into a quagmire as the horses’ hooves churned up the field.  This made the goat carcass both slippery and difficult to see and it was covered in slippery, slimy mud.

For much of the day, there was a delightful if smoky aroma from several small stalls that were erected to cook sticks of shashlik (lamb kebabs).  There was more than enough room for the spectators; the slopes could easily have handled at least 20 times more people.  Spectators do not pay to attend buzkashi, but access is difficult because there is no public transport available.  Everyone who attends comes on foot, in a car or on horseback.  The only who pay are the riders, who pay a small entry fee, and the annual sponsors who must cover the cost of the prizes.  It is probably fortunate that the grand prize – the car – was a Volga, which sell for only $200 these days.

During the lunch break, we spoke to a champion Tajik rider who was near us.  Named Nikko, he had won 28 cars as a buzkashi rider, as well as goats and carpets, and in the morning session today, a DVD player.  He was hoping to get one of the cars at the end of today’s competition.

As forecast, the rain began a little before midday, and became steadily heavier.  Conditions were becoming quite miserable by 2:00 pm, so we made the decision to return to Dushanbe after a quick diversion to have a close look at the prizes, most of which by that time were animals in the back of a large Soviet-era truck, with cars on the hill above, each decorated with two small balloons.

It was good to get back to Dushanbe and dry off; we were all sodden and my camera (and some others) needed to be dried out as humidity had fogged the interior elements within the lens, making it useless until rectified.  I spent the first half hour in my hotel room holding my lens in front of an air conditioner, located inconveniently three and a half metres above floor level, right up at the high ceiling.

Having dried out a little, a group of us went for a walk to visit some antique stores and admire the Soviet memorabilia on display, followed by a welcome cup of coffee.  The day finished with a lovely dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant just a block away from the hotel.

Day 4 - Buzkashi in Luchob

Sunday 26 March 2017