Today, I went with Becca (the SVP coordinator) and her
sister to see Nuba wrestling. The Nuba
people live in the Nuba Mountains in the south of the Republic of Sudan (not
South Sudan). Wrestling is a very
important part of their culture.
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| Drummer |
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| Wrestling |
We arrived early enough to have proper seats close to the
arena. A solitary drummer walked around
the arena keeping a steady beat, which he continued throughout the event. There were a lot of contestants, all wearing
shorts and t-shirts. According to my guidebook,
in the Nuba Mountains the wrestlers would be semi-naked, but dress in Khartoum
to comply with Islamic expectations. At
the start, they all processed around the arena, before competing against each
other. The aim is to knock your opponent
to the ground. The wrestlers start very
cautiously, circling and dusting themselves with sand from the ground until
they see an opportunity to latch onto the other. There was clearly a lot of skill involved so
it was quite fascinating to watch. Some
of the bouts ended with very dramatic flinging of opponents to the ground, and
standing ovations from the audience.
I hadn’t put Nuba wrestling very high in my priority list of
‘things to see’ because I found it hard to imagine enjoying any form of wrestling. How wrong I was.
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