Bull wrestling
Non-lethal bull contests across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Bull wrestling is a non-lethal human-facilitated bloodsport between bulls or cows found in some parts of the world. It involves contests where animals push or fight each other without intentional killing. The practice is notable for its long-standing cultural traditions across several continents.
Quick Facts
- Oldest known event
- Taruka
- Nepal
- early 18th century
- Longest-running festival
- Grmečka korida, first Sunday in August for over 200 years
Facts from the source article.
Europe
In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, the traditional national sport is known as korida or borbe bikova. The most famous event is the Corrida of Grmeč, held on Grmeč mountain in Bosanska Krajina, organized every first Sunday in August for over 200 years and attracting thousands of visitors. Fights occur in an empty field, with victory determined when a bull turns and flees. The practice was introduced to the Western Balkans by the Ottomans from Turkey. Sculptor Slobodan Pejić depicted the Grmeč korida in a 2004 bronze sculpture of two fighting bulls, which has been interpreted as a confrontation between oppressor and oppressed or between the Bosnian people and the Austrian Emperor. Similar events take place in Sanski Most, Cazin, Velika Kladuša, Vitez, and villages near Olovo, as well as in Croatia's Dalmatian Hinterland region. Cow fighting is also a tradition in parts of Switzerland and northern Italy.
East and Southeast Asia
In Japan, tōgyū involves two bulls attempting to push each other out of a ring, similar to sumo wrestling, and is practiced in Niigata, Okinawa, and Shimane Prefectures. Among the Hmong/Miao minority in China, Vietnam, and Laos, bulls are selected by age, horn length, and size, and are enticed to fight after new year's or summer events; the loser is the bull that flees first.
South Asia
In Goa, India, dhiri or dhirio is a traditional bull wrestling that was a weekend entertainment staple for many villages, with families earning from appearance money and bets. In Nepal, bull wrestling is organized annually on Maghe Sankranti in several districts. The oldest and most popular event is in Taruka, Nuwakot, 75 km from Kathmandu, believed to have started in the early 18th century as entertainment for nobles. Fights last up to 45 minutes, with no human intervention or provocation; the fight is controlled by experienced guides, and the bull that defeats its counterpart wins.
Western Asia
In northern Iran, varzajang or gāv-bāzi is a bloodsport between bulls organized in Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, particularly in Amol, Noor, Chamestan, Nowshahr, Rudsar, Lahijan, Chaboksar, Rasht, and Khomam. Researchers such as Abazar Gholami, Seyed Hashem Mousavi Dizkohi, and Mohammad Jamali have supported its cultural aspects, while Hossein Solati has provided a phenomenological analysis opposing the term 'play' and calling it a 'war' due to violence and animal welfare concerns. Historically common in Shiraz, Isfahan, Kashan, and Tabriz as royal entertainment, its range has narrowed to northern rice fields. French anthropologist Christian Bromberger witnessed it in Gilan and expressed a desire for legalization, though Solati criticized his view as overlooking animal rights. In Oman and the United Arab Emirates, two Brahman bulls lock horns while handlers hold ropes to separate them if needed; origins are unknown but may have been brought by Moors from Spain or by Portugal, which colonized the Omani coastline and introduced bullfighting to Omani Zanzibar. In Turkey, boğa güreşi occurs each year in the third week of June at the Kafkasör festival in Artvin, with rules to prevent injury, such as a bull retreating meaning defeat.
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