The kispet
Everything starts with the trousers. A kispet is cut from water-buffalo hide, or calf where buffalo is scarce, and it reaches from the waist to just below the knee. A new one is stiff and pale; a season of oil turns it dark, soft and heavy.
The waistband, the kasnak, is four fingers wide and thick enough to stop a hand from sliding under it. A cord runs through it and is pulled tight before the bout, because a loose kasnak gives the opponent a handle. Below the knee the leg, the paça, is tied with cord over a felt band called paçabent that protects the skin.
A wet kispet weighs ten to thirteen kilos. The pehlivan trains in it from spring so that the weight becomes invisible by July. Kispets are made by a handful of craftsmen in Edirne, Balıkesir and Antalya, and a good one lasts a wrestler many seasons, which is why an apprentice often inherits his master's.
Why the paça matters
The most decisive hold in oil wrestling is the hand inside the opponent's paça. With the leg tied properly the grip is hard to get; with it loose, a bout can end in a minute.
The referees check the ties before each pairing. The rules on holds are written around this one piece of leather. See also: no weights, only classes.
Olive oil
The oil is olive oil, and nothing else has ever been used at Kırkpınar. It comes from the Aegean coast, Ayvalık and the villages around Edremit, and the Edirne municipality buys it by the ton. About two tons go onto the wrestlers over the three days, by the municipality's own count.
Oil is the reason the sport looks the way it does. A dry wrestler can be gripped by the arm, the neck or the waist; an oiled one slides out of all three. What remains are the holds that work on a wet man: the paça, the inside of the kasnak, and the leverage of a body pressed close.
Oil takes away the easy grips and leaves the honest ones.
The tradition of oiling probably began as skin protection in summer heat and became tactical over time. It also gives the field its smell, and, by the final Sunday, the grass at Sarayiçi is dark with it. See also: the week day by day.
The oiling
Three copper caldrons stand at the edge of the field, filled with olive oil and water. Before each bout the paired wrestlers walk to them together, and the oiling follows an order that has not changed in living memory.
The wrestler dips his right hand and oils his left shoulder, chest, arm and the front of his kispet. He switches hands and repeats the sequence on the other side. Then the two opponents oil each other's backs, the one place a man cannot reach himself, which is the first physical contact of the bout and a gesture of trust.
Once the bout begins, attendants called yağcı circle the field with jugs and cups. A wrestler may call for oil or water at any point, and in a forty-minute başpehlivan bout he will do so several times, because sweat and grass cut the oil and grips start to hold.
The yağcı also carry the salaşpur cloth for wiping eyes. See also: how a bout is won.
The cazgır
No bout starts until the cazgır has spoken. He is the announcer, also called salavatçı, and he stands in the middle of the field with a microphone where his predecessors used only their lungs. His job is to introduce each wrestler by name, hometown and master, in rhymed verse, and to say the prayer that opens the bout.
The verses are formulaic and regional. A cazgır from Thrace and one from Antalya will praise the same wrestler in different couplets, and the older announcers can recite a man's line of masters three generations back. The trade passes from master to apprentice exactly as wrestling does, and Edirne has produced its own dynasties of cazgır, among them the imam Sadık Atılgan and Şirin Mustafa in the last century.
On the opening Friday the cazgır's first prayer is the formal start of the tournament, after the wrestlers have visited the graves of the old pehlivan and heard the Mevlit at Selimiye. The 2010 UNESCO citation names the cazgır's chant as part of the heritage.
The peşrev
After the cazgır's introduction and before the first grip comes the peşrev. The two wrestlers stride forward together, slap their thighs, touch the grass, touch their lips and forehead, and salute the crowd, the referee and each other. The sequence takes under a minute.
The peşrev is a warm-up, a display and a greeting at once. The strides loosen the hips; the thigh slaps are a show of strength; the touch of the grass is a nod to the field and to the two raiders buried under the fig tree. Drum and zurna play through it, and the tempo picks up as the wrestlers close.
A pehlivan learns his peşrev from his master and keeps it for life. Spectators who know the sport can name a wrestler by his peşrev from the far stand, and the boys in the minik class practice it before they can hold a grip. See also: what you will see on the field.
Zembil and the red candle
Two objects older than the stands carry the tradition's memory. The zembil is a bag woven from reed or rush, and it holds the oiled kispet between bouts and between seasons. When a pehlivan retires he hangs his zembil on the wall of his house, and the phrase "he hung up his zembil" is how Turks say a wrestler has quit.
The red-bottomed candle, kırmızı dipli mum, was the invitation. Before printing and long before posters, a candle with a red base hung in a village coffeehouse meant that Kırkpınar would be held that year and that the village's wrestlers were called. No date or text was needed; the candle was enough.
Both objects are on display in the Kırkpınar House museum, and the candle has become the tournament's emblem on posters and medals. The ağa's procession still carries one through Edirne on the opening day. See also: the ağa, the golden belt, the Republic years.
Salaşpur and the field
Salaşpur is the coarse cloth wrestlers use to wipe oil and sweat from their eyes, and the municipality reckons a thousand meters of it are used across a tournament. The word also names the woven reed stands that surrounded the field until 1985, when the Sarayiçi arena was rebuilt in concrete.
The field itself is grass, called the Er Meydanı, the field of men. It is not marked out; bouts simply take the space they need, and on the first mornings dozens of pairs wrestle at once while the crowd picks its own match to follow. By the final day only one pair is on the grass.
Around the field stand the caldrons, the referees' table, the cazgır's post and the band.
Above it rise the stands. Behind them stand the ruins of the Ottoman palace and the poplars of the Tunca island described on the Edirne page. See also: planning your visit, getting there.
Glossary
The words below come up on every page of this site and in every conversation in the stands. Turkish spellings are kept; the letters ş, ç and ğ are pronounced sh, ch and as a lengthening of the vowel before them.
Kispet. The leather wrestling trousers, from waist to below the knee, made of buffalo or calf hide.
Kasnak. The thick waistband of the kispet, tightened with a cord so that no hand can slip inside it.
Paça. The leg of the kispet below the knee; the hand inside the paça is the sport's most decisive grip.
Paçabent. The felt band tied under the paça to protect the skin and stop the leather from slipping.
Zembil. The woven reed bag that carries the kispet; hanging it on the wall means retirement.
Kırmızı dipli mum. The red-bottomed candle that once served as the only invitation to Kırkpınar.
Salaşpur. The coarse cloth for wiping eyes, and the old reed stands around the field.
Cazgır. The announcer, also salavatçı, who introduces the wrestlers in verse and opens the bout with a prayer.
Peşrev. The ritual warm-up of strides, thigh slaps and salutes performed before the first grip.
Ağa. The patron who wins the right to fund the tournament at auction and presides over it; see the ağa.
Başpehlivan. The head wrestler, winner of the baş class, holder of the golden belt for a year.
Elense. Both a neck hold and the word for conceding a bout; a wrestler who gives up is said to have taken elense.
Açık düşme. The open fall: the back flat on the ground, the clearest way to lose; see how a bout is won.
Yağcı. The attendants who carry oil and water around the field during bouts.
Davul-zurna. The drum and double-reed pipe that play through the peşrev and the bouts.
Er meydanı. "The field of men," the grass arena at Sarayiçi; the phrase also means a place where character is tested.
For the thirteen categories and the vocabulary of the draw, see the rules page. For the people behind the words, see the about page.
Questions
What is a kispet made of?
Water-buffalo or calf leather, cut to fit below the knee, with a thick leather waistband and a cord. Wet with oil it weighs ten to thirteen kilos.
Why do the wrestlers use olive oil?
Oil removes the easy grips, so a bout is decided by position, patience and the few holds that work on slippery skin. It is also cheap, local and harmless to the skin.
What does the cazgır say?
He recites each wrestler's name, town and master in rhymed verse, with a prayer, and formally starts the bout. The verses vary by region and are passed from master to apprentice.
What is the peşrev?
A short ritual warm-up before the bout: strides, thigh slaps, a touch of the grass and a salute to the crowd and the opponent. It is part warm-up, part greeting.
What was the red-bottomed candle for?
In the villages, a candle with a red base hung in the coffeehouse was the announcement that Kırkpınar was coming. It is now a symbol used in posters and the museum.
What is a zembil?
A woven reed bag in which the oiled kispet is carried and stored. A wrestler who hangs his zembil on the wall has retired.