Asia

Gile Mardi (Iran)

Gile Mardi (Iran)

  • Name of sport (game): Gile Mardi
  • Place of practice (continent, state, nation):

    Gilan province and some part of Mazandaran province, Iran

  • History:

    One of the old and ancien traditional wrestling styles of Iran is Gile Mardi.

  • Description:

    The ceremony starts before the match by traditional musical instruments. At first, wrestlers stand in a row and praying custom will be done by them. Then, they do some jump and leap to show themselves to he fans.
    A wrestler slamming both hands to say he is ready for the match. After start of the match, wrestlers shake their hands and throwing their fists to punch each other. In a proper time which they prevent to be punched, the wrestlers can touch each other to wrestle. If any part of a wrestler touches the ground, he is loser.

    At the beginning, the wrestlers line up in a column and follow a religious ritual, such as taking a step towards Mecca, kissing the ground, looking at the sky while jumping, which means approaching God.
    The bout starts with a challenge commenced by one of the wrestlers. In a ritualistic sense it resembles a dance to challenge a potential opponent. When another wrestler approaches and touches his hands, this signifies that he accepts the challenge. If the first wrestler considers that this wrestler is of his class (his level of skill) the fight begins with wrestlers who first continue to dance to symbolize the challenge, bent forward, swinging their arms as if they were going to fight (see photo), but also in order to create ‘openings’ for combat. As soon as the opportunity is found, one of the wrestlers grabs his opponent and attempts to throw him down. Any fall of the opponent results in victory, as well as keeping the opponent lifted for 2 or 3 seconds, which a priori does not justify a combat time limit. At the end of the fight the winner kisses his opponent. The winner of the tournament is given a sort of puppet, symbol of victory (photo, with musicians). There are 12 tournaments and each lasts around 15 to 20 evenings! Around 40 to 50 wrestlers usually sign up. It appears that this style is practiced and experienced at least as much as a ritual ceremony as than a sporting activity.

  • Current status:

    Today, Gileh-Mardi is generally practiced alongside wedding ceremonies, from June to September, when the rice harvest is finished. In the past it was also to celebrate the end of the main agricultural works, or at fairs. Its specificity is that the tournament always starts in the evening, after work and obligations, and can end after midnight. Wrestling bouts are permanently accompanied by musicians. The cultural associations which organize these events have only very recently deemed it useful to have weight categories (- and + 72kg), once again under the influence of Olympic wrestling and the wrestling federation in Iran. It is also only recently that a combat of 2 times 4 minutes has been introduced.

  • Sources of information :

    Video:
    https://www.aparat.com/v/n089955
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxZv67WaIrY

     


    The information contained in the article comes from the following sources:
    Iran Rural Sports & Local-Indigenous Games Federation
    Guy Jaouen, Traditional Wrestling in Iran: The Great Nation of Wrestling, https://traditionalsports.org/more-about-tsg/articles/guy-jaouen-traditional-wrestling-in-iran.html

    Source of photos used in this article and gallery:
    https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g1064683-d6697776-i225936491-Gileboom-Chaboksar_Gilan_Province.html
    https://wisgoon.com/pin/5974249/

  • Gallery:

Contact

E-mail: traditionalsports@traditionalsports.org

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