Turkish Oil Wrestling Makes UNESCO List

By Julie Bolcer -

Turkish oil wrestling, the national sport in which men douse their bodies in olive oil and attempt to put their hands through their opponents' hand-stitched lederhosen, has won a place on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural treasures.
According to Al Jazeera, the United Nations agency deemed the tradition, as practiced in the almost 650-year-old Kirkpinar festival, worthy of preservation, along with other obscure and better known arts and rituals like Beijing Opera, Spanish flamenco and French gastronomy.
Also nominated were an annual hopping procession in eastern Luxembourg and a scissor-dancing ritual in Peru’s Chanka region.

Watch the documentary on Turkish oil wrestling.



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