KOK BORU

 «When winter comes, the wolfs descend from the Tian Shan mountains and start to attack our cattle. We used to chase them with just a kamchy (Kyrgyz whip), making advantage of being faster in deep snow on the horse. When they weren’t able to run anymore, we grabbed them from the ground, the dying beast still trying to bite, carried it to the yurt of a Bai (rich man) who would then reward us for the catch.»
This is the story behind Kyrgyzstan’s national game Kok Boru, which today is played with two teams trying to throw a headless goat carcass into the opponent’s tai kazan (goal).

October 2020