On 29 March Nazarbek village hosted Kupkari game. The equestrian competition arranged by the Kazakh businessman at his son’s wedding to follow the ancient tradition of Central Asian people drew other 300 djigits from different regions of Uzbekistan and in Kazakhstan.
Kupkari or Uloq as it is called in different regions of Central Asia is a national equestrian competition, where a horseman should capture a sheep or goat and come in first with a trophy, distancing other competitors. Today it is generally held in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, while in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan Uloq has become a rare event.
There are sports Uloq and festive Uloq. Sports Uloq is a modern adaptation of traditional event and played in teams, i.e. two teams compete for the animal carcass. Round “gates” called “pots” are placed at the two opposite ends of the field, and each team tries “to score a goal”. These “pots” are also called “marra”. A team that outscores the opponents in throwing the sheep into the “pot” wins.
Festive Uloq is not a team competition, it is an individual challenge where every djigit (horseman) stands for himself. It often happens that the horse does not belong to palvan and has a different owner, then the prize called “solim” is divided between horse owner and palvan.
The trophy is first delivered to one “pot” then to the opposite, and the winner is determined in each such race. There can be many rounds, horsemen can compete for 3-4 hours, until the organizer runs out of prizes and horses are overworked. Usually, a cool spring or autumn day is chosen for Uloq so that horses get less tired of heat and dust.
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In Nazarbek we witnessed festive Uloq. Despite the early spring, the day was hot. The lamb carcass stuffed with sand was prepared for Kupkari. Before the start, horsemen warmed up by trying to capture carcass from the ground at full gallop, letting the horses trot, then running them into a furious gallop. Spectators spread along the perimeter of the field, some of them were sitting in the cars, others landed on the ground, laying the kurpacha (cotton mattresses) right on the verdant grass. Here you could see the tradeswomen with pies, cooks who made shashlik, soft drinks and hot tea were sold at the place. Local boys climbed on the trucks that opened a good view on the field and enjoyed sunflower seeds, staring at the riders.
Uloq began at noon. The horsemen lined up and started competing for the trophy with the sound of the signal. It was interesting to watch as they circle the heated horses in a tight ring around marra, choosing the moment to grab the carcass lying in the center. Finally, the circle crumbled, one of the slashers grabbed the carcass and began to break out of a dense ring of contenders. But it was not to be - attacking riders did not let the horseman out, beating him and his horse with whips (which is not prohibited by the rules of the game) and trying to snatch the prey.
The rider usually holds the carcass with one hand not to let it slip out, pressing it to the seat by his leg - it gives him the opportunity to use his other hand to hold the reins and to beat off the attack. Palvan can have assistants who help him fight back and protect the carcass, and for that they get a part of the prize. However, even with their help, palvan has hard times, because often heavy carcass slips down. If a trophy falls down, the horseman has to take it to the opposite direction to throw into another pot.
Finally, miraculously, our rider broke out from the circle with his trophy and galloped at full speed to pot, located at the other end of the field. The crowd of pursuers followed him, some of them were trying to catch up with him, leaping across. But rider did a good maneuver to one side and reached marr in a few large jumps. In the eyewink the trophy was in a circle. The host solemnly awarded the winner with the first solim - the carpet, but the game was not over, and the second round of the game began, and then the next one. With each round the value of prizes increased, and the struggle became more and more exciting. The winners were awarded mainly with cash prizes but did not hurry to leave the field after the awarding and tried their luck in the next rounds. Three hours of competitions passed quickly and we left the field under bright impression of what we saw. As our Federation of Uloq reported, the next Kupkari contests recently will be held in another regions, and we will write about them next time.
