Traditional Sports and Games among Central Asia’s Turkic Muslim Peoples, 1400 to 1850 AD: Training, Hunting, and Festivals

Abstract

Traditional sports and recreation in Central Asia are deep-rooted and ancient. The Central Asian Turkic people participated in physical culture for different reasons; horse races, wrestling, archery, and hunting had combat training elements—while fairs, circuses, and home entertainments allowed people to be distracted from everyday issues. Sports and leisure events helped social interaction and family bonding during seasonal festivals and Islamic holidays. Indeed, the following study shows that particular sports were permissible in the Islamic tradition. This descriptive essay contains three parts: (i) concepts and definitions; (ii) traditional and folk sports, hunting, and recreational pastimes; and (iii) traditional sites of sports places among the nomad and oasis societies. The focus is the majority-Muslim Turkic and Iranian-Persian peoples of the lands and societies that modern-day scholars label as ‘Central Asia’. The historical sweep from 1400 to 1850AD covers the era when Muslim dynasties, tribal leaders, and communities had long-established regional control, influencing cultural construction (despite an increasing Russian presence since 1731AD on the Kazakh and Kyrgyz steppe lands). The paper will outline more than twenty-five different historic sports and leisure pastimes among Turkic and Persian Central Asians.

Keywords

• Central Asia
• folk
• games
• traditional sport
• Turkic

Orta Asya'nın Müslüman Türk Halkları Arasında Geleneksel Sporlar ve Oyunlar, MS 1400 - 1850: Eğitim, Avcılık ve Festivaller

Abstract

Orta Asya'da geleneksel spor ve rekreasyon aktivitelerinin tarihi oldukça köklü ve eskidir. Orta Asya'da Türkler fiziksel etkinliklere bir çok nedenle katılırlardı. At yarışları, güreş, okçuluk ve avcılık savaş eğitiminin; şölenler, sirk ve ev çevresinde yapılan eğlenceler ise gündelik yaşamlarının bir parçası olarak görülürdü. Dini bayramlar ve milli-kültürel günlerde katıldıkları spor ve hobi etkinlikleri sosyal etkileşimi ve aile bağlarını güçlendirirdi. Bu çalışma, İslam geleneğinin bazı spor türleri ile barışık olduğunu göstermektedir. Saha açısından tanımlayıcı özellikler taşıyan bu makale üç temel bölümden oluşmaktadır: I. Kavramlar ve tanımlar. II. Geleneksel ve kültürel sporlar, av ve eğlenceler. III. Göçebe ve vaha topluluklarında geleneksel spor alanları. Çalışmanın odak noktasını çağdaş bilim insanlarının Orta Asya toplulukları olarak tarif ettiği Türk- Müslüman ve İranlı topluluklar oluşturmaktadır. Çalışmanın tarihsel anlamda kapsamı 1400-1850 yılları arasında Kazak ve Bozkır topraklarında 1731 sonrası artan Rus baskısına rağmen Müslüman hanedanların ve kabile liderlerinin bir kültür inşa etmeyi bölgeyi kontrol altında tutmayı başardıkları dönemi içine almaktadır. Bu makalede Türk ve İranlı Orta Asyalıların hayatlarında yer etmiş yirmi beş dolayında spor ve eğlence aktivitesi incelenmiştir.

Keywords

• Orta Asya
• halk
• oyunlar
• geleneksel spor
• Türk kültürü

References

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