The vanishing Chitrali folk games

Traditional Chitrali games and sports, practised through generations in all parts of the district, have gradually been making ways to those alien to the valley through the penetration into villages of games popular in urban areas. Apart from modern means
of technology and the diffusion of information, people’s regular and increasing interactions with urban areas have led to the introduction and borrowing of fashions practised in the cities. In the process, local customs have lost ground to exotic intruders.

In today’s world, there is no denying the fact that we cannot live a hermetic life in a secluded fashion cut off from all outside happenings and neither can we stop the floodgates of the waves of changes taking place in our surroundings. However, this does
not mean that we should go haywire and grab whatever comes in our way, completely forgetting the customs practised by our ancestors. Instead, we should make ways to combine the old and the new ones in a harmonizing way, so that we can go all along with the
modern world – with all its niceties – without compromising on our values and mores.

When we closely look into all these cultural erosions within our lifetime, it becomes apparent that a large number of folk games have died off in a quick succession. People of our age may well figure out numerous customs practised by our elders, which have
now vanished from our society and no one even name them anymore.

In many cases, economic and social factors have also taken the toll on many of these activities. Take the example of polo, the most popular game of the district. Not a long time ago we used to witness regular polo matches in all villages in which people
all and sundry took great interest, while every village and hamlet reserved a ground for the purpose.

Partly, because keeping a horse was necessitated as the animal was also used for riding and transportation in the absence of modern means of communication. When in the mid 1970’s, the jeep reached distant villages for the first time, the future of horse
keeping looked grim and afterwards it lost its utility.

Brides and grooms, for instance, are no more seen riding a horse on the tune of lekzzoor at a marriage ceremony! How many of us know about the folk games and sports of Chitral, once a passion for all in a typical village lifestyle, but which have so quickly
lost ground in front of us.

Some of the popular folk games of Chitral are:

(1) Patik dik, ‘hit the shank bone’, (2) Budi dik, ‘hit the bloc’ (3) Tuksuri dik, ‘hit the stick sharpened at both ends 4) Bampu ghal, ‘cloth-ball hockey’ (5) Plinju ghal, ‘wooden-ball hockey’ (6) Potbal (football), (7) Shit dik, ‘hit the target’ (8) Gach
chokik, ‘wrestling’ (9) Shimen zingeik, ‘pull the rope or tug-of-war’ (10) Boht pechik, ‘throw the stone, shot put’ (11) Pahlawan bohtu usneik, ‘wrestlers’ stone-lifting; weight-lifting competition’ (12) Ayukun chakeik, ‘make the egg fight’ and (13) Pagah,
‘horse-racing’.

It is our collective responsibility to preserve and revive our tradition for posterity.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=5097

Posted by Sonia Bashir on Nov 29 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry