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Documents > People write to us > Daniel Zaiontz, Toronto University: Tradional Wrestling

  Throughout history human beings have wrestled one another. People have wrestled for pride, for love, and even for survival. No other sport epitomizes the human struggle more than wrestling. Every developing, advanced, ancient and modern civilization seemingly wrestled. The ancient Egyptians, the Romans of Greece, the dynasties of China, the Babylonians each wrestled for the sake of entertainment, for the purposes of decision making, for the hands of women.

   For thousands of years every civilization has held wrestlers in the highest of regards, be they Olympians in the early 700’s AD or modern athletes in the games of the Olympics today. In the Middle Ages wrestling began to develop in Europe on two fronts. The first was amongst the Noble Knights throughout Western Europe. Knights are commonly portrayed as only having fought on horseback and with swords but in addition to competing against one another with weapons, they also entertained peasants and royal onlookers by wrestling one another with only their bare hands as means of defending themselves.

   Localized forms of wrestling began to also appear throughout Europe and around the world. The colloquial varieties of wrestling became so popular in their nations of origin that they began to take on patriotic and symbolic value. Wrestlers became celebrities in the national consciousness of several nations. Some early wrestlers were even considered legends evoking folklore, poetry and stories about them that span even today.

   “Tradtional Wrestling” as it is called today is the combination of several varieties of wrestling. Each form of wrestling is essentially unique only on an aesthetic level and to the country it originated from. Yet, each wrestling style shares common bonds. The main similarity is the ability of the victor to defeat his opponent by: best using wrestling technique, while holding his clothing (or belt in some countries), without hitting him “National” or “Belt” Wrestling is not an activity with competitive origins but closer ties to the Martial Arts. “Tradtional Wrestling” as a type of self-defense or fighting style has never truly been popular nor practical but still carries its weight. For instance, the Chinese in the 7th century, highly valued a particularly barbarous variety of field wrestling.

   Not for its entertainment value but because of its importance in training horsemen for battle. The technique of attempting to capture and hold the cloth or belt of an opponent with one hand or both was a practical way to train soldiers to defend themselves in battle by intercepting the oncoming attack. In fact, this style of field wrestling replaced actual large scale army battle on the battlefield. Each army would select one of their best soldiers to fight the other army’s best and the conflict would be resolved with minimum bloodshed. As a consequence, wrestling has evolved from its early military roots to a more modern and competitive exercise.

   From the antiquity to the modern era, wrestling has provided many a nation with cultural enrichment on several levels.
Be it the patriotic pride associated with “Tradtional Wrestling”, the Martial Artistry of “Belt Wrestling” or the ritualistic importance wrestling holds and has held in the athletic circles of so many countries around the world.

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