The GAME of STICK-PULLING and the sport of MAS-WRESTLING

By Guy Jaouen
Independent Researcher and Author in Sport Anthropology (France)
President of ITSGA – Global platform for Traditional Sports & Games

Guy Jaouen The Game of Stick-Pulling and the sport of Mas-Wrestling.pdf

Introduction

In most countries, monuments have provided us with material evidences of ancient customs and intangible practices. In Europe, this intangible side of living culture has often been reproduced in religious monuments, particularly on and within churches. For those who know how to interpret them, these representations are snapshots of the past which transmit to us images of contemporary popular practices from the time of their construction.
First of all it is necessary to know the general context of these representations. Thus, in France where I live, before the revolution of 1789 the village church (The word church comes from the Greek ekklêsia, which means ‘assembly) was symbolically the building with which the Community identified. In the early Middle-Ages, it was often the only stone building in the village. It also served as a refuge in the event of an attack, as well as a court during trials, and it sometimes even served as a covered market before the construction of the food halls.
In the religious buildings of Western Europe, scenes showing many popular practices can be discovered on the:

• ‘wall-plates’ (The Master beams placed on the surrounding walls and supporting the frame),
• ‘misericords’ (The misericords or mercy seats, are located under the folding seats of the stalls that we see in the choirs of cathedrals or collegiate churches),
• ‘bas-reliefs’ of portals or tympanums (Sculpted part above the main portal of the churches).

The first two are located inside and are made of wood and the last two are made of stone because they are exposed to the weather conditions.
While today we often oppose the profane and the sacred, that is to say the non-religious societal space and the religious one, we must be aware that these two sides of life were strongly intertwined until the industrial revolution of most of the European countries, and that this can be seen in the art of religious buildings. This is still verifiable in Western Europe where religious buildings from several centuries are very common. At the time these buildings were technically and culturally the rare buildings where Art could be expressed for posterity because their construction was ordered by the temporal power (The Kings and Lords) as well as the spiritual one (The Church as religious institution). Very large budgets were therefore assembled to construct these buildings, which made it possible to involve specialists from a large number of crafts and various fields of the arts.
Thus, for the construction of Cathedrals and large churches, these craftsmen and architects traveled from one large construction site to another in medieval Europe. The Episcopal hierarchy of the Church closely monitored the symbolism of this various works of art. There was the non-negotiable part, the sacred, and the slightly freer part which still offers us snapshots of that time today. It was, in a way, the insertion of the secular within the religious. However, even in religious scenes commissioned by the Church and supposed to represent known scenes from the Bible, the artisan sculptors of this period could only put into practice their knowledge linked to their 'habitus', that is to say what is linked to their usual social and cultural environment. This is how we can see, in identical scenes, people dressed in different clothes, contemporary with the time of construction, that is to say with some color of local inspiration.

The Middle-Ages
The European Middle Ages is a time when there were terrible epidemics of disease which made human destiny very uncertain, also creating a form of equality in the face of death. Today we can still feel the heavy atmosphere that must have reigned during religious services when discovering the macabre dances in some churches. There are also macabre inscriptions or sculptures that welcome the faithful at the entrance to these buildings. Fatalism was then the dominant feeling. Life seemed frozen and acceptance of the present situation was felt as a fact willed by God. It was not fashionable or good manners to praise the joy of living, and on the contrary it was suffering and despair that were highlighted to better reach paradise. The pleasures and entertainments represented in religious buildings are therefore often shown in a sinful or austere aspect. There was also no question of showing leisure activities that we call 'sport' today, because this notion is completely absent from the mentality of that time.

Tudela Cathedral (Navarre, Spain. Detail of the tympanum, circa 1200, main entrance). At the entrance to the cathedral, the tympanum on the left offers images of happiness through obedience to the instructions of the Church. On the right, there are scenes of horror, with demons throwing penitents into the fire of hell (photo).

However, the Middle-Ages also needed strong social relief valves to evacuate the excess of fatalism, resentment regarding daily difficulties, lack of spirit of progress or projection into a frightening ‘tomorrow’. Since reality is so miserable, to celebrate a party then constitutes an escape, a refuge in a ‘separate time’. It is in the party that the games express themselves freely. This is where the ordinary people mimic the powerful people, copy their games, their music and their dances. They play and assume the role of ‘another self’ for a few hours or a few days. These are therefore games where those who interpret them take on another status, as a request for freedom from certain restrictions imposed by society, undoubtedly with a spirit of self-liberation.
With the Renaissance which was born from a new state of mind and a technological evolution of society, particularly at the military level, the old martial activities reserved for men-at-arms and the elite lost their status and gradually fell little by little in the circle of popular practices. The social function of these games changed, undergoing adjustments and reinventions, but their internal logic was preserved. So, old-fashioned weapons became sports games or toys. The knights' quintain became quintain game, ring game or nautical jousts. The sword became a stick called ‘short stick’ (Stick fencing was an Olympic discipline in 1904 at the St Louis games – USA) in England or Garotte in the Canary Islands, while other sticks retained a martial function, such as the Irish Shillelagh or cudgel. The art of wrestling which was previously an essential complement to hand-to-hand combat with bladed weapons became a sporting game with a high status, the winner sometimes being exempted from chores for a year as after the designation of the ‘King of Papegai or Popinjay’, an ancient festival organized in order to train citizens in the use of bows and crossbows for the defense of their city.
The case of ‘struggling for the stick’, also called ‘stick-pulling’ seems more complex, even if the stick has always been the symbol of power and its representations can therefore be seen from the angle of symbolic conflicts. The stick is the scepter of the Sovereign, the cane of the Bishop, the Marshal baton, the sword of the armed man, the stick of the peasant who leads his cattle, etc. Tearing out a stick from a person's hands, or anything that comes close to it can therefore be considered as an action to appropriate their symbolic power. This is found in the scenes existing in the churches which are interpreted either as a power struggle between the landlord and the lord, peasant owners and nobles, between the layman and the ecclesiastic or between a man and a woman.
More research remains to be carried out around this practice to determine in more depth how it came down to us in the different regions of the world where it is a cultural tradition.

Combat of the angels – Mercy seats Cathedral of St Ours (building around the year 1000, choir from 1480, Aosta – Italy)

Stick-pulling
It is likely that the game of stick-pulling was also a real popular practice, and the artistic fashion of the time only took inspiration from a living activity to give meaning to these scenes, both linked to the Profane and to the Sacred. Games are at that time activities generally in extension of usual life, and not separate activities, outside of time, as is the case today in Sport where people train in a practice completely foreign to their daily habits.

Miniature of the Botlean manuscript – British Museum, London - 1338

If we take Brittany where I live, we can still see many examples of this game of pulling for the stick. This is the case on a wall-plate in the church of La Roche Maurice, near Brest (1540). This is again the case on a wall-plate from the Saint Sébastien chapel in Le Faouët (end of the 15th century) where the scene shows a peasant and a nobleman struggling for a stick. There is also a scene appearing on the corner of a house in Malestroit (15th century, Morbihan) where the local interpretation says that it is a domestic scene between a bourgeois and his wife who try both to get the stick representing the power.

Wall-plate of the Saint Sébastien chapel in Le Faouët (Fr). Peasant and noble (L = 2.5 m).

As we said, many ‘stick-pulling' scenes demonstrate a power conflict. Other representations exist, such as the mercy seats of the St Salvador church in Bruges (1430, Flanders, Belgium), that of the Saint-Lucien Abbey of Beauvais, France (1470). This is also the case at St Bertrand de Comminges Cathedral, in the Pyrenees, France (1530). There we see a sculpture on the arm of a stall (the seats) where two fools are fighting to get a baton of command, symbolizing in fact a conflict between the main authorities who were competing at that time for power over this territory. There is also one at the Cathedral of Zamora (16th century, Spain), or that of the Cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo (Castile, Spain, 16th century), which clearly shows that this practice was well known at the end of the Middle Ages, and probably much earlier.

Stall arm of St Bertrand de Comminges cathedral (France)

Zamora Cathedral (Spain)

Above, the representation of the Cathedral of Zamora, north of Salamanca, seems to show a struggle between a woman (left) and a man (right). In the Cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo, near Salamanca, Castile (16th century), another mercy seat seems to represent a struggle between an ecclesiastic and a layman, still a symbolic representation of conflicts for power.
In French Brittany, this game became the ‘Bazh Yod’, a name known for at least 150 years and which means "porridge stick". Indeed, it was often the stick used to mix oatmeal, the usual dish of ordinary peasants, which was used for this game. This game, like other traditional athletic games, underwent a process of sportification in the 1970s and is today managed by a small federation. Similar processes have been undoubtedly created in other countries, such as in Yakutia, which resulted in the early 2000s in the recognition of the ancient Yakut game by the Russian National Sports Committee. National competitions in traditional sports, including this game of stick pulling, were then organized in the different regions of Russia. Then the game was promoted at the international level and is known today as ‘Mas-wrestling’.

Game techniques
There are not a thousand ways to pull an opponent who is holding a stick, however we know that the rules which govern the different games can sometimes be slightly different, shaped by local customs. We can also see that this game is still alive in very specific geographical areas: mountains, peninsulas, islands, very cold regions, which have undoubtedly preserved the practice.

In Brittany (France) – Bazh yod: The two players sit face to face, their feet propped against a large wooden plank fixed edge to ground. They grab a stick 50-60 cm long with a diameter of 35-40 mm. Hands are placed in the center or outside, alternately. The goal is to pull the other player towards your side or snatch the stick from the hands of your opponent. It is forbidden to move your feet on the board. Today there are three weight categories: - 80 kg, -100 kg and above.
The game of vazh-a-benn (the stick by the end) is also played in the north of the region. Each player is first carried from the ground by four partners who hold him by the shoulders and legs. Then the players take the stick, each with both hands at one end. The stick is therefore positioned in a longitudinal direction to the players instead of being perpendicular in the other variation of the game. The goal is to snatch the stick from the hands of the opponent.
Touseg (toad game) was a variation of vazh-a-benn, with a different and stronger hand grip.

Bazh-Yod game, and stick for the Tousseg

In Aragon, Spain – Tiro el palo: The piece of wood used to pull the opponent is different between Upper and Lower Aragon (mountain and plain). In Upper Aragon, the stick is a simple cylinder of wood, as in Brittany. Feet are situated against feet.
In Lower Aragon (Sarragoza), the stick looks a bit like the Touseg, one of the sticks used in French Brittany. It is made up of two parallel cylinders connected by three pieces of wood, the whole resembling a rectangular frame.

The instrument used in lower Aragon

In Asturias, Spain – tiru al palu: Asturias organized traditional games festivals in the 1990s, and tiru del palu was one of them, played by both men and women. The stick is 50-60 cm long. These games were previously mainly played in romerias (St days festivals).

Tiru al palu

In the Canary Islands, Spain – pulso del pastor: The exercise consists of destabilizing the opponent by pulling him towards you to force him to stand up, or by snatching the stick from him. The feet are placed face to face, heel to heel, with players sitting face to face. It was a game mainly played by shepherds.

Pulso del pastor

In Hungary – Botbirkózás: Players sit with feet against feet. The goal is to snatch the stick or to pull the opponent up, but other variations exist, such as pulling the stick in a standing position without escaping from a circle drawn on the ground.

Among the Inuit of Canada – ‘Eskimo stick pull’: This game is organized during indigenous games gatherings such as the “Arctic Games” or the North American Indigenous Games. The two competitors sit, feet to feet, legs slightly bent. The hands are alternately in the middle and then at the ends of the stick. The hands must all touch each other. The goal is to snatch the stick or lift the opponent. Competitors change sides after each round, as well as hand positions. The position is that used by fishermen to pull a seal out of a hole in the ice, the seal being pulled by a wire wound on a cylindrical stick.

In the USA – A game called pull stick was already described at the beginning of the 20th century in the MacFadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture, volume two, which is an exposition of exercises for health and physical fitness. The position is toes against toes. The two players grasp a broom handle between them and, at the signal tries to pull the other up off the floor. Today, this exercise is called cane pulling in fitness rooms. A similar game called stick wrestle is also used. The goal is to get the tip of the stick touch the player's right side, which requires different muscular work. Other games such as ‘hand wrestling’, ‘toe wrestling’ or ‘Indian wrestling’ are also mentioned in the book.

Photo from the MacFadden Encyclopedia

In Iceland – Skinndráttur: In this game the competitors do not use a stick, but an animal skin, much easier to find than a tree branch in this country in the far North. The position is always sitting, feet to feet, hands gripping the animal skin.

In Estonia - Vagikaika vedamine: This expression means "to pull the stick" in Estonian. The two players sit opposite each other, feet to feet, and hold opposite ends of a stick with both hands. At the signal they try to snatch it from the opponent's hands, or to pull the opponent. The game is therefore similar to the Breton ‘vazh a benn’ where the stick is taken in the same way, but where the two opponents are carried by partners.

In the Yamal Peninsula, Russia: The Yamal people are Nenets who live in the Yamal Peninsula, south of the Kara Sea, since a very ancient period. They live there for at least a thousand years as guardians of reindeer herds, then in a pastoral activity since the 17th or 18th centuries. It is one of the rare peoples who continue to live in a traditional way despite the modern (Soviet) planning, moving in sleds with reindeer, living in tepees, living off the land and retaining their own beliefs. The seasons still punctuate their lives and nature provides them with their material needs. However, the recent discovery of immense gas deposits has begun to change their way of life. Stick pulling is popular there and they use a wooden plank to block their feet.

Stick wrestling among the Nenets

Yakutia, Russia - Tugging the stick: Yakutia is located almost in the extreme north-east of Siberia. As with the Canadian eskimos, since 1995 a national sports meeting is organized, also called a multidisciplinary Nordic competition. Team events, with three boys, are organized: Race with a stick over 3 km; jump over sleds with feet together; throwing a lasso; throwing an ax; ordinary triple jump. The event also includes two individual events: Khapsagai wrestling and ‘tugging the stick’ (in English). This sport is now well structured and the weight categories are -50 kg, -60 kg, -70 kg and +70 kg.
Regulations for tugging the stick:
1- The competition is organized on a wooden floor measuring 4m x 4m.
2- The board for feet is 2 m long, 24 cm high and cannot be less than 5 cm thick. The top edge is rounded and the board is securely fixed.
3- The stick must be cylindrical, cut from larch or birch trees and measure 50 cm long and 3.2 to 3.4 cm in diameter.
4- Participants sit facing each other, feet against the wooden plank. They take the stick with both hands outside or inside, in reverse positions. The distance between the hands should not exceed 1 cm, without overlapping.
5- The contest begins when the referee blows the whistle. After each round, a rest time of minimum 15 seconds and maximum 2 minutes is granted. During the contest it is forbidden to change hand position, to speak to the referee, or to use the plank or a toe to block the stick.

The game in Yakoutia

Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia: Studies carried out by Waldemar Jochelson at the beginning of the 20th century left us evidence that the Koryak people knew the game of stick pulling. This peninsula is located at the bottom of extreme North-East Siberia, to the right of the island of Sakhalin. We find the same practices as among the Inuit or other Eskimo populations, such as pulling by the neck and the pulling on a fur.

Sketch from the work of Jochelson

Russia and international – Mas-wrestling: Since the beginning of the 2000s, Tugging the stick has been a sport recognized by the Russian National Sports Committee, with national competitions in Moscow, like some other traditional sports which were internationally established since the fall of the Soviet Union. Mas-wrestling is the Americanized name that the Tugging the stick federation gave to the new sport. Mas means stick in the Yakut language. This Americanization of the name is undoubtedly linked to the transformation of the game into a sport with the idea of giving it a modern image in order to stimulate an international development. The rules are inspired by those of Yakutia. This situation therefore once again shows a paradoxical choice where the promotion of a traditional sport at the international level means that one only retain its internal logic (the rules) and that its external logic (the cultural context) is either folklorized or ignored. The game and the culture of the community are forgotten, keeping only the search for performance, with all possible deviations.

Mas-wrestling competition