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Journey to Afghanistan

BUZKASI - Chapter 11 - Page 30

We were invited to come up into the stands and sit next to the mayor of Mazar-i-Sharif. It was a dense assemblage but they kindly made way for us. The mayor briefly nodded but otherwise didn't appear to to notice us. We learned the crowd was expected to contribute money towards the winning side of the contest. After adding ours to the pot, we sat down to watch. At the moment there was a group of about forty fighting horsemen bunched together a very few meters in front of us. Horses were pushing and rearing and their riders were pulling and shoving, shouting and swinging heavily braided leather whips across each other. The contestants appeared thickly clothed and had covered heads. Many wore large fur Buzkashi hats. These were obviously needed. Finally one horseman leaning from his horse managed to pick the very tattered remnants of the goat from the ground and push away from the group with several others in hot pursuit. They galloped furiously towards a distant pole and the man carrying the goat was forced to drop it soon after rounding that marker as the battle for possession continued.

We saw that one horse had an empty saddle and a rider lay stretched out on the ground nearby. Two comrades hurried over, dismounted and seemed to be talking with him. A bit later he was helped on wobbly legs toward the spectators' stand.

Finally a rider appeared out of the entangled combatants and raced towards the starting point, dropping the remnants of the goat in that same circle. The shout from the crowd affirmed that here was a winning finish.

As we watched subsequent skirmishes we learned more about Buzkashi. The horses were in well-kept shape, far different from the emaciated appearing ones we saw pulling taxis and wagons. These and their riders must have been some of the cavalry of the Northern Alliance.

Leaving the stands our group slowly found its way through the crowd on the east end of the field. By then we had our own large entourage of Afghan boys. There we also joined a sudden scrambling to avoid onrushing horses and riders with "the goat." Tom Armstrong had lagged behind to get his shoes shined by a scraggly appearing lad. He was sitting on the ground when his vendor abruptly arose and ran, accompanied by the surrounding crowd. Tom looked up to see a galloping horse with its rider clinging to the goat and two others close behind. It was too late to run. He quickly prostrated himself, while trying to protect his head with both hands. Others informed us that the three horses jumped right over him! (Don't you wonder if the shining job was ever finished?)

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