Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling

The Golden Belt

The Kırkpınar oil wrestling festival takes place in Edirne, in the far northwest of Türkiye. Thousands of people of all ages and from many regions come to watch the pehlivan — wrestlers — compete for the Kırkpınar Golden Belt and the title of Başpehlivan, Chief Pehlivan. The festival numbers its own editions: in 2026 it was held for the 665th time.

Ceremony before the contest

Each festival is opened by its patron, the Kırkpınar Ağa, in a ceremony with forty bands of davul drums and zurna shawms. The Golden Belt is carried through the city in procession, and prayers are said at the Selimiye Mosque.

On the wrestling ground, a master of ceremonies introduces each pehlivan to the crowd, reciting their names, titles and skills in verse. The yağcı, the oil man, helped by a towel holder, rubs the wrestlers down with oil, and warm-up exercises and greetings follow. The wrestlers wear kıspet, heavy trousers of water-buffalo or cow leather. Throughout the bouts, the drum and shawm bands play the festival’s traditional music.

More than a sport

Wrestling at Kırkpınar is open to men of all regions and ages, without distinction of religion, language or origin. All pehlivans are trained in a master-and-apprentice tradition, and they are expected to be models of generosity, honesty, respect and loyalty to custom. In 2010 the festival was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.