Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival is an annual tournament held in the Western Turkish city of Edirne. Wrestling competitions last for seven days and are generally held at the end of June each year and features local food, dances, wares and music.
The Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival holds the Guiness Book of Records title for the longest consecutively held sporting event in the world. In 2010 the festival was also added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The festival traces its roots back to 1360s when Ottoman Sultan Orhan (1326-1362), sought to keep his soldiers in top physical condition and battle ready. Today master wrestlers or Pehlivans are trained in the art of wrestling and must possess demonstrated good or moral character traits in order to be invited. The pehlivans are invited to the festival by the Kırkpınar Ağası (Kırkpınar Master) based on their personal qualities and skills. Admittance to the festival is not taken lightly, invitations are made by the Kırkpınar Ağası in the same traditional way they have been for centuries past: by sending a candle with a red base to the nominated pehlivans at the beginning of March.
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