Inventory: Daur Sports

Under the torrent of history, there will always be some cultures circulating, whether spiritually or materially, or in festivals or sports events.

Then, for the industrious, brave and intelligent Daur ethnic minorities in the north, what are the traditional sports passed down in their Daur culture? Come and have a look with me!

The traditional sports of Daur nationality include: archery, wrestling, horse racing, lever pulling, neck strength competition, chess competition, hockey and so on.

Archery plays an important role in Daur folk sports activities. It was a sports event that used to adapt to the hunting production of Daur nationality and resist foreign invasion. In the Qing Dynasty, archery was one of the criteria for evaluating the martial arts of Daur people who entered the flag. Whenever Mokun (clan) meets, Daur people have a tradition of organizing archery competitions according to their close relatives, which has been preserved until the 1920s and 1930s. Therefore, Daur men have learned to master archery skills since childhood. In Daur language, the bow is called "Namo", which is made of birch, elm or thick plum trees by scraping and winding. A bow used for fighting or shooting wild animals is called Vader Nemo, in which the backs of the two bows are glued together to enhance the shooting power. The tail of the arrow is equipped with an iron arrow, and two symmetrical feathers are decorated on both sides of the shaft to keep the balance of the arrow and improve the hit rate.

Wrestling is one of the most favorite and popular sports activities of the Daur people. As long as there are Olympic Games or mass competitions, there will be wrestling. Excellent wrestlers have a high status among Daur people and are regarded as heroes. Wrestlers are called "Buku" in Daur language. In the folklore of this nation, there are many descriptions of Buku's witty, brave and unyielding heroic qualities. The wrestler has no special costume, but wears a wide cloth belt around his waist. When wrestling, both sides can hold the belt directly and then throw, and the one who falls to the ground is defeated. After a person falls, anyone who is watching can play. The one who is unbeaten after competing with many people is the winner and can get the reputation of "Buku". Children wrestling has its own rules. The contestants were arranged in two teams. First of all, the first team fights, the one who falls to the ground goes off, and the next team fights with the winner of the other team until all the players on one side fall to the ground.

Horse racing is a sports activity of Daur people in major festivals and gatherings such as Spring Festival and Aobao Fair. Historically, the Daur nationality is one of the ethnic groups on horseback. Hunters chasing wild animals, soldiers fighting, production and life are inseparable from horses. They regard horse racing as a good opportunity to show off their horses and riding skills. The Daur race can be divided into races and competitions. Racing events are short, limited to 3-5 miles, which is convenient for many players to race on grasslands or spacious and flat roads. The race is mainly about the endurance of horse racing and the patience of riders. The race is generally 20 miles.

Rod pulling is a popular sport of Daur nationality. The wrench is a smooth wooden stick, about 1 m long and about 2 inches in diameter. Two players sit on the ground foot to foot, legs straight, players cross sticks. When the referee gave the order, they pulled hard and pulled each other's hips off the ground. The winner is king.

The neck race is a sport that Daur youth can play at any time when they are working in the fields or fishing and hunting. The two contestants sat on the ground with their legs straight from head to toe, put a knotted wide cloth belt around their necks and hugged their legs with both hands. At the beginning of the game, they leaned back hard and tried to pull each other up. The one who is pulled up by the other side due to lack of neck strength will be defeated, and the other side will be the winner.

A chess game. The chess of Daur nationality can be divided into hunting chess and Go, which originated from early hunting and production sports activities. There are two deer and 24 scholars hunting for chess pieces. The way to play chess is that scholars hunt deer and deer eat scholars. If a deer is blocked by a taxi, it is a failure, otherwise it is a victory. Go requires two players to play, including 36 players and 24 players. The two sides play alternately, eat each other's pieces according to certain rules, and finally force the other side to lose most of the pieces, and admit that the one who can't play is the winner.

Hockey is the first sport of Daur nationality.

Daur hockey has a long history. As early as Liao Dynasty, the Khitan people, the ancestors of Daur nationality, popularized a sport very similar to modern hockey, which was recorded as "clapping hands" in history books. Hockey among the northern nationalities, only the Daur nationality keeps and develops their ancestral hockey events. Today, thousands of years later, hockey is widely popular among Daur people and has made new development. On festivals and weddings, young people form a team to play hockey.

The hockey stick is called "Beikuo" in Daur language, which means a curved stick. The bat is 3 feet long, made of fine oak, and the lower end is bent. The ball can be apricot root or felt, which is about the size of a tennis ball. The Daur people have a unique style of fireball competition at night. The fireball competition in the dark, playing fireballs with sticks is as spectacular as playing with beads by dragons. The fireball is made of birch root bumps. The ball is hollowed out and immersed in combustible oil such as Song and Ming.

At the beginning of the game, light the ball and make it burn into small sparks with the help of the wind. With the fierce struggle between the two teams, fireballs shuttled back and forth in the dark, weaving a gorgeous line of fire, which was quite spectacular. The fire ball movement of Daur nationality once performed brilliantly in the Third National Minority Games, which was highly praised by the national leaders. In 2005, CCTV's "All over China" column reported Daur hockey and fireball performances, which were well received by domestic and foreign audiences.