The Real Lion King

This post is not about what you think it’s about.  It’s about wrestling.  April 22^nd was a big day in Senegal.  Because of wrestling. 

Wrestling, or “la lutte” is a big deal here, and it’s more of a part of my daily life than I ever could have imagined.  At my community training site, I spend a considerable amount of my day working on a garden at a school in my neighborhood, and the wrestlers work out and practice in the playground (which is essentially a giant sandbox) just outside of the garden.  These guys are massive—they spend most of their time doing squat hops back and forth across the sand, which, as Pat can tell you, is really difficult (he has worked out with them a few times and has been sore for days afterward).  They also drag giant rice sacks through the deep sand while Pa Lo, the crazy school caretaker and gardener yells at them.  Recently they started helping us pull water from the well to water the garden, and I suspect there had been some kind of dispute between them and Pa Lo that got resolved.

On the 22^nd, the wrestlers Balagaye 2 (aka The Lion of Guédiawaye) and Yekini were scheduled to meet in the ring.  This was a big deal for several reasons: 1) Wrestling is a huge deal here.  2) They are the two best wrestlers in the country. 3) Yekini had never lost a match.  4) At a press conference about the upcoming match, their entourages got in a giant fight.

Our family had been talking about nothing else but this match for days.   Both wrestlers had supporters in our house, and I chose to support Balagaye 2 because Kamkou did, and I figured she would be the most fun to celebrate with, since she is ridiculous.  As usually happens at our house during an important sporting event, the TV room was packed, and little kids were peering in the windows.  The preparation for the match was the most interesting part from an anthropological perspective.  Each wrestler arrives with their entourage, gets out of the car, and pours water that has been blessed by a Marabout (Islamic leaders who also dabble in traditional, more animist beliefs) out of old soda bottles.  They also perform other rituals that they have been instructed by the Marabout to do—I saw lots of eggs, sand, and ropes today.  Then, they and their entire entourage do a choreographed dance. 

Our neighborhood wrestling champion (whose wrestling name is Obama) showed us his dance, as can be seen in this video.

After the dancing, more rituals were undertaken, and the match began.  La lutte is an interesting combination between American wrestling and boxing.  The whole match couldn’t have been more than two minutes before Balagaye put Yekini on the ground, ending his undefeated career.

If anyone is interested in watching the match, here’s the link to a Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbqfW9pV3Ro

 Having never really watched a match before and not knowing the official rules about when someone won, I was completely unprepared for the chaos that ensued.  All of the Balagaye supporters ran screaming out of the house and flooded the street.  By the time I got outside, several people had stripped down to their underwear (remember this is a Muslim country where modesty is highly valued).  It was nuts.  Our brother Cheikh and neighbor Abdou took us on a walk through the madness, which you too can experience in this video (it’s a little jerky, but worth it to see me get mobbed by a swarm of celebrating school girls).  

 Everyone was going crazy, no matter who they supported.  The Balagaye supporters were dancing, drumming, practically killing people by riding their motorcycles through crowds at high speeds.  The Yekini supporters were simply stunned.  Abdou kept asking me if he was dreaming—he just couldn’t believe it.  Their king had fallen, and the lion had emerged as the new king.