Buzkashi also known as kupkari, is the national sport of Afghanistan and is a "passion" there. In this sport, horse backed players strive to place a goat or calf carcass in a goal. Its matches are often played on Fridays and attract thousands of viewers.
The sport was originated when the nomadic Turkic-Mongol peoples came from farther north and east spread westward from China and Mongolia in 10th to 15th centuries in a centuries-long series of migrations which ended in the 1930s.
A player of buzkashi is known as Chapandaz. Apart from Afghanistan, other games similar to buzkashi are played by several other countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
General History
Buzkashi started among the travelling Turkic people who originated from farther north and east spreading westbound from China and Mongolia between the tenth and fifteenth centuries in a centuries-in length arrangement of relocations and migrations that finished just during the 1930s. From the Scythian era until current decades, buzkashi has remained an inheritance of that era of the past.
Amid the rule of the Taliban era, buzkashi was prohibited in Afghanistan, as the Taliban considered the game corrupt and brutal. After the Taliban rule was removed, the game continued being played.
