«Lelo Burti»- Deadly Sport — is a Georgian folk sport, which is a full contact ball game and very similar to rugby. Played once a year at Orthodox Easter, in the small village of Shukhuti, Guria, Western Georgia.
He game has no rules, no time-outs and no limit to the number of participants. Two rivers flow through Shukhuti dividing the village in two parts: upper and lower Shukhuti. The ritual match takes its start in the central part of the village between those streams both located 150-200 meters from the center of Shukhuti. The field is entire village of Shukhuti and the teams are made up of residents from upper and lower halves of the village. During the game, the teams compete to push the leather ball, weighting 16-19 kg (every year different), to their side of the village. The objective of the game is one of the teams to get the ball to its brook.
In 2014, lelo burti, was inscribed by the government of Georgia as a «nonmaterial monument» of culture.
The winner village takes the ball to the cemetery, In honor of the deceased villagers. The Play appears in the 12th century Georgian epic poem The Knight in the Panther’s Skin in which the characters play lelo burti.
Shukhuti//Georgia
2013//2018
