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Turkish Oil Wrestling Makes UNESCO List

Turkish Oil Wrestling Makes UNESCO List

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Turkish oil wrestling, the national sport in which men douse their bodies in olive oil and attempt to put their hands through their opponents' hand-stitched lederhosen, has won a place on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural treasures.

According to Al Jazeera, the United Nations agency deemed the tradition, as practiced in the almost 650-year-old Kirkpinar festival, worthy of preservation, along with other obscure and better-known arts and rituals like Beijing Opera, Spanish flamenco, and French gastronomy.

Also nominated were an annual hopping procession in eastern Luxembourg and a scissor-dancing ritual in Peru's Chanka region.

Watch the documentary on Turkish oil wrestling.

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