Lelo Burti – A mad way to celebrate Easter

I’ve experienced many different Easter celebrations from hooded candlelit processions to Los Tambors y Bombos (a drum festival) and even something called the Dance of Death in Verges. But none of them come close to this.

The town of Shukhuti in the middle of rural Georgia (the country) celebrate Easter in the most bizarre way. I hesitate to even call it a town as there are literally only 3 shops, a cafe and a tiny church, but in actual fact, the town is split into 2 parts, the upper town and a lower town. Every year on the Georgian Orthodox Easter Sunday the upper and lower parts of the town compete in a game which is said to be similar to rugby. I say similar, but the differences are significant.

The general idea is the same as rugby, in that you need to get the ball passed a line (or a river in this case) at your opponent’s end of the pitch. But the similarities kind of end there. So, this brings us to the differences. Firstly, the ball is not filled with air but with sand and a little bit of wine (why not?) until it weighs 16kg! Next, there is no time limit and matches have been known to last for days. Finally, there are no other rules… Oh and no referee/umpire either (what would be the point, anyway?). And yes, things do get a little violent.

So, who better to start the match than the local priest who launches the ball amongst a group of men, who might have had a drink or 2 as part of their warm-up routine.

At 5 pm the match begins and the ball disappears as it drops suddenly to the floor and the men clamber to gain control. The truth is no one has control, there are no tactics, no teamwork, it’s just each man doing his best to move the ball towards the opponent’s goal.

Occasionally, men escape from amongst the ruck, which can be over 100 people in size, to either get some air, re-orientate themselves or retire hurt.

Injuries are common. However, I was told that “there has never been a serious accident although broken arms and legs do happen”, to me a broken leg sounds rather serious –  but, I guess it’s all relative.

Like many traditional celebrations, the origins are unclear. The population simply repeat the same event year after year, generation after generation.  Some locals claim Lelo Burti to be thousands of years old.

For the first hour, the ruck moved very little, a couple of meters one way, only to go back a few meters the other way. The force from both sides seemed equal and some of the players started to show signs of exhaustion.

At times it seemed more like a war zone than an Easter celebration. Dust flying up as the sun gets low in the sky created a very surreal atmosphere, where it was easy to forget it was Easter Sunday.

All of a sudden after nearly 2 hours of deadlock the upper part of the town somehow managed to make a break as they were cheered on by those sensible enough not to get involved in the madness.

The scrum falls down the river bank as the team gets close to the winning line. Officially, the ball needs to get up the bank on the other side, but the scrum had split and victory was all but secured from this point on.

Nearly 2 hours later the ball is pulled up the river bank and the winners, while exhausted, find enough energy to celebrate. The ball is then carried down the street.

The final resting place for the ball is next to the grave of the most recent person to have passed away in the town. It’s not a somber affair but is most certainly done out of respect.

Families in Georgia spent a lot of time at the cemeteries during the Easter period as they come to visit families and friends who have passed away in recent years. It’s very common to see families having picnics next to gravestones and it’s very common for out of town visitors to be invited to join in.