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"Your enemy is but a small flame and you are the hand that smothers it."

......Musashi



Women and Wrestling - History

In African tribes, pubescent girls often wrestled as part of their ritual initiation into womanhood. Among the Diola of Gambia, adolescent boys and girls wrestled, but not against one another. The male champion often married the female champion. -My kind of girls ;-)
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By Chapulina R (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) - See all my reviews


The mythical Amazons of Greek legend were probably inspired by eye-witness reports of female cavalry soldiers of the ancient Russian steppe. But most historical record of those fierce Sarmatian, Sauromatean, and Scythian civilizations, except for some recently excavated kurgans, has been lost to time. Over a million women fought in the Soviet armed forces in World War ll. And Eritrean women have been fully integrated in combat for the past thirty years in that impoverished nation's civil war with Ethiopia. Most women warriors have fought in gender-integrated regiments under male command. None have been so thoroughly documented as the all-female regiments of Dahomey amazons. Author Alpern has done a remarkable job of translating those documents for a comprehensive history of this once-splendid African kingdom. As early as 1729, European traders recorded existence of the fighting-women of the Fon (Dahomey people) and their neighbors the Ashanti. Originally retained as an elite royal guard, Dahomey amazons held semi-sacred status as celibate warrior "wives" of the King. They prided themselves on their hardened physiques and highly-trained martial skills, and constantly strove to outperform their male counterparts. During two centuries of raids and wars against neighboring kingdoms, Dahomeyan women increased their reputation as merciless undefeatable opponants. By 1890 they comprised over 30 percent of the Dahomey fighting force. With considerable bloodshed, and at cost of some 2000 amazons' lives, the Fon were finally defeated by the French Foreign Legion in 1892. The commanders of the Legionaires wrote admiringly of the "incredible courage and audacity" of the amazons, who did not flinch from superior French firepower and made the "ulimate sacrifice for their King". The last surviving veteran of the female regiments died in 1979, four years after Dahomey achieved independence and changed its name to Benin. Mr. Alpern's fascinating book has rekindled interest in the amazons, who otherwise might have faded into obscurity. Recently the bimonthly magazine "Military History" published an article, apparently based on material from the book, about the final battle between the Dahomey amazons and their French conquerers.

The Bakweri people have lived in the villages scattered around the slopes of Mount Cameroon for over 4000 years. Historically the Bakweri are territorial people and fierce fighters who have always defended their rights, land and culture against surrounding tribes and colonizing powers of Germany and Britain. Although the Bakweri are now completely modernized, some have even converted to Christianity; they are still attached to their ancestral traditions and have retained their ancient tribal organization. One special sporting event, the Bakweri Traditional Wrestling, encompasses all the qualities the Bakweri have inherited from their ancestors: physical endurance, agility, fierce fighting techniques, and a great sense of competition. Wrestling is known as wesuwa and it's taken very seriously by all the members of the community. In the past wrestling used to be an important way of determining leadership in the villages. Fortunately, this behavior now a thing of the past. Today, wrestling is a friendly competition drawing a huge crowd from all over the region. Every Sunday for eight weeks in February and March every village gathers their best wrestlers in a major contest to see who has the best fighters with athletes showing off their fighting prowess. Each village is the host of the wrestling for one day. Stern traditions and customs of Bakweri have trained Bakweri women to be strong and belligerent, so they also actively participating in the wrestling demonstrating good speed, persistence, strength and skills. They may compete not only to measure strength against each other but also to prove themselves in front of the community and potential mates - strength and endurance are very valuable qualities for wives and mothers. As classic Ancient Greek wrestling, Wesuwa is mostly a standing style. A contestant wins a bout by throwing an opponent on his/her back or by taking him/her down and then either rolling the opponent on his/her back or forcing to flat on the stomach. To set the atmosphere, drummers on an elevated stage beat intricate rhythms on large log drums throughout the match while the crowds roar and shout encouragement to the wrestlers. The contest culminates with the announcement of the year's champion wrestler who is then carried among the spectators to loud acclaim accompanied by tradition songs and dances performed by the cheerleaders - the elder tribeswomen.