During the cold winter nights, Kurdish villagers traditionally turned to humorous games to keep themselves entertained. A group in Marivan, in Iranian Kurdistan, wants to revive the tradition to preserve their culture and folklore. “Our ancestors used to play these traditional games when they were idle during winter. But the new generation has entirely ignored them because of use of the modern gadgets,” said one man. Most of the games are designed as tests of strength. In khogamle, two people tie a rope around their necks for a version of tug-of-war. Chewkeshke is a similar tug-of-war between two people using a stick. In another game, a bauble is hung from the end of a string and two teams compete to blow it the strongest. Traditionally, men would spend the days riding their horses and their nights in front of a warm fire playing these games and singing songs.
