Chilingaghaj (tip-cat)

A game of striking a short stick with a long one to send it far.

Names among the peoples

• çelik çomak (Turks of Türkiye)

About

Chilingaghaj is a children's game played by two players or two teams: a short stick has to be struck with a long one so that it flies up and far away. In Türkiye it is called çelik çomak.

The short stick is about 20–30 centimetres long, and the long one two or three times as long. The short stick is laid across a narrow pit dug in the ground or on two stones. The opponents try to catch it in the air; the score is counted by the distance to the place where it lands. The game builds the habit of sending an object far with a strong blow.

The Kyrgyz call the same game chikildek. As K. Ağgün describes it, three to six children play it in the open: a stick a metre long and a peg of 20 to 25 centimetres are taken, a small circle is drawn on the ground and a pit dug inside it. One side stands by the circle, the other 30 to 50 metres ahead. The player flicks the peg into the air and strikes it far with the stick; the other side tries to throw it back into the circle, and if it does, the roles change. If it fails, the peg is struck on three more times from where it fell, and the loser has to bring it back to the circle in a single breath, crying "zuuu" all the way; if his breath gives out, he carries the striker to the circle on his back.

Peoples

• Azerbaijanis
• Turks of Türkiye
• Kyrgyz

Research: Vasif Namazov, Turan Games Concept

Sources

1. Azərbaycan döyüş sənətləri və oyunları — Vikipediya
2. Çelikçomak — Vikipediya (türkcə)
3. Füzuli Bayat. Şamandan səmazənə: oyun və oyunçu. Bakı: Elm və təhsil, 2017, s. 62–64
4. Şəkil: Şahzadə, CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons
5. K. Ağgün, Kırgızistan'ın Milli Spor Oyunları — Türk Halklarının Geleneksel Spor Oyunları, Bişkek, 2015, s. 61–62