Russian fist fighting: a lost martial art. History of fist fights in Rus'

Fist fights were often held in Ancient Rus'. They existed in Russia from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to entertainment, fist fighting was a kind of school of war, developing among the people the skills necessary to defend the Motherland. To denote competitions, in addition to the term “fist fight”, the following terms were used: “fists”, “combat”, “navkulachki”, “fist strike”.

Story

Russia has its own traditions of martial arts. The Slavs were known throughout Europe as valiant warriors. Since wars were common in Rus', every man should have mastered military skills. Starting from a very early age, children, through a variety of games such as “king of the hill”, “on the ice slide” and “heap and little”, wrestling and throwing, gradually learned that they need to be able to stand up for their Motherland, family and themselves. When children became adults, the games developed into real fights, known as “fist fights.”

The first mention of such fights was made by the chronicler Nestor in 1048:
“Aren’t we living like bastards... with all sorts of flattering morals, predominant from God, trumpets and buffoons, and harps, and mermaids; We see that the game has been elaborated, and there are many people, as if they were pushing each other’s shame away from the spirit of the intended business.”

Rules and types of fist fighting

Fist fights were usually held on holidays, and the rampant fighting began during Maslenitsa. According to the number of participants, they were divided into: “street to street”, “village to village”, “settlement to settlement”. In summer the battle took place in squares, in winter - on frozen rivers and lakes. Both ordinary people and merchants took part in the battles.

There were types of fist fighting: “one on one”, “wall to wall”. Considered a type of fist fight, “clutch-dump”, in reality it is an independent martial arts, the Russian analogue of pankration, a fight without rules.

The most ancient type of combat is the “clutch-dump” fight, which was often called “clutch fighting”, “scattered dumping”, “dumping fight”, “clutch fight”. It was a confrontation between fighters who fought without observing formation, each for himself and against everyone. According to the mention of N. Razin: “Here it was necessary to have not only dexterity and a strong blow, but also special composure.”

The most common type of fist fighting was “wall to wall.” The fight was divided into three stages: first the boys fought, after them the unmarried youths, and at the end the adults put up a wall. It was not allowed to hit someone who was lying down or crouched, or to grab their clothes. The task of each side was to put the enemy side to flight or at least force them to retreat. The wall that lost the “field” (the territory on which the battle took place) was considered defeated. Each “wall” had its own leader - “leader”, “ataman”, “battle chief”, “leader”, “old man”, who determined battle tactics and encouraged his comrades. Each of the teams also had “hope” fighters, who were intended to break the enemy’s formation, snatching several fighters from there at once. Special tactics were used against such warriors: the wall diverged, letting “hope” inside, where special fighters were waiting for him, and immediately closed, not allowing passage to the enemy’s wall. The warriors who met “hope” were experienced masters of self-fighting.

Self-on-sam or one-on-one was the most revered form of combat. It was reminiscent of old bare-handed boxing in England. But the Russian type of combat was softer, since there was a rule prohibiting hitting a prone person, while in England it was introduced only in 1743. One-on-one fights could be organized by a special person, or they could be spontaneous. In the first case, the battle was scheduled for a certain day and time, and the second type could take place in any place where people gathered: fairs, holidays. Fights “on your own”, if necessary, served to confirm the rightness of the defendant in a court case. This way to prove that you were right was called the “field.” The “field” existed until the death of Ivan the Terrible. The fighters used only punches - anything that cannot be clenched into a fist is not a fist fight. Three striking surfaces were used, which corresponds to three striking surfaces of the weapon: the heads of the metacarpal bones (a thrust with a weapon), the base of the fist from the little finger (a chopping blow with a weapon), the heads of the main phalanges (a blow with a butt). You could hit any part of the body above the waist, but they tried to hit the head, the solar plexus (“into the soul”), and under the ribs (“under the mikitki”). The continuation of the fight on the ground (fighting on the ground) was never used. There were certain rules according to which it was forbidden to beat a person who was lying down or bleeding, to use any weapon, and one had to fight with bare hands. Failure to comply with the rules was severely punished. Despite the strict rules, fights sometimes ended in failure: the participant could be injured, and there were also deaths.

Fighting fist fight

In 1274, Metropolitan Kirill, having convened a cathedral in Vladimir, among other rules, decreed: “excommunication from the church for those participating in fist fights and stake fights, and no funeral service for those killed.” The clergy considered fist fights to be an abominable matter and punished the participants according to church laws. This condemnation led to the fact that during the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich (1584 - 1598) not a single fist fight was recorded. The government itself generally neither encouraged nor persecuted fist fighting.

The real restriction of fist fights began in the 17th century. On December 9, 1641, Mikhail Fedorovich indicated: “all sorts of people will begin to fight in China, and in the White Stone City and in the Zemlyanoy City, and those people will be arrested and brought to the zemstvo order and inflicted punishment.” On March 19, 1686, a decree was issued banning fist fights and assigning punishments to the participants: “Which people are seized in fist fights; and to those people for their faults, for the first drive they should beat the batogs, and take the reward money according to the decree, for the second drive they would beat them with a whip, and take double the reward money, and on the third they would inflict the same cruel punishment, beat them with a whip and send them into exile in the Ukrainian cities for eternal life."

However, despite all the decrees, fist fights continued to exist, and the participants now began to choose from their midst the sotsky, the tenth, who were trusted to monitor the implementation of all the rules of the fight.

There is information that Peter I liked to organize fist fights “in order to show the prowess of the Russian people.”

In 1751, fierce battles took place on Millionnaya Street; and Elizaveta Petrovna found out about them. The Empress tried to reduce the number of dangerous fights and adopted a new decree preventing them from being held in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Under Catherine II, fist fights were very popular. Count Grigory Orlov was a good fighter and often invited famous fist fighters to measure their strength with him.

Nicholas I in 1832 completely banned fist fights “as harmful fun.”

After 1917, fist fighting was classified as a relic of the tsarist regime, and, not becoming a sporting form of wrestling, died out.

In the 90s of the 20th century, attempts were made to revive the schools and styles of Slavic martial arts, including fist fighting.
Fist fights in Rus' Fist fights, history, wall to wall

Fist fighting in art

In “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the young guardsman and the daring merchant Kalashnikov” M.Yu. Lermontov describes a fist fight between the Tsar’s oprichnik, Kiribeevich, and the merchant Kalashnikov. Stepan Paramonovich Kalashnikov won, defending the honor of his wife, insulted by Kiribeevich, and “standing up for the truth to the last,” but was executed by Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich.

The artist Mikhail Ivanovich Peskov reflected the popularity of fist fighting during the time of Ivan the Terrible in his painting “Fist Fight under Ivan IV.”

Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov described the fist fights he saw in Kazan, on the ice of Lake Kaban in his “Tale of Student Life.”

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov painted the painting “Fist Fight”.

Maxim Gorky in the novel “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin” described a fist fight this way: “The city people are fighting with cunning... the heels of good fighters are pushed out from their “wall” against the chest of the Sloboda residents, and when the Sloboda residents, pressing on them, involuntarily stretch out like a wedge, the city unites will strike from the sides, trying to crush the enemy. But the suburbanites are accustomed to these tactics: quickly retreating, they themselves envelop the townspeople in a semi-circle...”

Wall to wall is an old Russian folk game. It consists of a fist fight between two lines (“walls”). Males from 18 to 60 years old take part in the moaning fight. The number of participants varies from 7-10 to several hundred people. The purpose of such fights is to cultivate masculine qualities in young people and support the physical fitness of the entire male population. The most massive wall-to-wall battles take place on Maslenitsa.

Wall fight

Wall-to-wall fighting or wall-to-wall fighting is an ancient Russian folk pastime. It consists of a fist fight between two lines (“walls”). Males from 18 to 60 years old take part in wall combat. The number of participants varies from 7-10 to several hundred people. The purpose of such fights is to cultivate masculine qualities in young people and maintain physical fitness among the male population. The most massive wall-to-wall battles take place on Maslenitsa.

Basic Rules

The walls are built in several rows (usually 3-4) opposite each other at a distance of 20 - 50 meters. At the referee's command, they begin to move towards each other. The task is to push the enemy's wall beyond the original position. During a step, blows to the body and head, or only to the body, are allowed. Kicks and attacks from behind are prohibited.

History of the Wall Battles

The so-called wall-to-hand hand-to-hand combat, which has survived to this day, was especially popular in Russia. The popularity of the wall form of fist fighting, the so-called wall-to-wall fights, is evidenced by the memories of eyewitnesses - Pushkin and Lermontov, Bazhov and Gilyarovsky, as well as the research of the first Russian ethnographers, describers of people's life - Zabelin and Sakharov, lines of police reports and government decrees. The archives contain a decree issued by Catherine I of 1726 “On fist fights,” which defined the regulations for hand-to-hand combat. There was also a decree “On the non-existence of fist fights without the permission of the police chief’s office.” The decree stated that those wishing to participate in fist fights are required to choose representatives who must inform the police about the place and time of the fight and be responsible for its order. An excerpt from M. Nazimov’s memoirs about fist fights in Arzamas explains the significance of these decrees and how fist fights were treated in the provinces at the beginning of the 19th century.

“Local authorities seem to turn a blind eye to this... custom, probably not having in mind the positive instructions of their superiors, and perhaps they themselves were secretly spectators of such massacres, especially since many significant people in the city are champions of antiquity, considered these fun very useful for the development and maintenance of physical strength and warlike inclinations of the people. And it was difficult for the Arzamas mayor, that is, the mayor, to cope with the help of 10-15 guards and even a full disabled team of 30-40 people with a gathering of fighters, which, in addition to the numerous spectators egging them on, extended, according to eyewitnesses, up to 500 people.

The decree on the widespread and complete prohibition of fist fights was included in the code of laws of Nicholas I in 1832. In Volume 14, Part 4, Article 180 briefly says:

“Fist fights as harmful entertainment are completely prohibited.”

The same was repeated verbatim in subsequent editions of this code of laws. But, despite all the prohibitions, fist fights continued. They were held on holidays, sometimes every Sunday.

The name “wall” comes from the traditionally established and never changed combat order in fist fights, in which the sides of the fighters lined up in a dense line of several rows and marched as a solid wall towards the “enemy.” A characteristic feature of wall combat is linear formations, the need for which is dictated by the goal of the competition - to push the opposing party out of the fighting area. The retreating enemy regrouped, gathered new forces and, after a respite, entered the battle again. Thus, the battle consisted of separate battles and usually lasted for several hours, until one of the sides finally defeated the other. Wall formations have direct analogies with the formations of the ancient Russian army.

The scale of mass fist fights was very different. They fought street to street, village to village, etc. Sometimes fist fights attracted several thousand participants. Wherever fist fights took place, there were permanent traditional places for fighting. In winter they usually fought on the ice of the river. This custom of fighting on a frozen river is explained by the fact that the flat, snow-covered and compacted surface of the ice was a convenient and spacious platform for fighting. In addition, the river served as a natural boundary dividing the city or region into two “camps”. Favorite places for fist fights in Moscow in the 19th century: on the Moscow River near the Babyegorodskaya Dam, at the Simonov and Novodevichy Convents, at the Sparrow Hills, etc. In St. Petersburg, fights took place on the Neva, Fontanka, and at the Narva Gate.

There was a leader at the "wall". In different regions of Russia he was called differently: “bashlyk”, “head”, “elder”, “battle elder”, “leader”, “old man”. On the eve of the battle, the leader of each side, together with a group of his fighters, developed a plan for the upcoming battle: for example, the strongest fighters were singled out and distributed along the entire “wall” to lead separate groups of fighters who made up the battle line of the “wall”; reserves for a decisive strike were planned and camouflage in in the formation of the main group of fighters, a special group of fighters was allocated in order to knock out a specific fighter from the enemy from the battle, etc. During the battle, the leaders of the parties, directly participating in it, encouraged their fighters, determined the moment and direction of the decisive blow. At P.P. Bazhov’s tale “The Broad Shoulder” gives the bashlyk’s instruction to his fighters:

“He arranged the fighters as he thought best, and punishes them, especially those who used to be at the root and were considered the most reliable.

Look, I don’t have any self-indulgence. There is no need for us if you compare your strength with some Grishka-Mishka for the amusement of the girls and pawnbrokers. We need everyone to stand together with a broad shoulder. Do as you are told."

In Ancient Rus' they often held fist fights. They existed in Russia from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to entertainment, fist fighting was a kind of school of war, developing among the people the skills necessary to defend the Motherland. To denote competitions, in addition to the term “fist fight”, the following terms were used: “fists”, “boiovishche”, “navkulachki”, “fist striker”, “fighter”.

Story

Rules and types of fist fighting

Fist fights usually held on holidays, and the rampant fighting began during Maslenitsa. According to the number of participants, they were divided into: “street to street”, “village to village”, “settlement to settlement”. In summer the battle took place in squares, in winter - on frozen rivers and lakes. Both ordinary people and merchants took part in the battles.

Russian fighters used only punches - anything that cannot be clenched into a fist is not a fist fight. Three striking surfaces were used, which corresponds to three striking surfaces of the weapon: the heads of the metacarpal bones (a thrust with a weapon), the base of the fist from the little finger (a chopping blow with a weapon), the heads of the main phalanges (a blow with a butt). You could hit any part of the body above the waist, but they tried to hit the head, the solar plexus (“into the soul”), and under the ribs (“under the mikitki”). The continuation of the fight on the ground (fighting on the ground) was never used. There were certain rules according to which it was forbidden to beat a person who was lying down or bleeding, to use any weapon, and one had to fight with bare hands. Failure to comply with the rules was severely punished. Despite the strict rules, fights sometimes ended in failure: the participant could be injured, and there were also deaths.

Fighting fist fight

The Slavs considered Perun the patron of martial arts. After the Baptism of Rus', the struggle against pagan rituals began, which included military competitions in honor of Perun.

There is information that Peter I liked to organize fist fights “in order to show the prowess of the Russian people.”

Under Catherine II, fist fights were very popular. Count Grigory Orlov was a good fighter and often invited famous fist fighters to measure their strength with him.

Nicholas I in 1832 completely banned fist fights “as harmful fun.”

After 1917, fist fighting was classified as a relic of the tsarist regime, and, not becoming a sporting form of wrestling, died out.

In the 90s of the 20th century, attempts were made to revive the schools and styles of Slavic martial arts, including fist fighting.

Fist fighting in art

“The Tale of Bygone Years” tells the story of Jan Usmoshvets (Kozhemyaki), who killed a bull with his bare hands before a duel with the Pechenegs, and after that the Pechenegs also won.

The artist Mikhail Ivanovich Peskov reflected the popularity of fist fighting during the time of Ivan the Terrible in his painting “Fist Fight under Ivan IV.”

Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov described the fist fights he saw in Kazan, on the ice of Lake Kaban in his “Tale of Student Life.”

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov painted the painting "".

Maxim Gorky in his novel “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin” described a fist fight this way: “The city people are fighting with cunning... the heels of good fighters are pushed out from their “wall” against the chest of the Sloboda residents, and when the Sloboda residents, pressing on them, involuntarily stretch out like a wedge, the city will strike in unison with sides, trying to crush the enemy. But the suburbanites are accustomed to these tactics: quickly retreating, they themselves envelop the townspeople in a semi-circle...”

Wall to wall- an old Russian folk game. It consists of a fist fight between two lines (“walls”). Males from 18 to 60 years old take part in the moaning fight. The number of participants varies from 7-10 to several hundred people. The purpose of such fights is to cultivate masculine qualities in young people and support the physical fitness of the entire male population. The most massive wall-to-wall battles take place on Maslenitsa.

Wall fight

Basic Rules

History of the Wall Battles

The so-called wall-to-hand hand-to-hand combat, which has survived to this day, was especially popular in Russia. The popularity of the wall-to-wall form of fist fighting, the so-called wall-to-wall fights, is evidenced by the memories of eyewitnesses - Pushkin and Lermontov, Bazhov and Gilyarovsky, as well as the research of the first Russian ethnographers, describers of folk life - Zabelin and Sakharov, lines of police reports and government decrees. The archives contain a decree issued by Catherine I of 1726 “On fist fights,” which determined the regulations for hand-to-hand combat. There was also a decree “On the non-existence of fist fights without the permission of the police chief’s office.” The decree stated that those wishing to participate in fist fights are required to choose representatives who must inform the police about the place and time of the fight and be responsible for its order. An excerpt from M. Nazimov’s memoirs about fist fights in Arzamas explains the significance of these decrees and how fist fights were treated in the provinces at the beginning of the 19th century.
“Local authorities seem to turn a blind eye to this... custom, probably not having in mind the positive instructions of their superiors, and perhaps they themselves were secretly spectators of such massacres, especially since many significant people in the city are champions of antiquity, these believed fun is very useful for the development and maintenance of physical strength and warlike inclinations of the people. And it was difficult for the Arzamas mayor, that is, the mayor, to cope with the help of 10-15 guards and even a full disabled team of 30-40 people with a gathering of fighters, which, in addition to the numerous spectators egging them on, extended, according to eyewitnesses, up to 500 people.

The decree on the widespread and complete prohibition of fist fights was included in the code of laws of Nicholas I in 1832. In Volume 14, Part 4, Article 180 briefly says:
“Fist fights as harmful entertainment are completely prohibited. »

The same was repeated verbatim in subsequent editions of this code of laws. But, despite all the prohibitions, fist fights continued. They were held on holidays, sometimes every Sunday.

There was a leader at the “wall”. In different regions of Russia he was called differently: “bashlyk”, “head”, “elder”, “battle elder”, “leader”, “old man”. On the eve of the battle, the leader of each side, together with a group of his fighters, developed a plan for the upcoming battle: for example, the strongest fighters were singled out and distributed along the entire “wall” to lead separate groups of fighters who made up the battle line of the “wall”, reserves for a decisive strike were planned and camouflage in in the formation of the main group of fighters, a special group of fighters was allocated in order to knock out a specific fighter from the enemy from the battle, etc. During the battle, the leaders of the parties, directly participating in it, encouraged their fighters, determined the moment and direction of the decisive blow. At P.P. Bazhov’s tale “The Broad Shoulder” gives the bashlyk’s instruction to his fighters:
“He arranged the fighters as he thought best, and punishes them, especially those who used to be at the root and were considered the most reliable.

- Look, I don’t have any self-indulgence. There is no need for us if you compare your strength with some Grishka-Mishka for the amusement of the girls and pawnbrokers. We need everyone to stand together with a broad shoulder. Do as you are told."

As you know, Maslenitsa week is underway, which means a lot of different fun traditions. While most of them are understandable and accessible even to children, others have faded into the background over time. Today, at the request of FURFUR, the author of Interes magazine Oleg Uppit recalls the main men's entertainment on Maslenitsa - fist fights.

Traditional Russian fist fight

Of course, everyone fought, always and everywhere. For one reason or another. Anyway. Eastern martial arts became part of the “path of self-improvement”, the Indians of Central America staged ritual fights, and the Greeks came up with the Olympic Games - dedicated to the gods, but also serving as excellent entertainment for the many spectators who gathered every four years in the town of Olympia. Our ancestors did not lag behind others.

The “Rules of the Marquis of Queensberry,” which appeared in 1865 and regulated the behavior of boxers, are very similar to the rules of fist fighting that organically frolic in Rus', formed two or three centuries earlier.

In English, the fist fight that existed in Rus' is not without reason called Russian fist fight - this is truly a basic local “martial art”. In terms of complexity, fist fighting is on the same level as other folk fighting disciplines, which are not overloaded with excessive subtlety of techniques. Located somewhere in the middle between French savate and Irish boxing, it is, however, unfairly on the periphery of attention of people interested in fighting and self-defense techniques. Perhaps the reason for this is a break in tradition, perhaps it is the trends that brought first oriental disciplines to the fore, then capoeira, and now English boxing.

History of Russian fist fights

We can find the first mention of Russian fist fighting in The Tale of Bygone Years. Nestor writes: “Aren’t we living like bastards... with all sorts of flattering morals, predominant from God, with trumpets and buffoons, and harps, and mermaids; We see that the game has been refined, and there are a lot of people, as if they are pushing each other’s shame away from the spirit of the intended business” - in general, he criticizes.

Reading this, one should understand that, with its roots in pre-Christian cultural tradition, fistfights could not be expected to be treated differently by an Orthodox chronicler.

We do not know and cannot know about the origin of fist fighting and its possible ritual significance for the ancient Slavs for the same reasons. However, there is enough historical and artistic evidence about the development of fist fighting from the 11th to the 20th centuries - poems and folk songs, decrees prohibiting fights, and police reports, records of eyewitnesses and ethnographers, by which we can judge the rules of fights and the order of the battles.

1. Trinity holiday near Tsarev fortification, 1900. 2. Mikhail Peskov “Fist Fight”
under Ivan IV." 3. "Wall to wall" fights. 4. Modern fist fights.

So, for example, Nazimov says in his memoirs: “Local authorities seem to turn a blind eye to this... custom, probably not having in mind the positive instructions of their superiors, and perhaps they themselves were secretly spectators of such massacres, especially since many significant people in the city, champions of antiquity, considered these amusements very useful for the development and maintenance of the physical strength and warlike inclinations of the people. And it was difficult for the Arzamas mayor, that is, the mayor, to cope, with the help of 10–15 guards and even a full disabled team of 30–40 people, with a gathering of fighters, which, in addition to the numerous spectators egging them on, extended, according to eyewitnesses, up to 500 people.” .

And Lebedev writes in an article for the magazine “Russian Antiquity”: “It was not a fight, quarrel, enmity or anything like that at all, but something like a game. Meanwhile, the blows were inflicted seriously, causing bruises and even death. Fist fights exist in many countries, but everywhere they are either competitive in nature - one-on-one, such as boxing in England, or duels, as we had in pre-Petrine Rus'; but in the form that they have in Russia - in the form of competition between huge gatherings of crowds, one against the other, this has never happened anywhere. Prowess and excess strength asked to come out and found a way out in such a peculiar game.

There is very little information about fist fights, and we will look in vain for it in history or manuals and monographs; news about them can only be found in church teachings and memoirs. Meanwhile, there were many government orders about “fist fights”, and we even had to fight against this kind of “sport.”

Usually, fist fights took place on major holidays, in the summer they were held on the streets or squares, and in the winter on the ice of frozen rivers and lakes - there was always enough space there. Fist fighting was not a purely “regional” pastime. In Moscow, battles took place on the Moscow River near the Babyegorodskaya dam, at the Simonov and Novodevichy monasteries and on the Sparrow Hills, in St. Petersburg - on the ice of the Neva and Fontanka.

"Fist fight"

V. Vasnetsov

The battles were accompanied by festivities, spectators gathered at the site of the skirmishes, and with them peddlers with goods and beaters with hot honey and beer. Fights that took place with the connivance or even in the presence of representatives of the nobility (for example, Count Orlov was “a big fan of fist fights”) could be accompanied by gypsy orchestras and even small fireworks.

Of course, spontaneous skirmishes also regularly occurred when two streets or two banks of a river could not share something. Well, or they couldn’t share it for a long time, but only periodically remembered it.

Three main categories of combat

1 BY YOURSELF

Private one-on-one fights, similar in form to traditional English boxing, but safer. It was necessary to comply with the rules that did not allow the participants in the fight to slide into a chaotic dump and limited them in the use of dishonest techniques and dangerous blows and grabs. There must be a winner in a fight, but the loser must also remain functional enough to move on with life. Although this did not always happen, everything depended on the situation - for example, the merchant Kalashnikov, about whom Lermontov wrote, beat his opponent to death. However, he had no other choice, and the victory was worth it.

Illustration for the work of M. Yu. Lermontov “Song about the merchant Kalashnikov”

From “himself against oneself” one should highlight the “blow against blow” duel: the participants, standing still, exchange blows, the order of which is determined by lot. It was forbidden to evade blows; only blocks were allowed. The fight ended when one of the opponents was knocked down or surrendered.

Private duels also existed among the nobility, although in this environment preference was still given to armed “duels.”

2 FIELD

Legal battles, when the fight took place between the plaintiff and the defendant or their representatives, “contractual fighters.”

3 MASS FIGHTS

Mass battles were divided into two types

1 CHAIN FIGHT, OR “CHAIN-DUMP”

Everyone fought against everyone. This type of combat was the oldest and most dangerous type. Here the rules supposedly applied, but who could monitor their implementation there? By its nature, the “clutch-dump” was reminiscent of modern football fair-play - you chose an opponent based on strength, won, and moved on to the next one.

2 WALL FIGHT, OR “WALL TO WALL”

This is what traditional fistfights are now associated with - the most spectacular and famous type of Russian fistfight.

Those who retreated regrouped, changed fighters and, after a break, entered the battle again until one of the sides won a final victory.

The name “wall” comes from the battle formation adopted in such clashes - the parties lined up opposite each other in a dense line, consisting of several rows, and walked towards the enemy’s wall with the goal of breaking through it and putting the enemy to flight.

Preparing for battle

The time and place of the battle were chosen in advance, the opposing sides, the walls, leaders were appointed - governors and specific rules were stipulated. The leader of the wall was called differently in different places: bashlyk, head, headman, battle chief, old man.

On the eve of the battle, the leader, together with representatives of his wall, developed a plan for the upcoming battle: he singled out the strongest and more experienced fighters and distributed them to places along the entire wall to lead the separate groups that made up the battle line of the wall. During preparation, reserve fighters were also appointed to carry out decisive attacks and special groups were allocated in order to knock out a specific enemy from the battle. During the battle, the leaders of the parties not only directly participated in it, but also encouraged their fighters and adjusted tactics on the fly.

In P.P. Bazhov’s tale “The Broad Shoulder,” the bashlyk’s instruction to his fighters is given: “He placed the fighters in the best way he thought, and punishes them, especially those who used to be at the root and were considered the most reliable. “Look, I don’t have any self-indulgence. There is no need for us if you compare your strength with some Grishka-Mishka for the amusement of the girls and pawnbrokers. We need everyone to stand together with a broad shoulder. Act as told."

In the time remaining before the fight, the participants prepared for it - they ate more meat and bread, and took a steam bath more often. There were also “magical” methods of preparation. So in one of the ancient medical books the recommendation is given: “kill a black snake with a saber or knife, take the tongue out of it, and screw green and black taffeta into it, and put it in the left boot, and put the shoes in the same place. As you walk away, don’t look back, and whoever asks where you’ve been, don’t say anything to him.”

There were also completely “magical” rituals - for example, “breaking” (something like a ritual dance) before a fight, reminiscent of the movements of a bear, the cult of which existed in ancient Rus'.

Before the start of the fight, the fighters solemnly walked through the streets. Having arrived at the appointed place, they lined up in three or four rows, depending on the number of participants, and began to bully their opponents with shouts and gestures. At this time, the boys, representing the walls, converged between them into a “dump-coupling”. When all the participants were already sufficiently excited, the team leaders shouted “Let’s fight!” and the walls came together.

Rules

There were restrictions that also applied to “one-on-one” fights:

It was forbidden to hit a fallen, crouching (crouching was considered to have surrendered) or retreating enemy, as well as an enemy who did not have the ability to stop the bleeding on his own (“they don’t beat a smear”) or who was seriously injured. The battle had to be fought face to face - attacking from the side or, moreover, from the back was strictly prohibited (“from the wing, in the neck, in the rear”). It was also forbidden to grab clothes, blows had to be struck above the waist, and any weapons were strictly prohibited. For a piece of lead hidden in a mitten, the culprit faced severe punishment.
The battle was fought strictly with fists; sources speak of the use of three types of blows, corresponding to the striking surfaces of the weapon:

a blow with knuckles, which was interpreted as a thrust with a weapon;
the base of the fist, which corresponded to a crushing or chopping blow;
heads of the phalanges of the fingers, like a blow with a butt.

The most common blows were to the head, to the solar plexus (“to the soul”) and to the ribs (“under the mikitki”). Pushes with shoulders or two hands were allowed.

Mandatory uniforms for participants included thick hats and fur mittens to soften the blow. Rovinsky, in his book “Russian Folk Pictures,” published in 1900, writes: “Before the battle, whole cartloads of leather mittens were brought; factory workers and butchers gathered in batches from different factories; There were hunters from merchants, in fur coats and even from gentlemen. The whole crowd was divided in two and lined up in front of each other in two walls; the fight started in small battles, the “groovy” ones one on one, then everyone else went wall to wall; the reserve fighters stood aside and took part in the fight only when their wall began to be pressed by the opposite wall.”

Progress of the battle

The battle took place in three stages: first, teenagers representing the opposing sides converged, after them unmarried young men joined the fight, and the last to enter the battle were adult men. Sometimes these stages were divided among themselves - the boys finished, the young men came together, and sometimes the battle was not interrupted, the participants simply entered the wall gradually.

Nazimov writes: “And so the matter began with boy skirmishers, who, noisy and teasing the opposing side, jumped out alone, struck one another, knocked them down and again ran away “to their own.” Individual clashes became more frequent, and now in groups, one attacked the other, shouting and yelling. The “walls” came together, and with a terrible roar, whistle, and screams, like a stream breaking through a dam, “wall to wall” quickly rushed - the real battle began.”

The fight was carried out to dislodge the enemy from the “battlefield” or to break its wall. Various tactics drawn from military experience were used: attacking with a wedge-pig, replacing fighters of the first and third ranks, and various maneuvers. Maxim Gorky in his novel “The Life of Matvey Kozhemyakin” describes a fist fight this way: “The city people fight with cunning<…>the heels of good fighters are pushed out from their “wall” against the chest of the Sloboda residents, and when the Sloboda residents, pressing on them, involuntarily stretch out like a wedge, the city will strike together from the sides, trying to crush the enemy. But the suburbanites are accustomed to these tactics: quickly retreating, they themselves envelop the townspeople in a semi-circle...”

An important category of fighters were hopes - powerful guys who tore apart the enemy’s wall. Often hope was let in by opening the wall and left alone with the masters of one-on-one combat, which apparently was a fairly effective tactic.

Fist fights today

Despite the authorities’ struggle with fist fights, their condemnation by the church and even legislative prohibitions, even the Soviet government was unable to completely crush this tradition. Thus, a newsreel from 1954 shows (with inevitable disapproval) a fist fight in the village of Kuplya in the Ryazan region. Mention of these shots was found by B.V. Gorbunov, and the newsreel itself was found by A.S. Tedoradze and
I. A. Buchnev:

Some of the last living bearers of the tradition were found in the late nineties of the last century in the village of Atamanov Ugol, Tambov region. Looking at these strong old men, it is not so difficult to imagine what the walls of their youth were like.

The current country fight clubs and football skirmishes can also be considered, albeit with a stretch, as a continuation of this tradition. Therefore, we will conclude the article with another quote from Lebedev:

“All that can be said in conclusion of what has been stated is to cite the words of the chronicler: “...our land is great...”, etc. and add that fist fights have survived all the laws and have been preserved - for the intelligentsia they took on the appearance of an athletic struggles, on the stages - as a paid spectacle, but among the people themselves continue unrestrictedly and everywhere, not even passing through the capitals, where they apparently should become an anachronism; and it is practiced in the same types and scenes as in hoary antiquity, except not so often and not on such a grandiose scale.”

For centuries, fist fights remained the most popular winter pastime in Rus' and were held both during the period from Christmas to Epiphany, and on Maslenitsa. What distinguished these “daring gatherings” from an ordinary fight, except for the ban on the use of weapons?

Russian fist fighting, unlike brawling, followed certain rules. They read: “do not hit someone who is lying down,” “do not hit someone who is crippled,” “do not hit a smear” (that is, end the fight after the appearance of blood), “fight face to face.” The participants in the battle always belonged to the same age group. The battle was usually started by teenagers, they were replaced by boys on the field, and then young married men - “strong fighters” - entered the battle. Thus, a certain equality of power was maintained.

They prepared for battles in advance, a couple of weeks in advance: they chose a place, usually a smooth, level, well-compacted space, agreed on the rules of the game and the number of participants, and chose atamans. Men and boys steamed several times a week in the baths, tried to eat more meat and bread, which, according to legend, gave the fighter strength and courage. The teams were composed according to socio-territorial affiliation. Two villages, two ends of one large village, monastic peasants with landowners, and even two urban districts (as in Veliky Novgorod) could fight with each other.

Fist fights could take place either with fists or with sticks, while fist fighting was more often chosen. It was impossible to use any other weapon. Instead of modern doping, fighters often used rather dubious means of increasing prowess and strength. For example, in one of the ancient Russian medical books the following advice was given: “kill a black snake with a saber or knife, take the tongue out of it, screw it into green and black taffeta, and put it in the left boot, and put the shoes in the same place.” There was special equipment for combat: thick, tow-lined hats and fur mittens that softened the blow.

Fist fighting was carried out in two versions: “wall to wall” and “clutch - dump”. In a “wall to wall” battle, the fighters, lined up in one row, had to hold it under the pressure of the enemy’s “wall”. There were also tactical techniques: the fighters held formation, attacked with a wedge, and retreated into an ambush. The battle ended with the enemy breaking through the wall and the enemies fleeing. It is generally accepted that this type of fist fighting took shape no earlier than the 18th century. In the “couple-dump” option, everyone chose an opponent based on their strength and did not retreat until complete victory, after which they “coupled” into battle with another.

The battle began with the passage of the main fighters. On the field, the guys stood as two walls facing each other, slightly bullying the “enemy” and cheering themselves up with shouts. At this time, in the middle of the field, the teenagers were setting up a “dump-clutch”, preparing for future battles. Then the ataman’s cry was heard, followed by a roar, a whistle, a cry: “let’s fight,” and the battle began. The strongest fighters joined the battle at the very end. The old men who watched the fist fight acted as judges and gave advice to those who had not yet entered the fight. The battle ended with the enemy fleeing the field and a general celebration of the fighters.

Fist fights have accompanied Russian celebrations for many centuries. Many foreigners who visited Muscovy in the 16th and 17th centuries provide a detailed description of the battles of the “good fellows-kul fighters”. In fact, for the Russians it was a real national sport, similar to English boxing.

Fist fights were often held in Ancient Rus'. They existed in Russia from ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to entertainment, fist fighting was a kind of school of war, developing among the people the skills necessary to defend the Motherland. To denote competitions, in addition to the term “fist fight”, the following terms were used: “fists”, “boiovishche”, “navkulachki”, “fist striker”, “fighter”.

Story

The first mention of such fights was made by the chronicler Nestor in 1048:
“Aren’t we living like bastards... with all sorts of flattering morals, predominant from God, with trumpets and buffoons, and harps, and mermaids; We see that the game has been elaborated, and there are many people, as if they were pushing each other’s shame away from the spirit of the intended business. »
Rules and types of fist fighting

There is information that Peter I liked to organize fist fights “in order to show the prowess of the Russian people.”

Under Catherine II, fist fights were very popular. Count Grigory Orlov was a good fighter and often invited famous fist fighters to measure their strength with him.

Nicholas I in 1832 completely banned fist fights “as harmful fun.”

After 1917, fist fighting was classified as a relic of the tsarist regime, and, not becoming a sporting form of wrestling, died out.

In the 90s of the 20th century, attempts were made to revive the schools and styles of Slavic martial arts, including fist fighting.

Fist fighting in art

The artist Mikhail Ivanovich Peskov reflected the popularity of fist fighting during the time of Ivan the Terrible in his painting “Fist Fight under Ivan IV.”

Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov described the fist fights he saw in Kazan, on the ice of Lake Kaban in his “Tale of Student Life.”

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov painted the painting “Fist Fight”.

“Local authorities seem to turn a blind eye to this... custom, probably not having in mind the positive instructions of their superiors, and perhaps they themselves were secretly spectators of such massacres, especially since many significant people in the city are champions of antiquity, these believed fun is very useful for the development and maintenance of physical strength and warlike inclinations of the people. And it was difficult for the Arzamas mayor, that is, the mayor, to cope with the help of 10-15 guards and even a full disabled team of 30-40 people with a gathering of fighters, which, in addition to the numerous spectators egging them on, extended, according to eyewitnesses, up to 500 people.

The same was repeated verbatim in subsequent editions of this code of laws. But, despite all the prohibitions, fist fights continued. They were held on holidays, sometimes every Sunday.

The name “wall” comes from the traditionally established and never changed combat order in fist fights, in which the sides of the fighters lined up in a dense line of several rows and marched as a solid wall towards the “enemy.” A characteristic feature of wall combat is linear formations, the necessity of which is dictated by the goal of the competition - to oust the opposing party from the fighting area. The retreating enemy regrouped, gathered new forces and, after a respite, entered the battle again. Thus, the battle consisted of separate battles and usually lasted for several hours, until one of the sides finally defeated the other. Wall formations have direct analogies with the formations of the ancient Russian army.

The scale of mass fist fights was very different. They fought street to street, village to village, etc. Sometimes fist fights attracted several thousand participants. Wherever fist fights took place, there were permanent traditional places for fighting. In winter they usually fought on the ice of the river. This custom of fighting on a frozen river is explained by the fact that the flat, snow-covered and compacted surface of the ice was a convenient and spacious platform for fighting. In addition, the river served as a natural boundary dividing a city or region into two “camps.” Favorite places for fist fights in Moscow in the 19th century: on the Moscow River near the Babyegorodskaya Dam, at the Simonov and Novodevichy Convents, at the Sparrow Hills, etc. In St. Petersburg, fights took place on the Neva, Fontanka, and at the Narva Gate.

There was a leader at the “wall”. In different regions of Russia he was called differently: “bashlyk”, “head”, “elder”, “battle elder”, “leader”, “old man”. On the eve of the battle, the leader of each side, together with a group of his fighters, developed a plan for the upcoming battle: for example, the strongest fighters were singled out and distributed along the entire “wall” to lead separate groups of fighters who made up the battle line of the “wall”, reserves for a decisive strike were planned and camouflage in in the formation of the main group of fighters, a special group of fighters was allocated in order to knock out a specific fighter from the enemy from the battle, etc. During the battle, the leaders of the parties, directly participating in it, encouraged their fighters, determined the moment and direction of the decisive blow. At P.P. Bazhov’s tale “The Broad Shoulder” contains the bashlyk’s instructions to his fighters:
“He arranged the fighters as he thought best, and punishes them, especially those who used to be at the root and were considered the most reliable.