Glima
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There are four points that differentiate it from other forms of wrestling:
- The opponents must always stand erect.
- The opponents step clockwise around each other (looks similar to a waltz). This is to create opportunities for offense and defense, and to prevent a stalemate.
- It is not permitted to fall down on your opponent or to push him down in a forceful manner, as it is not considered sportsman-like.
- The opponents are supposed to look across each other's shoulders as much as possible because it is considered proper to wrestle by touch and feel rather than sight.
Glima is today and has always been friendly recreation and a gentleman's sport, but, as the lösatags version (described below) shows, it also has a rougher side.
Glima is a very old combative style. Certain evidence of glima dates back to the 12th century but some descriptions of wrestling in the Icelandic sagas and the Younger Edda makes it reasonable to believe that the system is much older. The core of the system is eight main bragd (techniques), but these form the basic training for approximately 50 ways to execute a throw or takedown.
The word glima is often translated as “the game of joy”. It may be related to the words glimmer (English)/glimma (Swedish)/ glimre (Danish)/ glimt (Norwegian) that mean a flash or sudden reflection of light. In the latter case the name would be a reference to the style's (evidently) very fast techniques.
Surrounding glima is a code of honour called Drängskap that calls for fairness, respect for and caring about the security of one's training partners.
Glima comes in three forms: byxtagsglima, livtagsglima, and lösatagsglima. (These terms are taken from Norwegian. The three styles probably have other names in Icelandic.)
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Byxtagsglima
The first version is by far the most widespread and the one typically associated with the term glima. Indeed, some would say the term should be restricted to this kind only, and it is this version which is Iceland's national sport. Historically it was also the one put in highest esteem for favoring technique over strength. Each of the two wrestlers wears a special belt around the waist and separate, additional belts on the lower thighs of each leg, which are connected to the main belt with vertical straps. A fixed grip is then taken with one hand in the belt and the other in the pants at thigh height. From this position the glima-wrestler attempts to trip and throw his opponent. In this style of glima, if a wrestler is thrown he may attempt to land on his feet and his hands and if he succeeds in doing so he has not lost the fall. The winning condition in this type of glima is to make the opponent touch the ground with an area of the body between the elbow and the knee.
Livtagsglima
Livtagsglima is more similar to other styles of wrestling and is considered to be more a test of strength than of technique. In livtagsglima the opponents take hold of each other's upper body. The one who touches the ground with any part of the body except the feet has lost.
Lösatagsglima
In lösatagsglima the contestants may use the holds they wish. This style is a kind of recreation since it was out of practice for a period of about 100 years before being taken up again recently, within the last generation.
It is much more aggressive and differs in many ways from other styles of glima. Lösatagsglima comes in two forms: A version for self-defence and a version for friendly competition. In either all kinds of wrestling techniques are allowed but in the friendly version they are still taught to be executed in a way so they won’t cause the opponent injury. In such a friendly match the winner is considered the one who is standing tall while the other is lying on the ground. This means that if both the opponents fall to the ground together the match will continue on the ground by the use of techniques to keep the other down while getting up oneself.
Even more divergent from other forms of glima is lösatagsglima when trained purely for self-defence (as is done a couple of places in Scandinavia). In such training the harmful and hurtful techniques/ways of executing the techniques, that are not accepted in other forms of glima, are explored in as free and creative a way as possible while not injuring one's training-partners.
Literature
- M. Bennett Nichols ,Glíma, New Orleans (1999)