Lelo Burti – Easter Battle for Ball in Shukhuti

Every year on Easter Sunday residents of lower and upper Shukhuti village in western Georgian region of Guria compete in Lelo Burti, a traditional Georgian game similar to rugby. The game, which looks more like a melee, has a simple rule – number of players in each team is not set; neither it has fixed time limit; the game ends only after one team successfully pushes its way through opponent and brings heavy leather ball, tightly stuffed with dirt, on the outer edge of its opponent’s field.