Holiday Ayo - Approaching the Commemoration of Indonesian Independence Day, Indonesian people usually do competitions, one of the competitions that are often played is tug of war. This traditional sport is often used as a competition at the Independence Day commemoration event every August 17.

However, do you know the history of tug of war, so that it became popular as one of the 17's competitions in the country? Cited from CNN Indonesia, this is the explanation

The Origins of the Game of Tug of War

Launching various sources, tug of war comes from the ancient cultures of China, India, and Egypt. According to the Tang Dynasty Book, tug of war has existed in Chinese culture since the 8th century BC.

However, tug of war was not a sport, but rather a way to train the Chu Country's military soldiers. New tug of war became a game since Emperor Xuanzong's reign.

While in India it is mentioned that tug of war became known in the 12th century BC. However, the function of tug of war was not clear in that era.

Another note mentions that tug of war began to be known as a sport or game at the Olympic Games held by the Greeks in 500 BC.

Tug of war was also used to train people's physical strength at that time. After that, tug of war became global.

History of tug of war in Indonesia

The history of tug of war in Indonesia was introduced by the Dutch in the colonial era. At first, the Indonesian people were introduced to ropes to pull heavy objects, such as stones, sand, and others.

But slowly the rope is used as a game as entertainment into tug of war.

The tug of war game requires a large rectangular field with a size of 20-40 meters. While the width is about 5-8 meters.

Usually, the boundaries of the field are lined with chalk. While the length of the tug of war rope ranges from 30-50 meters.

In the middle of the rope, there will be a middle mark that separates the ropes from the first and second groups. Usually, this center is marked with paint.

In addition, there is also a limit for each team of about 2.5 meters from the center line to the first person from each group who will pull the rope.

How to play tug of war, which is to form two teams, then each team member stands in their respective area by making a distance between team members to later pull the rope.

Then, each group will pull each other's ropes in different directions. The tug of war assessment for the winning group is those who manage to pull the rope until the opponent enters the team area.

On the other hand, the losing team are those who have been dragged into the opponent's territory or the middle limit is already more in the opponent's territory.