Cockfighting
Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term "cock of the game" used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. But it was during Ferdinand Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern cockfighting was first witnessed and documented for Westerners by the Italian Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, in the Kingdom of Taytay.
The gamecocks are specially bred and conditioned for increased stamina and strength. Male and female chickens of such a breed are referred to as gamefowl. Cocks are also bred to be aggressive towards other males of their species. Wagers are often made on the outcome of the match, held in a ring called a cockpit.
Cockfighting is a blood sport due in some part to the physical trauma the cocks inflict on each other, which is sometimes increased by attaching metal spurs to the cocks' natural spurs. While not all fights are to the death, the cocks may endure significant physical trauma. In some areas around the world, cockfighting is still practiced as a mainstream event; in some countries it is regulated by law, or forbidden outright.
Process
Two owners place their gamecock in the cockpit. The cocks fight until one of them dies or is critically injured. Historically, this was in a cockpit, a term which was also used in the 16th century to mean a place of entertainment or frenzied activity. William Shakespeare used the term in Henry V to specifically mean the area around the stage of a theatre. In Tudor times, the Palace of Westminster had a permanent cockpit, called the Cockpit-in-Court.History
Cockfighting is an ancient spectator sport. There is evidence that cockfighting was a pastime in the Indus Valley civilization. The Encyclopedia Britannica holds:Based on his analysis of a Mohenjo-daro seal, Iravatham Mahadevan speculates that the city's ancient name could have been Kukkutarma. However, according to a recent study, "it is not known whether these birds made much contribution to the modern domestic fowl. Chickens from the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley may have been the main source of diffusion throughout the world." Also, "Within the Indus Valley, indications are that chickens were used for sport and not for food ", and by 1000 BC they had assumed "religious significance".
In China, the first recorded cockfight took place in 517 BC.
Some additional insight into the pre-history of European and American secular cockfighting may be taken from The London Encyclopaedia:
An early image of a fighting rooster has been found on a 6th-century BC seal of Jaazaniah from the biblical city of Mizpah in Benjamin, near Jerusalem. Remains of these birds have been found at other Israelite Iron Age sites, when the rooster was used as a fighting bird; they are also pictured on other seals from the period as a symbol of ferocity, such as the late-7th-century BC red jasper seal inscribed "Jehoahaz, son of the king", which likely belonged to Jehoahaz of Judah "while he was still a prince during his father's life".
The anthropologist Clifford Geertz wrote the influential essay Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, on the meaning of the cockfight in Balinese culture.
File:Reliefs of the Bayon.jpg|thumb|left|Bas relief of cockfighting from the Khmer Empire, 12th/13th century
Regional variations
In some regional variations, the birds are equipped with either metal spurs or knives, tied to the leg in the area where the bird's natural spur has been partially removed. A cockspur is a bracelet with a curved, sharp spike which is attached to the leg of the bird. The spikes typically range in length from "short spurs" of just over an inch to "long spurs" almost two and a half inches long. In the highest levels of 17th century English cockfighting, the spikes were made of silver. The sharp spurs have been known to injure or even kill the bird handlers. In the naked heel variation, the bird's natural spurs are left intact and sharpened: fighting is done without gaffs or taping, particularly in India. There it is mostly fought naked heel and either three rounds of twenty minutes with a gap of again twenty minutes or four rounds of fifteen minutes each and a gap of fifteen minutes between them.Cockfighting is common throughout Southeast Asia, where it is implicated in spreading bird flu. Cockfighting is a popular form of fertility worship in Southeast Asia.
India
The sport of cockfighting has long been outlawed in India, with the Supreme Court proclaiming the practice to be in direct violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. According to M Ravindranath Babu Superintendent, Indian Police, it is also considered a hijack of traditional festivals to promote illegal betting and gambling. Despite this, institutional resistance to government bans on cockfighting occurs. At India's ‘Sun God’ festival in 2012, the local Bharatiya Janata Party district committee campaigned for the right to have cock-fights. This was then agreed by local police if it took place inside the temples.Cockfights are currently common in the southern Indian states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and in Tulu Nādu it is a tradition after any ritual to conduct cockfight despite a countrywide ban imposed in 1960. It is a regional spectacle primarily taking place in January, coinciding with harvest festival celebrations. Like Jallikattu, Cock fighting an ancient spectator sport is mentioned in Sangam literature Paṭṭiṉappālai and ''Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai.''
Indonesia
Cockfighting is a very old tradition in Balinese Hinduism, the Batur Bang Inscriptions I and the Batuan Inscription disclose that the tabuh rah ritual has existed for centuries.In Bali, cockfights, known as tajen or Sabung ayam, are practiced in an ancient religious purification ritual to expel evil spirits. This ritual, a form of animal sacrifice, is called tabuh rah. The purpose of tabuh rah is to provide an offering to the evil spirits. Cockfighting is a religious obligation at every Balinese temple festival or religious ceremony. Cockfights without a religious purpose are considered gambling in Indonesia, although it is still largely practiced in many parts of Indonesia. Women are generally not involved in the tabuh rah process. The tabuh rah process is held on the largest pavilion in a Balinese temple complex, the wantilan.
The American anthropologist Clifford Geertz published his most famous work, Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, on the practice of cockfights in Bali. In it, he argued that the cockfight served as a pastiche or model of wider Balinese society from which judgments about other aspects of the culture could be drawn.
Philippines
Cockfighting was already flourishing in pre-colonial Philippines, as recorded by Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian diarist aboard Ferdinand Magellan's 1521 expedition.Cockfighting, locally termed sabong, remains a popular pastime in the Philippines, where both illegal and legal cockfights occur. Legal cockfights are held in cockpits every week, whilst illegal ones, called tupada or tigbakay, are held in secluded cockpits where authorities cannot raid them. In both types, knives or gaffs are used. There are two kinds of knives used in Philippine cockfighting: single-edged blades and double-edged blades; lengths of knives also vary. All knives are attached on the left leg of the bird, but depending on agreement between owners, blades can be attached on the right or even on both legs. Sabong and illegal tupada, are judged by a referee called sentensyador or koyme, whose verdict is final and not subject to any appeal. Bets are usually taken by the kristo, so named because of his outstretched hands when calling out wagers from the audience from memory.
The World Slasher Cup as an international cockfighting derbies biannually held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. It was established in 1990 as international tournament But its origins dates back as early as the 1960s