Ram Fight

A surprisingly high number of Bandung residents have never seen one of the famous ram fights. First of all, don’t worry: this is not bloody spectacle along the lines of Spanish bull-fight! I have seen many fights, and no blood was ever spilled. It is just great fun, even for small children. The fights are staged fortnightly on Sunday.

Rams are brought from Bandung as well as from other areas because the occasion is also a big event for breeders. At the site, dozens of rams are tied to pegs and await their turn for a showdown. Under a thatched roof, overlooking a fenced-in square, a music group beats the drums to the squeaking sound of a Sundanese flute, somewhat oblique to Western ears but perhaps just the right thing to make those rams go wild.

Then the first two rams are paired, selected from among the contestants to be of more or less equal physical strength, and the square is cleared. The referee declares the first round should begin, and the respective owners let their rams go. Each of the rams takes up position (about 10 m apart), and then they charge forward simultaneously for a crashing head-on collision. Some hair floats to the ground but the fighting spirit is unbroken. Again they take up position, run forward, and crash against each other. This contest continues until the superiority of one of them has been established. Mostly the weaker on turns away and the fight comes to an end in this very natural manner, but sometimes the referee calls a technical knockout. As I said, I have never seen a real knockout or any serious injury occur.

Source: All Around Bandung, Gottfried Roelcke, Gary Crabb.