10/7/14
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*M-I-L = Mother-in-Law
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“Come on, Bjork. You can do it!” yelled the senior lady standing next to me.
Catching her eye I asked, “What in the world is going on here?”
She smiled, in what I interpreted as a patronizing smirk, “It’s wife carrying, of course.”
“What?”
“Wife carrying. Yeah, it’s kind of new here, but it’s big in Finland. I’m surprised you’ve never heard of it. If we could just get the TV station interested, it would really take off.”
As I watched I saw what I took to be six husbands carrying their wives on their backs and running through an obstacle course, each trying for the best time. The obstacles consisted of slogging through a sand pit, going around several fences, and splashing through a shallow pool. The wife wore a safety helmet to protect her head, while the husband wore a special belt for her to hold. But other than that it was pretty much just as the name sounds.
“How did such a game get invented?” I asked the lady.
“Oh, it dates back to the days of stealing a girl from the neighboring village to make her your wife.”
“Sounds barbaric,” I commented. But she just looked at me like I was the one who was out of touch.
“Watch where you’re going, Bjork!” she yelled again.
I noticed that between the teams there were several styles of carrying. There was what you’d call the regular piggy-back, with the wife right side up, her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. But there were also some doing a fireman’s carry, with the wife carried across one shoulder facing rearwards and holding onto the the back of his belt. But then there was a really weird looking carry. The wife was practically upside down, with her torso going down his back and her hands holding the belt, but her two legs straddling either side of his head and sticking out in front of him. It’s hard to describe; you’d have to see it.
“Why is that team carrying the wife upside down?”
“Oh, that’s the Estonian carry,” the lady answered. “It’s more efficient for the husband, even though it’s harder for the wife. And since this is a game of speed some people find it the fastest way. That’s the carry used by the last half-dozen world champions.”
“World champions? You mean this is actually an organized sport?” But she didn’t answer me, she was concentrating on the race.
“Hurry up, slowpoke, or you’ll regret it!” she yelled to the team that seemed to be her focus.
“Is that team in second place the one you’re cheering?” I asked.
“Yeah. That’s my daughter and son-in-law. I have to keep him motivated so he doesn’t slow down.”
“Oh, how nice,” I said to her. “C’mon, Bjork!” I called to the couple she’d indicated. But I don’t think he heard me.
“You’re still behind! Move it, or you know what’ll happen!” No question, she had made herself heard.
Her incitements seemed to help because the young man suddenly gave a burst of speed and moved into the lead. By now my curiosity had gotten the better of my propriety and I had to ask.
“Um, just what is it that will happen if he loses?”
“Hold on a sec,” she said.
With a final cheer we watched as her team crossed the finish line ahead of the others, and his time on the scoreboard showed he had taken first place for the day. The lady then turned to me and answered my question.
“Oh, I let him know beforehand that if he didn’t come in first, I’d be moving into their apartment for a month-long visit.”
With a sly smile she moved off into the crowd to go congratulate the new winners. Then with her gone I smiled as well and thought to myself, “Yeah, that’d make me run pretty fast too.”
I then went home, researched the sport on the Internet, and showed my wife the videos I found. I think her dismissal wasn’t very vehement and that by next year I’ll be able to bring her around. I’m also sure that if I get just a little practice I can make poor Bjork have to suffer a long visit from my new friend.
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More on ‘Wife Carrying’:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife-carrying
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