Loss of Favorite Goose Causes Gander to Surrender Match

Acika defeated his opponent Zombi in the final match of the 22^nd annual gander fight in the Banat village of Mokrin. And as the ganders exchanged blows, the geese cheered by cackling…

By Bogdan Ibrajter
Photo by Milan Melka

Final gander fights are traditionally held each year on the last weekend in February in this northern Banat region village. Locals say it is part of ganders’ nature to fight. Natural scientists Brehm and Homeier have recorded a pronounced tendency among a male and certain females of the same flock to create lasting relationships. The males are especially jealous, truculent and feisty during mating season and when rearing their young. This tendency is pronounced in late winter and in spring. That is when ganders, like males of all animal species, are most eager to protect their territory, defend their females, nests and young. This is as true for geese on the banks of the Oba River in Siberia as it is for geese on the shores of the Canadian lakes or geese along the Nile River, and of course, our geese in Mokrin. Only the resourceful villagers of Mokrin, however, have made a winter pastime of gander fights.

In Mokrin a flock is usually comprised of one male and four or five females. Should two such flocks chance to meet in the street, by a canal or pond, the males immediately rush forward to pick a fight. It is an established fact that ganders, like roosters, are "kings of their turf", so that gander fights in Mokrin typically occur at the midpoint between their owners’ houses. When flocks happen to meet, ganders make loud trumpeting sounds, stretch their necks rather heroically, spread their wings and exchange blows like boxers in a ring. And while the males fight, the females are whipped up into a frenzy, releasing horrendous cackling to cheer their champions! Regarding the female’s loud cackling, Mokrin villagers like to say, "They’re raising the men them from the dead". There is, however, no great brutality in these fights, as ganders are a civilised species. They pinch each other with their beaks, hold their opponents feathers, all accompanied to lots of flapping of wings….but ultimately the winner is the gander that shows the most resilience, while the defeated gander scampers off in a cute little gander walk together with his flock…They’re adorable even when they fight!

At this year’s 22^nd annual gander fight, the final two contenders were "Zombi", owned by Milan Terzić Košničar, and "Acika", owned by Aleksandar Adamov Bilta. The fight attracted several thousand spectators and geese owners from villages far and wide. The winner was Acika, who is the fivetime reigning world champion! As in previous years, the fight was recorded in a number of ways so that photos and tapes of the fight have reached Toronto, Tokyo, Berlin, and even Hamilton, New Zealand, which is home to people originally from Mokrin.

The man who started it all was village doctor Bogdan Seđakov. He lived a long life and knew every resident of Mokrin by name, although the village in Seđakov’s time had a population of only nine thousand. Doctor Seđakov had a horse and a gig. He would sit in the gig with his gander next to him on the seat, and he would drive off to the pond where flocks of village geese congregated. He then released his gander who would pick a fight with an opponent, and the doctor would relax and enjoy the fight. Tough ganders/ fighters were his passion. At least three dozen share Seđakov’s passion in Mokrin. One of them is Nikola Krišan, who buried two of his favourites in his garden, Tyson and the Little Yellow One, each of which had a long string of victories in gander fights. They both died of old age. Their owner even built them tombstones with epitaphs! Paris has a number of wonders, including a famed cemetery for dogs, where owners bury their four-legged pets. Well, Mokrin has a cemetery for ganders!...

Nikola’s flock is frequently out in the street. The geese parade along the gates to his house. When Nikola returns home from work and his car appears in the street… that’s when some serious cackling starts. The geese recognise his car. They cackle thus greeting their owner Nikola. Geese are not that stupid!... Sava Košničar, for instance, loved his cocky fighter, a gander called Clay, so much he would hardly ever part from him. When Clay died of old age, Sava took the dead bird to the famous taxidermist Braca Jančić of Novi Kneževac. Braca stuffed Clay so that he now looks ‘as if alive’. Sava keeps him in the living room, constantly within his field of vision and, he can pet him whenever his wishes. Duško Kovačić, president of the White Feather Mokrin Geese Society, has a female goose that is 17 years old. This goose roots loudest for Duško’s gander as he fights. The president dares not even approach this goose in the yard because the gander is on to him straight away. The gander jealously defends his old female goose. One Mokrin gander lived to a ripe old age of 23 years, a true feat as geese go.

Writer Raša Popov was on several occasions the host/announcer for the gander fight contests in Mokrin. He once told a story about ‘geese love’, a genuine fairy tale. He related how some ten or so years ago a Mokrin gander that was in love and was tipped to win lost the fight already at the outset… What happened?... Just two days before the bout his favourite female goose had passed away and sorrow had caused him to lose to a clearly inferior opponent! The gander was in no mood for fighting… he was in mourning...