Traditional wrestling or mbapatt and the return to the roots in Sine

Given the development of sport-business and the popular culture of traditional wrestling in Sine, it is necessary to examine the cultural withdrawal of Seereer identity, a source of rooting in the family, ethnic, and village values of yesteryear, as revealed by the use of qualitative methods. The analysis of data collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with eighteen wrestlers from the traditional villages of Boof, Patar, and Somb, including three former wrestlers, as well as with two village leaders, found that the return to the roots is a reality marked by the mastery of the Seereer language, the wrestlers’ belonging to the great traditional families “thiofanes,” faata-faata,” karé-karé,” and “simala,” and the consultation of the pangols (Kharwaakho Thioofaan, Mam Mendis, Laga Ndongo Taaboor, Diomay Niane, and Sigayatiaam). These elements dictate the conditions of victory, especially through the recommendations of sacrifices and the use of roots, bark, leaves, fruits, and flowers from trees and/or plants suitable for the protection, celebrity, victory, and glory of the “mbapatt” wrestler. Rooting is therefore a condition of emergence in wrestling in Sine.