The Canarian government is committed to keeping alive these old sports and games and over the past ten years, more than 100,000 students have studied the history of these traditional past times as part of an awareness programme.
Ofcourse, many Canarians enjoy the mainstream sports like basketball, football, windsurfing and surfing. But more are also taking part in the old traditional games which have survived centuries
Canarian wrestling (la lucha Canaria) is still extremely popular and there are several clubs around the island - la Union Antigua which competes in the first division is based at the municipal wrestling faciliies in Antigua.
But even older sports and games still exist and are far from just a dying tradition.
Infact, in December Fuerteventura hosted the second International Congress of Traditional Sports and Games which was founded the in 1996.
So what are these old games and sports?
Wrestling for one. In Spain there is four types of wrestling and two of these are found in the Canaries – la lucha Canaria and El Palo Canaria which resembles fencing. Two opponents face each other and launch into various attacking and defending movements “marcar” (marking).
Speed and precision is what this sport is all about and a master of the palo can knock you out in seconds.
As with many traditional games, it is thought to have originated among the Guanches and tales exist about how they used the palo to repel invading foreign armies.
Over the years, it became a method of resolving disputes between neighbours – anything from the ownership of an animal to property disputes.
El Arrastre (dragging) can still be seen on local Canarian television stations. A team of cows and bulls have to drag a weight over a certain distance.
Stone lifting (levantamiento y pulseo) involves lifting a huge boulder as high as possible without touching any other part of their body – a bit like the stone lifting competitions seen on TV’s Strongest Man series.
The Shepherd’s Leap came from the Guanches needing to cross the rugged terrain quickly. They used to run with a long pole which they used to pole vault the countless ravines, gaps and crevices.
El Garrote derived from this long pole. Two contestants take either end and use a series of attacking and defending movements to score points.
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