Basque rural sports

Basque rural sports, known as Deportes Rurales in Spanish or Herri Kirolak in Basque, is the term used for a number of sports competitions rooted in the traditional lifestyles of the Basque people. The term force basque is used in French.

Virtually all regional Basque rural sports have their origin in the two main historical occupations, the or baserritarra (farmer) and arrantzalea (fisher), with a larger percentage hailing from the rural background. The sociological changes in the Basque Country have led many of these becoming technically obsolete in the 19th and 20th century. Few continue to exist as rural or marine activities connected to everyday life and have become rare but many have managed to transform themselves into popular sports instead, some of which have become extremely popular.

Winners receive a Basque beret (boina or txapela) as a trophy, hence the Basque word for "champion" - txapeldun, literally "one who has a beret".

Betting, both by the competitors and the audience, is very common and popular at such sporting events in the north of Spain.

In 2006 the Basque Government identified 18 particular rural sports, called H18K, in its Strategic Plan for promotion. These 18 categories are (in alphabetical order):

Literally "axe test", this rural sport more commonly known as aizkolaritza, from the Basque word for a wood-cutter. This is a very popular sport today but its origins are to be found in the rural wood cutting and charcoal burning communities of earlier periods.

In this competition, the wood cutter has to chop through a number of tree trunks arranged on the ground in rows as quickly as possible while standing on the log to beat his competitors.

This sport is often seen in summer at local festivities and open-air dances, held in towns all over the country.

This sport translates as Human-animal tests and is a collective term for a number of sports in which humans and animals are involved in dragging heavy weights. There are four main categories:

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