Juego del Palo
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| Focus | Weapons (sticks) |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Canary Islands, Spain |
| Olympic sport | No |
Juego del palo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxweɣo ðel ˈpalo], game of the stick) is a traditional martial art/folk sport of stick-fighting practiced in the Canary Islands. It involves the combative use of a slender stick from 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 m) long, wielded in both hands, and characterised by fluid motion in attacks and defences.
Though similar stick fighting techniques are present in the Iberian peninsula (e.g. Portuguese and Galician jogo do pau), the origins of jogo del palo may be traced back to the Guanches, the now-extinct indigenous people of the Canary Islands in pre-colonial times during the early 15th century. A Spanish engineer named Leonardo Torriani wrote a history of the Canary Islands in 1590 and included a record of early juego del palo, accompanied by an illustration of two Guanche warriors performing a type of ritual combat with short staves in a small arena. Torriani wrote;
"When two Canarians went to duel, they met at a special place established for this purpose. It was a small enclosure with a level, raised stone platform at each end. To begin, they each stood upon a platform, armed with three of the smooth throwing stones they call tahuas, and also with the stick called magodo or amodeghe. Then they dodged the stones as they were thrown, skillfully twisting their bodies without moving their feet. Next, they stepped down and fenced with the staves, each one trying to gain advantage over the other, as is our custom also."
The art has been maintained through to the present day, undergoing a particular renaissance during the 1970s as part of a general effort to maintain native Canarian folk traditions. It bears resemblance to the Portuguese martial art jogo do pau and the Venezuelan form juego del garrote.
Juego del palo is now a popular sports activity in the Canaries and has been the subject of considerable academic interest as well, with a number of professional conferences having been held at local universities to investigate the history, culture, and technique of the art.
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