Basque sports, “Herri kirolak”.
Traditional Basque sports are based on the daily tasks of the Basques. Basque sports are a faithful reflection of the history of our people, if you look at each of the Basque sports that we name, you can see how it is directly related to some task that was done in the farmhouses not many years ago. The reason why Basque sports are so heavy is that most of them have their origin in the rural area, which you will have guessed when you see that they include logs, axes and even carts. What happens is that Basque sports arose from that competitive nature that we humans have, to see if we can be better than the other; they are based on labor activities, such as cutting firewood for the winter, moving rocks for construction and the like. Let’s name some of the most popular Basque sports: Aizkora proba (aizkora is axe in Basque), this instrument is related to cutting wood, but not based on cutting trees, but as we said before, in making firewood; the trunks are already without bark and are usually made of beech wood. This test can be performed taking into account the cutting speed as the Canadian or Australian or endurance, this is one of the best known Basque sports.
Aizkolariak
There are also the borers that are the competitions of a practice originated in mining; rocks are hit with metal bars and the purpose is to drill holes in them, as when in mining this was done to put in the holes created dynamite and thus blow up the environment to exploit the mine. Making holes in rocks by hand with a metal bar, something simple but at the same time very dear to the Basques as it reflects part of the history of this people.
barrenak
Sega proba is a test in which participants challenge each other to see who is the one who is able to cut the most kilos of grass, once again, the duty of everyday life turned into a sport.
Segalaria
Sokatira, the sokatira is a Basque game or Basque sport in which two groups of people pull on the same rope in order to try to take their opponents to their ground, do not be fooled, this sport is not only strength, technique is very important.
sokatira
Estropadak, estropadak is perhaps the most international Basque game or Basque sport and the most televised, in Spain it is better known as traineras.
Estropadak
Cutting logs with a saw is also something that derives from the lumberjacks of the Basque Country area, but it is not only about cutting the rings of the logs, as you must have special skills to be able to cut with speed. One of the best known Basque sports is stone lifting, this Basque sport is very well known nowadays and we have to thank Iñaki Perurena, a harrijasotzaile who has marked a before and after in the Basque culture, we already talked about him and his famous stone museum of Leitza in a previous article, we recommend you to read it.
iñaki perurena museum
Another one that enters the list of Basque sports based on activities, is interestingly special in its name, Carrera con sacos or smugglers’ race; this is not something current, but rather adduced from the past, when on the border between Spain and France you could see people crossing from one side to the other like this, carrying heavy sacks on their backs. A very amusing Basque sport is the one that involves endurance as far as you can take your limit, it is the race with txingak, which is to carry two weights, one in each hand, but it has no time or distance limitation, it will be as far as the participant achieves it.
txinga
Basque pelota, eskupilota in Basque, is the Basque sport that is currently most in demand and most popular. Like many Basque sports, it has the fronton as the main protagonist and challenges players to hit the ball with their hands with the maximum precision and technique possible.
Basque pelota
Now if you didn’t know about Basque games, you already know more about them, cheer up and practice some of them! We leave you a video as a summary:
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