“Jogo
do pau” can be roughly translated into stick/clubb game/play and it
is an ancient fighting art form typicall to Portugal and Galicia
(Northern Spain). There are theories that it came to Portugal through
it's maritime discoveries and influences from India, but there is
documental proof that it was already been taught in the Middle Ages
in Portugal (see “A ensinança de bem cavalgar em toda a sela”, a
riding book written by the Portuguese King D. Duarte at the turn of
the 14th
to the 15th
century).
16th/17th cnetury images, probably Italian or German showing stick and baton fights. Images taken from
It must have developed from a daily necessity of self-defense in more
secluded places and it only implies a broad stick (about 1,5 meter
long – 5 feet – and heavier on one of the ends) and some quick
movements to achieve that. The urban version of this “game” has a
smaller clubb (about 80 cm) and it is more of a baton or truncheon
style with some sort of ribbing at the heavy end to prevent splinters
to fall of.
Baton and stick. Images taken from
It is the poor men's weapon of choice, since swords or any other
metal weapons would be only allowed to certain types of social
classes and a stick is something every men
or woman can use, whether it is for walking, whether it is to keep
cattle or move boats along riversides.
Why is it called a game or a play? It doesn't come from the innocent
idea of children's social interaction, but more of a swift use of
technique. Watch the video below and you'll
get the picture.
Games like these would be played in social gatherings like market
places and even villages or towns would have their best “players”
fighting in competitions. There were also many men who would make a
profession out of it by traveling from town to town or market place
to participate in competitions and win their prizes. Another form of
“professional” usage of this fighting technique was also used,
but we'll get to that in just a while.
Usually a fight would be called a “rixa” or a scuffle and it can
also be one against several others. The stick allows to keep a
distance from your enemy, whether it is a wolf or a human. It's
efficiency is great and it can cause serious damage and even death.
It takes many years of hard training to become a master , but using a
stick to just fight is a simple enough idea for
young men to start fights for any small
reason and “clubbing” each other.
To beat up anyone one would have a grudge
for, to force people into making payments of debt or any other sort
of “payments”, to participate in political related movements
where many of the reasons why to hire men who could play the game
well enough, to the point that the “jogo do pau” was forbidden or
even been seen wearing a stick would grant
one immediate imprisonment.
There are episodes in the Portuguese
History where this sort of fight was used against political rivals.
The best example is during the Portuguese civil war, also known as
Liberal Wars (1828-34, a succession war between two brothers who
claimed the Portuguese throne after the French Invasions and after
the death of their father D. João VI) where the supporters of D.
Miguel (Miguelistas) had what was called “caceteiros” or
clubbers, who were nothing more then payed men to beat up any
opposition supporter. It had nothing to do with the natural
development of a self-defense fight, but
more of men who had no moral or physical prejudice in beating up
others.
The Miguelista terror: the Caceteiros, by Carlos Alberto Santos.
At the beginning of the 20th century, this fighting
technique started to loose it's importance, not only because of the
more general use of fire weapons and of the great migration of the
rural population to the cities looking for work, but mostly because
of the heavy policing and laws against the bloody scuffles that would
happen.
Today
there are several schools, most of them included in National
Federations, that teach this technique and it is something you can
hardly find outside them anymore.
Turn of the 19th to the 20th century: 2 Jogo do Pau players; a shepard and a shepardess from Serra da Estrela.
Source unknown.
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