Traditional Sports and Popular Games: A Cultural Legacy

Traditional Sports and Popular Games

The Essence of the Game

Game: Action and free as a spontaneous finality. The activity itself is the very same. It differs from sports in its social impact.

Differences Between Traditional Games and Modern Sports

• Regulation: Simple and modifiable / Strict and standardized
• Variability: Variable from one territory to another / Universal
• Purpose: Recreation / Competitive
• Accessibility: Open to all people / Specialists
• Financial Incentive: Without lucrative fines / Tendency to professionalism
• Context: Centered around labor activities and daily life, related to the context of the people / Developed in rural and urban scopes

Terminology in Physical Activity

Games and sports, physical activity, physical fitness, physical education, and physical culture.

Games and Traditional Sports

They are products of the cultural shadows of the villages that created them, having in account that in a term with cultural significance, reference is made to the set of beliefs, customs, ways of thinking, and sentiments of a group of people at the same time or belonging to the same place.

Popular Games

Those that are organized around the daily activities of the people.

They are divided into:

• Agricultural Activities: Holidays, daily peasant work, transferring working life into entertainment so that young people learn the trades of the countryside.
• Activities Related to War: In times of peace, through these games, people maintained training in techniques such as fencing, archery, etc.
• Activities Related to Magic and Religion: Religious rites were performed to offer or ask for things from the gods, such as a good harvest, rain, etc. These spontaneously arose, although with the passage of time they became more famous and were practiced by a large number of people.

For this reason, sports federations can arise to organize their practice, both at national and international levels, as popular games are converted into traditional ones.

Popular Game vs. Traditional Game vs. Native Sports vs. Traditional Sport

• Popular Game: Practiced in a region or village.
• Traditional Game: Passed down through generations over time.
• Native Sports: A traditional game where competitions are held and it becomes regulated.
• Traditional Sport: A local sport that is regulated and extends to other areas worldwide.

Some Popular Games Practiced in Spain

• Game of the Bar: Millers used to raise metal bars, from their own work, for a betting game that consisted of throwing them as far as possible.
• The Broxas: Players had to throw large spherical balls to get them close to a smaller one.
• Tejuelo: Played with a piece of iron (herrón) that had the shape of a central hole. This was launched on nails embedded in the soil to enter through the hole or leave it as close as possible.
• Luxa of Play: In gymnastic fitness, the participants held each other, trying to bring the opponent to the floor until they fell.
• Bowling: Normally placed in 3 rows of 3 pins to be knocked down by a ball launched from a certain distance.
• La Pelota: Passed from one field to another, between which there was a separate net or line.

Popular games had their maximum apogee from the Renaissance.