Games and sports

Card games with the Spanish deck

Juego de baraja is card play with the Spanish deck (baraja), a tradition deeply rooted in Canarian village festivals: it covers several games, including ronda, often organised as social tournaments at teleclubs or in the main square.

Small traditional boat

A batel is a small traditional fishing boat. Batel regattas at seaside festivals are races between local crews in the harbour or along the coast.

Traditional game similar to bowls

Bola canaria is a traditional sport similar to pétanque, played with wooden balls on a hard-packed dirt court: one of the most widespread native disciplines in the Canary Islands.

Horseback game: catch a ribbon at a gallop

A horseback festival game: rolled-up coloured ribbons, each with a small ring, hang from a rope stretched over the track. Riding at a gallop, the rider tries to spear a ring with a small rod and carry off the ribbon. A close relative of the sortija.

Sack race

The classic race hopping inside a sack, one of the traditional festival games for children and adults.

Card game: start from the fives and build runs

A Spanish card game much loved by older players: you start by laying down the fives and build runs up and down in each suit. The first to run out of cards wins.

Greasy pole to cross or climb for a prize

A festival game: a pole smeared with soap or grease, upright or stretched out over the harbour water, that you must climb or walk to the end to grab a flag or prize. In seaside villages it's set up on the quay, and whoever slips ends up in the sea.

Homemade cart race down a dirt slope

El Tartaneo is the tartana race at the Casillas de Morales fiestas: riders hurtle at full speed down the steep dirt-and-stone slope of the Cuesta del Cantil. The afternoon of music that follows carries the same name.

Canarian team card game of raises and signals

Envite is a traditional Canarian card game played with the Spanish deck, in pairs or teams. Players raise the stakes («envidar») and partners pass each other facial signals, which the rules allow. A fixture of fiesta tournaments in the village square.

Canarian martial art with wooden sticks

The juego del palo canario is a traditional Canarian martial art: two opponents face each other with wooden sticks, parrying and attacking without actually striking.

The long staff of Fuerteventura's shepherds, also used for fighting

In Fuerteventura the «lata» is the shepherds' long staff, known elsewhere as the garrote: it was used to vault and move across rocks and ravines. As a fighting discipline, the lata majorera is the island's own style of stick fighting, shown at tournaments alongside the lucha del garrote.

Traditional Canarian wrestling on sand

Lucha canaria is the islands' traditional wrestling style, in which two barefoot opponents face off on a sand ring, trying to make any part of the other's body but the feet touch the ground.

Traditional fighting with the shepherds' long staff

A traditional Canarian fighting discipline using the garrote, the long staff shepherds used to get across rocks and ravines. It is practised in pairs, with set attacks and parries, and is related to the juego del palo.

Traditional card game with the Spanish deck

In the Canaries «napolitana», or «politana», is a card game played with the Spanish deck, mentioned as early as the 19th century alongside tute and brisca. Elsewhere in Spain the word means a combination of cards, not a game.

Fuerteventura's native herding dog

A native dog breed of Fuerteventura, sturdy and short-coated, usually dark, kept for centuries to guard homes and livestock. Livestock fairs hold dedicated contests for it.

Traditional Canarian hunting dog

An ancient hunting breed typical of the Canary Islands: slender, with upright ears and a keen nose, used mainly for rabbit. Rural festivals hold carreras de podencos, speed races between the dogs.

Traditional card game with the Spanish deck

Torneo de Ronda is a tournament of ronda, a traditional Canarian card game played with the Spanish deck (baraja), very common at teleclubs and village squares during the fiestas, often played in pairs or teams.

Board game with numbered tiles

Rummikub is a tile-based board game similar in mechanics to card rummy: players form sets and runs, and it is often organised as a social tournament during village festivals.

Shepherds' vaulting with a long wooden pole

The salto del pastor is the traditional technique Canarian shepherds used to cross steep ground, vaulting over cliffs and ravines with a long wooden pole (lanza or garrote). Today it is practised as a traditional sport.

Old Fuerteventura card game for six players

A traditional card game recorded in Fuerteventura as early as the 19th century: a six-player version of zanga, played with the Spanish deck. Today you mostly find it at festival tournaments and senior centres.

Friendly match between singles and married people

Solteros contra casados (singles vs. married) is a friendly match, typical of fiestas patronales, in which the village splits into teams by marital status.

Horseback game: spearing a ring at a gallop

Sortija ecuestre is a traditional equestrian game in which a galloping rider must thread a small rod or lance through a suspended ring: a test of skill and precision.

The sand ring of Canarian wrestling

The terrero is the arena of Canarian wrestling: a sand circle about ten metres across where two wrestlers face each other. Many villages have their own, open-air or indoors.

Team card game of bluffing and signals

Truco is a team card game popular in the Canaries, played with the Spanish deck (baraja): players bet on card values and bluff, using agreed signals between partners. A fixture of fiesta tournaments in the village square.

Races of traditional boats with a triangular sail

The lateen sail is the triangular sail of traditional boats. Fuerteventura holds regattas and a league with these boats: a traditional sport best watched from the quay or the shore.