Mixed fighting.... in the 19th century!

[gerhardberger]

Everybody has heard of different traditional fighting styles from a large variety of countries, particularly those from East Asia (even if they existed all around the world)

Many of them have evolved and survived into our days, becoming highly practised sports, others simply died out. Until here, I think I'm not surprising anyone.

I wanted to talk you about one of those regional fights which had a unique characteristic: Loita Galega (kind of: "Galician fighting") Why is it so special? Well, it was widely practised among women!...And better news even! There used to be mixed fights!

Unfortunatelly, most of what we know about Loita Galega is what a few old people can remember from their younger days, and only from some particular areas in Galicia, as it disappeared long ago from most of it. Some efforts have been made to restore it, but with little success as most of the people living today in Galicia have never even heard of it.

However, it's known that those fights were popular in the past, and some authors in the late 19th century have written about it (during the period 1500-1850 there were little if any texts written in Galician or talking about that culture)

I would like to share with you one of those few pieces of literature about mixed fighting. It's a few verses from "Follas Novas" by Rosalía de Castro (1880) I can't find any older script about our favourite subject. It's in Galician (and it would be a great sacrilege to translate it) but I think Spanish or Portuguese speakers won't find problems to understand it:



Xa preto da media noite,
dan encomenzo as peleas;
os mozos loitan cas mozas,
mediando as forzas que teñan
e n’andan en comprimentos
para botarse por terra.
¡Si as vírades que valentes
se amostran na loita as nenas!
¡Fanlle ós mozos cada mágoa
cas súas mans pequeneiras!

-Un xa caíu… foi un home…
¡Ela venceu, venceu ela!
¡Ben pola nena bonita!
¡Que vivan as montañesas!
¡Que vivan, pois loitar saben!
-¡Si fixo trampa….! –el contesta
avergonzado-: foi trampa,
que si non, nin cen coma ela.
-¿Que trampa nin que morcegos…?
Vencinte…
-Non.
-Si
-¡Me venzas


About 20 years later, Emilia Pardo Bazán also made a mention on the subject, saying it was a dying habit. In spanish now:

Esta costumbre de la lucha, que ya va desapareciendo, subsiste aún en algunas comarcas galaicas […]. Luchan todavía las mozas entre sí, y hasta desafían al mozo, degenerando entonces la batalla en deleitable juego

This means, kind of "This habit of fighting, which is now disappearing, stays alive in some galician areas [...] Girls still fight among them, and they even challenge the guy, making the battle degenerate into a pleasant game" (I'm sorry. My literature teacher would have wanted to kill me)



So... how into the past can you find recors of mixed fighting?

[fishtub]

in the bible i know there is mention of something like "if two men are fighting and one of their wives grabs a man by his privates, her hand should be cut off" (I don't know the exact quote)

[gerhardberger]

Originally Posted by fishtub [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

in the bible i know there is mention of something like "if two men are fighting and one of their wives grabs a man by his privates, her hand should be cut off" (I don't know the exact quote)

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Here you can find the wxact quote on different translations of the Bible

[jiminy]

female gladiators in the Roman Colosseum.

[gerhardberger]

Those are interesting exampoles... However, I think we can notice a big difference between them and what the case I showed you... Don't you find the "purpose" of the fights I described closer to what we look for today? After all, we do mixed fighting for fun, excitement or however you want to call it today, and when we look at those ancient times references... wasn't that just about surviving? - Sorry if I seem a bit rude, I was just asking

[matt_ure]

Originally Posted by gerhardberger [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

It would be a great sacrilege to translate it

Why?

Even Google Translate makes a fairly good job of it. It just needs a little help from someone who understands the language.


Already close to midnight,
encomenzo give the fights;
If young girls are fighting,
mediating forces have
and in lengths n'andan
to lie by land.
If the tour that brave
Samples are in the fight girls!
Do you bear young every heartache
If your hands pequeneiro!

-A Already fell ... was a man ...
She won, she won!
Good for the pretty girl!
Long live the mountain!
Long live, fight because they know!
'If fixed trap ....! -the answers
embarrassed: he was cheating,
if not, not a hundred like her.
'What trap bats nor that ...?
Vencinte ...
-not.
-If
-¡Me Venza