One of the Canary Islands’ native sports travelled to Madrid at the weekend as part of events marking the region’s annual celebrations, which culminate at the end of the month.
The Spanish capital’s central Plaza de Callao was transformed into an open-air sand arena on Saturday to host an official league bout between top Canarian wrestling (“lucha canaria”) clubs Saladar de Jandía (Fuerteventura) and Candelaria de Mirca (La Palma).
The sand circle was built using 24 tonnes of black volcanic sand shipped expressly from La Palma for the occasion. The wrestlers were flown in for the ground-breaking fixture by regional airline Binter, which played Canarian music on board and provided cabin lighting in the yellow, blue and white colours of the Canarian flag.
The presence of the competitors – in a sport in which the twelve members of each team aim to throw their opponents off balance and make them touch the sand with any part of their body, except the feet – drew a massive crowd of curious onlookers. Also present was a sizeable representation of Canarians living in Madrid and the region’s president Fernando Clavijo, accompanied by several Canarian government ministers.
Delighted officials say the event provided a wonderful shop window not just for “lucha canaria” but for traditional Canarian sports generally, and it played a key part in showcasing aspects of the Islands’ identity and culture during the run-up to Canary Islands’ Day on 30 May.
Further league fixtures in Madrid and other parts of mainland Spain may be organised to capitalise on the keen interest generated in those who turned out to watch the unique wrestling match.
Of all the traditional local sports in the Canaries, there can be no doubt that Canarian wrestling remains the most popular to this day, with official leagues both on each island and at regional level. The best wrestlers are accorded hero status and can earn lucrative contracts with their teams.
Records show that the sport was practised by the earliest inhabitants of the Islands, prior to the conquest by Spain, and passed down from one generation to the next. According to chronicles, the wrestling bouts were organised to solve conflicts with respect to land and other matters.
Although exceptional in that it was an actual league fixture, the Madrid appearance by the wrestlers is not the first time Canarian wrestling has travelled far outside the Islands. Teams from the Canaries regularly travel to Korea to compete in exhibition matches against their Korean counterparts in a hybrid competition format combining the Canarian variant and Ssireum wrestling.
Photo: Gobierno de Canarias
