- Aizkolaritza
Wood-chopping contests are a popular form of "herri kirol" or rural sport in the Basque Country. Competitions are commonly held at most festivals, especially town festivals and usually involve at least two individuals or teams competing against each other.
The name
The sport is called "aizkolaritza" in Basque, from "aizkolari" "wood-chopper" plus the noun-forming
suffix "-tza". The word "aizkora" "axe" itself is derived fromLatin "asciola" [Trask, L. "The History of Basque", Routledge 1997] . It is also known as "aizkol jokoa" the "axe game". Spanish uses a loanword from Basque, "aizcolari" and in French the sport is called "coupeurs de bûches".Rules
The sections of trunk are usually
beech without visible knots from the forests ofNavarre . For competitions, the trunk sections closest to the roots or branches are used as they are of less value to the wood industry. The trunks are categorised according to theircircumference using an old Basque measure called "ontza", equivalent to 0.0254m. They commonly are used in the following sizes:Provincial championships
Bizkaiko Irekia
The "open championship of
Biscay ".Gipuzkoako Txapelketa
The championship of
Gipuzkoa , a province level championship held annually.Nafarroako Txapelketa
The championship of
Navarre , a province level championship held annually.Other championships
Donostiako Urrezko Kopa
The "golden cup of San Sebastián", held annualy with 5 finalists competing in the final event. To date, the best time is held by Donato Larretxea who completed the task in a record 25 minutes 17 seconds.
Variations
Normally the "aizkolaris" stand on the trunk sections but there are variations where they are required to chop a vertical tree from the top called "zutiko enborra" or "upright trunk". This is achieved by chopping notches into the trunk into which the "aizkolari" inserts a plank. He then stands on the plank to reach higher up, working his way around the trunk in a spiral until he can chop the top section. The trunks are up to 6m tall and usually no safety equipment is used up to that height.
There is another variation combining the chopping competition with a race.
Women and "aizkolaritza"
Traditionally a male dominated sport, women have begun to take part in "aizkolari" competitions in recent years as they have in other traditional Basque sports, for example Itziar Goenaga, Kristina Saralegi and Maika Ariztegi.
History
Wood-chopping as a profession has a long tradition in the Basque Country and has been recorded since medieval times when the profession was important to the local ship-building and charchoal burning industry which later also fed the metal-working industry. This work was carried out by small, itinerant groups of men living in the woods, the youngest and strongest usually felling the trees and the older preparing the felled trees and building the "txondorra", the mound for burning charcoal. In these communities, competitions were common to establish who the strongest and fastest "aizkolariak" were.
The use of large quantities of charcoal as fuel for the many foundries in the Basque Country in the 18th century together with the use of wood for
shipbuilding led to large areas of woodland being cut down. In time, those country towns and valleys that were famed for their top wood-cutters turned out to be those that have safeguarded the wealth of their forests.As popular competitions they were not recorded until the 19th century. Interestingly, the names of the competitors were not recorded but referred to by their place of origin or group, for example "one of
Beizama ", "the son of the house of Gorrizu", "the group fromNuarbe " or "the one from Beunza farm". To outsiders, the early competitions where known as "fiestas Euskaras" "Basque fiestas".References
* [http://www.kultura.ejgv.euskadi.net/r46-5079/es/ Department of Culture] (in Basque and Spanish)
*Etxegoien, J. "Orhipean", Xamar 1996ee also
Basque rural sports External links
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