As a defensive or offensive weapon, the stick is a so simple in form that few ethnologies include it in the category of “hand-held weapons”. However, a good stick player is not afraid to face any adversary who uses these other weapons. The question is whether formalised stick fighting represents a specialised aspect of the use of the staff as a utilitarian tool, or if, contrarily, the utilitarian usage is simply an expansion of the “staff as weapon.”

In the North of Portugal (all over Minho), the staff was used by young men patrolling their lands, by travellers, and by shepherds in the high mountain ranges. A variety of lengths and grips were employed. The staff grip would be shortened while ascending steep terrain, however when descending, the grip would often be lengthened. Thus the staff was often used as a walking stick, and even to vault over shallow streams. The shepherd perched on a steep slope and the merchant in the fair would lean on their staves, thus alleviating strain on their legs. Also the cow-herd used the staff to direct cattle, and, when necessary, to drive away wolves, as much in his own defence as in that of the cattle entrusted to his care. “The stick was only released from the hand when one went to talk with his sweetheart; then the stick was left at the door, to indicate that others had no business there.” Moreover, in these lands the staff was the weapon par excellence, deciding the daily conflicts that sprang from rivalries between villages, love affairs, disputes over irrigation systems, and so-on.

Every boy felt himself to be a young man when he could fight with a stick and went with his friends on patrol: it was considered as fine a thing as being a knight armed for battle.

Who in Portugal did not hear tell of the stick-fights at fairs (not only in the North, but all across the country), where entire villages were consumed in bloody, mortal combats?

Also, pilgrimages and parties were always concluded with paulada (stick-fencing matches) between young men of different villages.

The stick was efficient beyond any doubt. When played well, it conferred great advantages to its wielder in a fight. Some stick-fights have become part of Northern Portuguese folklore. Here is the story of a battle towards the end of the 1800s, that took place in a fair in Galiza, as told by Xanquin Lorenzo Fernandez of Orense, in an article sent by him to the journal Comércio do Porto in 1950, entitled O Varapau (”the Stick”.)

Fernandez writes:

It took place in the fair of Porqueiróz. This was an annual fair, a gathering of merchants from all across the judicial district and from elsewhere as well. The people of different villages took their cattle and their fruits, and it became one of the best fairs of the Galiza at that time. Once, for an unknown reason, a dispute started between some merchants and two Portuguese who, living as neighbours in those lands, went to Porqueiroz together. The dispute started, as always, at the “hour of sticks.” One of the Portuguese, upon seeing danger, cried out to his friend:

-”Oh brother! Together back to back ” And like this, each one with his stick, they had defended themselves alone against their attackers. Over much time they had remained firm, in spite of the many aggressors; little by little, they got rid of their adversaries; some were wounded and others, faint-hearted. It is fitting that they triumphed, who alone had “undone the fair.” Such was the superiority of their skill in Jogo do Pau.

And he continues:

In all the rest of the Galiza, I am unaware of such weapon. Thus, it seems evident to me that it was an instrument of Portuguese origin; the fact of its usually being used in the border lands, not in the remaining portion of Galiza but otherwise being very common in Portugal.

The Jogo do Pau was, therefore, an integral part of life in Northern Portugal. Throughout the country there existed schools where groups of eager youngsters came to learn from old masters who were well paid for their lessons. It was considered proper for parents to send their children to these masters so that they learned this discipline, as part of their education; such was the esteem given to the Jogo do Pau at this time.

It was common in the long nights of summer to see groups of young people exercising with staves, in training sessions that often lasted almost until the break of dawn.

But this grand era of stick-fights in the fairs and pilgrimages was almost the final epoch. By the 1930s, Northern Jogo do Pau was in decline. There were several inter-related factors that caused this decay. After all the fights in fairs, the police authorities began to enforce laws that forbade the bearing of staves within festival enclosures. Also, emigration to foreign lands and migrations into the great cities, done generally at the bequest of the family heads who could not earn enough from the land that they cultivated, created a “generation gap” of puxadores (the name which was assigned to the Northern players).

On the other hand, the ease of acquiring firearms also contributed to the decline of Jogo do Pau, in that personal justice with the staff demanded intensive training, so that a weak person became powerful enough to trust the efficiency of his weapon.

Thus, for these and other reasons of little weight, this art of combat in the North of Portugal was reduced, leaving only small schools where groups of old players trained for exhibition games.

However, Jogo do Pau also underwent an important migration. After leaving the original nucleus of the Minho it swiftly passed through the capital, crossed the Tejo and became established in the Southern zone, mainly in Estremadura and Ribatejo.

During this journey there emerged a group of professional masters who traversed the country offering training in different locations. The most famous of these were the masters Calado Campos, father and son, known as pretos (”the one who is black”), who had taught from Minho to Setúbal. The most professional Jogo do Pau master was Joaquim Baú, who rode a mule across Portugal living only on donations exchanged for the lessons he gave.

Also, day-labourers of Minho and Trás-os-Montes who had travelled to the South of the Country had been greatly responsible for the transmission of Jogo do Pau to this zone. Since the end of the 1800s, Jogo do Pau had spread through Lisbon, where it found a new home.

In the city, under very different conditions to those of the rural Provinces, the “spirit” of Jogo do Pau was somewhat changed. Once free of the violent imperatives of its original time and place, the art adapted more towards sport and exhibition. The first gymnasium to teach this new form of the art were the Ginasio Real, today known as Ginásio Clube Português, the Atheneu Comercial de Lisboa and the Lisboa Ginasio Clube. Other than these centres, the traditional Quintais (”Yards”) were still used for Jogo do Pau training. The Yards were enclosed by walls surrounding interior patios. These establishments could be found throughout Lisbon and in them were trained hundreds of players who received lessons from the master or the foreman of the school (style) of their choice.

These famous Yards were not, contrary to the popular supposition of the middle classes, mere hang-outs for rowdies and low-life. Working men, mostly villagers from Trás-os-Montes, Minho and other northern provinces, had a special taste for this exercise that was practised with admiration in the lands of their origin. The enthusiasm of these men in learning was always great because they appreciated education, and they were prepared to pay dearly in appreciation of the sacrifices made by the Masters. Therefore, the fee for a lesson lasting only 10 minutes corresponded to the daily wage of a labourer at that time.

It is easy to understand that a man who often did not earn more than four hundred réis per day by pulling rock out of a quarry, or five hundred or six hundred réis in any another circumstance, did not pay the master to satisfy vanity. But even in Lisbon the height of this art lasted only a short time due to various factors, such as the introduction of new and fashionable foreign sports. Because they were novel, these sports had come to captivate the younger generations, leading to a “lost generation” of Jogo do Pau players. If the art had not been preserved through the devotion of some individual players, Jogo do Pau (which is today being revived with great enthusiasm in homage to those heroic times of the old Puxadores) would have been in danger of becoming extinct. Therefore practically nothing had been written on the subject, all of the techniques having been transmitted orally, in the traditional way.

Among these younger players the name of Nuno Corvello Russo is of the highest relevance to ensuring that continuity. Apart from the schools at the G. C. P. and the A. C. L., I also knew of the school led by Mestre Chula at Alhos Vedros and another at Poceirão. I practised Jogo do Pau always at the G. C. P. between 1976 and 1983, first under Armando Sacadura and later with Nuno Russo.

The role of Nuno Russo in the maintenance and development of Jogo do Pau is nothing less than of a saviour. He has developed an excellent technique at the A. C. L., and visited the North frequently, acquainting himself especially with the school of Cabeceiras de Basto, to master the traditional art of the North, with great success as well; he has also interviewed and filmed old players and masters in the North. Thanks to this activity a substantial repository could be compiled and organized, invaluable not only for its sports content but also ethnographically. Beyond that, by teaching at the G. C. P., the Fuzileiros (who correspond to the Marines special troops), at Physical Education Faculties, etc., he has contributed to atracting the interest in the modality by new players.