The Department of Culture, Sport and Youth of the Government of Navarre has opened the file for the recognition of the Intangible Cultural Asset (ICO) "Laxoa Game", proposed by the Laxoa Association. It is played in Baztan and Malerreka and may be the oldest surviving modality in the Basque pelota.
This is reflected in the resolution issued by the Director General of the Prince of Viana Cultural Organization, Dori López Jurio, and published last Tuesday, July 31, in the Official Gazette of Navarre (NAO). From the immaterial point of view, the game of lax is considered a good of special importance for Navarre, both for its uniqueness and for its survival. On the one hand, it is the old mode of the ball game, which has only survived in the Foral Community, and on the other hand, the practice of the game is a living, rooted and shared expression of the community transmission.
The game Laxoa, also known as Guante, is played in the free plaza, where two teams of four players face each other. The sake is made from the boot placed on one side of the fixed stone or square, and the players, wearing specific leather gloves of this modality, throw the ball directly until they reach the goal or line. In Laxoa they had been playing in ball fields for a long time, in fields located a distance from the village. Later, they began to play in the village squares. It has features similar to some of the other games around the Basque ball, such as the long pot, the rebound or the paxaca. Outside the scope of the Basque Ball, there are similar modalities in Spain (Valencia or Lanzarote), Europe (France, Belgium, Holland and Italy) and America (Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador or Argentina).
In addition to these peculiarities, there are others that can be highlighted: it occupies the squares of the villages; it is closely linked to the church, both as a space for the game (church portals, walls and roof) and for having numerous historical references of priests or religious rites to the ball, such as the prayer of the Angelus; and the traditional profession requires survival, specialized in the elaboration of two instruments of impossibility (ball and glove). But, if there have been different factors that make it difficult to survive, for example, to be established in small territorial areas, to be a small player, to have complex rules, to damage adjacent buildings or places of play, and to gradually disappear the craftsmen who manufacture the necessary tools.
Once the dossier for the recognition of the Intangible Property of Cultural Interest (ICO) "The Laxoa Game" has been started, the process included in the Foral Law on Cultural Heritage will be opened from now on.
Thus, as a result of this opening, the protection regime established in the Law for Goods of Cultural Interest will be applied temporarily and the Provincial Administration will have a period of 20 months to resolve and notify the procedure. In addition, with the start of the dossier, a 30-day public disclosure period will be opened. The file will include the mandatory report of the Council of Culture of Navarre.
This news has been published by erra.eus and we have brought it to LUZ thanks to the license CC-by-sa.
