Esgrima Criolla: The Fighting Art Of The Gauchos
In the 17th century Argentinean Pampas of South America, “the gaucho”, (a cowboy of the South American pampas) a mixture of Creole, Indian and Spanish was born. As skilled horsemen, farmers and brave warriors, they were on the forefront of the battlefields across South America, and with the English invasion, battles for independence, civil wars and wars with other governing powers, they began training, dueling and guarding their borders as warriors. The gaucho, though considered wild and unruly at the time had values of courage, honor and bravery, and although guns and ammo were the choice weapon across the rest of the globe, the gaucho preferred his blade above all else. With diverse weapons the gaucho developed their own martial method with various techniques still practiced today. Creole fencing was well-developed as well as skills with the poncho, bola, cane, chuza and various sized knives. Dueling, an act of honor and sometimes revenge, sharpened the mind as well as personal courage, and constant training prepared the warrior for whatever was to come. To the blood or to the death, the gaucho, it is said, never backed down from a fight…
Master Jorge Emilio Prina gives us a closer look into his experiences with the art of the Argentinian Gauchos in this Martial Journal Spotlight interview.
Jorge, thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed for Martial Journal about such an intriguing, culturally rich and effective art form. My first question has to do with you and how you came to learn the fighting art of the Gauchos. What were your very first experiences with this art and how did you come to be involved so heavily with it’s preservation?.
Buenas y Santas Bethany! That’s how you say hello in my land! I’ll tell you that Argentina is a “knife” country, so you can imagine that as a child I played a game called “visteo”, which tries to play with a stick in ember to mark, as if it were a knife in a duel, this game is common and very old, of the colonial era; another thing, the boys usually make wire bobbiners to hunt little birds. It is the culture of the gaucho, and beyond time and technology, it is still preserved in some places more than in others. I personally always felt my Creole identity and a taste for combat arts, obviously I ended up in the real art of South American combat, “Esgrima criolla”, where the fight is with a facon (a very long knife) and poncho, handling and throwing of boleadoras, fencing and throwing chuza (Indian spear). I learned as a youngster from various people, knives and teachers, I only took care of joining all the weapons to teach, and document the discipline of combat. I don’t know if it’s luck, or not. I have real experience in knife combat, and I consider it important to teach with real knowledge of what happens in combat. I have lived with indigenous communities, in Patagonia, Esgrima Criolla is called “Lligkam”, as I also traveled in Argentina acquiring knowledge and worked in the prison as an instructor and taught knife combat where inmates still perform knife fights, and they look like “blanket and faca”, (Cloak and dagger) similar to poncho and facon, I clarify, taught the prison guards. This is the practical area, I also studied, a lot of Argentine history, visiting many museums and archives, where I gathered data, currently part of this research is in the book “Esgrima Criolla, armas gauchas y otras yerbas” published in Argentina.
What inspired the creation of the Gaucho in the Argentinean and Uruguayan Pampas?
The Europeans who arrived in South America were Andalusian (Andalusians are a subgroup of Spaniards native to Andalusia), this in turn has Moorish (Arabic) origin, gypsies also arrived. The inquisition was chasing them and in America they found their home, this is how the American conquest brought them, and time made them mix with the Indian and with the black, this is how a new race was born, “the gaucho” existed. They lived in the country, acquired the combat techniques of the Indian, and the white man. His life was difficult, and he fought in wars for two centuries without stopping. Only peace began to glimpse in 1900, and there begins the era of handsome malevos and compadritos, the era of “tango”, but that is another story.
What is the traditional dress of the Gaucho? And what weapons might a Gaucho have in his possession?
The traditional gaucho weapons are the facón, daga, boleadoras, and chuza, together with the poncho and the rebenque, and let us not forget the lasso and the blunderbuss. Let us understand their use from the beginning, near the end of the eighteenth century, to their evolution in the modern day, with a rich history in which they were present from the very birth of our nation.
The “facón” or “daga”: the blade of this knife is at minimum 30cm (approximately 12 in). It is carried in the small of the back with the edge facing upwards, hooked into the belt or sash. There are some who carry it with the edge facing downwards, but the edge upwards contributes to a faster draw.
In the front rides a shorter, more used knife called the “verijero”, referring to the bladder, since it was carried in the appendix area of the body. The blade is about 15 cm (6 in) long. It’s the most-used and most useful knife.
The “fiyingo” is a small knife, shorter than 10cm (4 in). It’s a corruption of the word “filho” (son), meaning “little son”, since it’s a smaller knife. It is carried in the belt or in the jacket, usually concealed, and it was used by the “compadritos” and “arrabaleros”. This already in the early twentieth century.
The “caronero” is a larger knife, with a blade of up to 80cm (over 30 in). It was carried in the saddle, under the skirt or “carona”, whence it takes its name. Generally speaking, it had no hand guard, and used on horseback it was useful as a weapon or to kill cattle. 
The boleadoras were carried crossed or in the belt. Without further discussing their use, let me mention that there were those who used boleadoras detailed with silver and gold—a purely aesthetic and not practical touch. The boleadoras could be used not only as a throwing weapon, but also in the pampa there are stories of Indians hooking one of the balls under their feet and with one ball in each hand they swung them in a very quick and dangerously deadly fashion.
The “chuza”, or lance, consisted in a stick or cane between 2 and 2.8 meters (6.5 feet to over 9 feet) long. At one end was a forged iron head or the blade of a knife. It was first used by the natives, later by the royalists, and finally by the criollos in the Argentinian Independence wars. Not only was a specific style of chuza fencing developed, but the criollo could also drag the spear behind him on horseback, so that the horse’s legs could not be tangled up by boleadoras. 
The “poncho”, and later the “chalina”companions of the countryman, are not weapons. They are always present, but in the right hands, they are also good companions for defense, checking knife attacks (“hachazos”), and for offense, being quite effective. A simple flick to the eyes is truly terrible, as I can personally attest—the poncho can be a terrible weapon depending on who manipulates it.
The “lasso” was really a universal instrument. Our lassos were braided from leather and were approximately 17m to 20m (56ft to 66ft) long. Let us not fail to appreciate the skill which distinguished our gauchos, who used the lasso in rural tasks as well as in war. A great number of acts have been documented among the gauchos of Güemes, who in their guerilla attacks threw loops around enemy commanders and dragged them off, leaving their troops without officers.
The blunderbuss was a muzzle-loading weapon. It was carried in the belt or saddle and made up for a disparity in numbers due to its powerful impact. It was generally used by “matrero” gauchos (bandits). Other gauchos and upstanding men usually kept it at home and only used it in cases of special need, such as when facing Indian raids.
The word “pilcha” means clothes and in Quechua and Mapudungun it means wrinkle, a peculiar dress as there was adapted to our Gauchos. The “pilchas” were a mixture of indian clothing, mixed with details imported from Andalucía. We cannot deny the Arab influences, and as always they were looking for comfort, so they chose cozy clothing with that coquettish detail that the Gaucho had.
The clothing varied through time and evolved from the time of the conquest to colonial times, but it was certainly in 1800 that the identity of this new race, the Gaucho, was already evident, so we’ll take it from this time on, to describe the Gaucho pilchas.
Description of the footwear.-
The footwear was made from the horse’s feet; it also had cowhide, but they were hard and extremely comfortable.
These boots were made first by cutting the penny, rubbed, stretched, and shaped, and on the legs, the Gauchos wore breeches, this was a pair of trousers that was made of cotton or linen. The indian heritage is the chiripa (blanket tied as a diaper) and depending on its appearance, the “chiripa” was a native cloth from our pampas and our Indians used it as a pareo (a cloth to be tied around the hip or the waist)
The “tirador” .-
It was a wide leather belts used around the waist to hold the chiripa, and it served to protect the soft areas from a cut. This belt was adjusted by tientos (thin leather ropes)
At the torso they used a cotton shirt, and a vest. Undoubtedly they were imitating Spanish peninsular fashion.
On the head,they used a hat made of a donkey ‘s belly.
The Handkerchief .-
The handkerchief was fundamental. It consisted of a large square of approximately 80cm. It could be done of silk, cotton, stamped, smooth, etc. It was used always tied on the shoulders; It could also be tied on the head as a headband or corsair when doing tasks. This could also be used to cover the mouth and nose when the wind was coming.
The “poncho”-
Poncho is a Quechua word and is a fundamental attire. It is a large rectangular cloth with fringes and a hole in the middle. It is used as a coat in the cold nights ; It is protection in times of danger. There are different fabrics to make ponchos, like cotton, alpaca, vicuña, even leather, and they have different colors identifying from their political thinking. General San Martin used brown color to camouflage him with the land. In Mendoza this garment is another original pilcha.
What influences did the Spanish have on the Gaucho, his weapons and his fighting style?
There was an influence by the Andalusian mainly. It is noted that the name of the attacks are in common. Remember that in the 15th century Spain only the nobles used a sword, the lower class used knives, hence the handling of the Creole is inherited, and in America these techniques merged with those of the Indian and that is how esgrima criolla was born, called in its early years “visteo” or Viñeo ”.
What were reasons a Gaucho might duel?. How might these reasons impact the outcome of a duel?
The Gaucho is a man of pride, and any reason is a reason for a duel, this could be at first blood, it means that the duel ends once one of the opponents is cut, and bleeds; or it could be to death, in this case the offense was very serious, the duel takes place in a delimited space called “court”, you could not leave it, it was cowardly to escape, and in some cases if a man arrived in a grief for having been seriously injured, he was sacrificed. He was administered, “the holy work”, a kind of euthanasia so that he does not suffer the unfortunate. This tradition continued until a few years ago in areas of “Buenos Aires”, and I have made some duels at first blood, there is always honor in them.
With the weapons at his disposal, how might the Gaucho implement his various weapons in a duel like context?. I am especially curious about the poncho as depicted in several Argentinian knife fighting photographs as a weapon utilized in duels and self defense.
In the duel each one fought with his knife and his poncho, everything was allowed, as long as there is honor, one by one, there were cases in which one of the gauchos was very skilled and fought with the sheath set so as not to cut and show your skills like that. Another detail was a hit with the plane of the facon hitting in the middle of the head, and not cutting, this was called “flat”, and was a way to show the ability of the “dresser”, another common thing to see It was when a daring young gaucho challenged a skilled gaucho, that the gaucho hit him with the rebar to avoid killing him and teaching him that fighting with a knife is a serious matter.
As what has been widely recognized as a dueling art, how did the Gauchos come to approach all out warfare?
War is war, the gaucho was the soldier who participated in all the battles, they were carried by force, as they volunteered, and marched with their weapons, many laws were both against the gaucho, as others to use them of soldiers, the rulers did not care that the gauchos would die, it was blood to sacrifice, that is how they ended up using their weapons, boleros, facón and chuza. They had war tactics that were carried out in groups, with boleros, with chuzas, with laso, as well as they adapted their clothes for war, making leather armor, and mimicking their clothes to the ground. Among the gauchos many were black and Indian, for the gaucho we are all the same. The gaucho, was a noble warrior and very courageous.
The late 19th and early 20th century Gaucho is also seen utilizing a cane for self defense and duels. Exactly how did the Bonafont stick fighting style emerge in Argentina?.
I will tell you an interesting story of Arturo Bonafont and the local method of Self-defense with the walking cane.
The stick, or just a stick, was the first weapon of the man. Thus, remember that the weapon is the hand that holds it, and the so-called “weapon” is just a tool.
The cane as an instrument of self-defense existed in many cultures, the Basques, for instance, used the makila, a cane that they learned to handle with precision, and due to that, Napoleon Bonaparte, created a platoon of Basques with makilas. In Argentina, the Basques acted as security guards in some pulperías (which were small groceries or stores in the Argentinean countryside) to calm down the troublemakers.
In Europe, the father of the cane combat was the Frenchman Pierre Vignny, who also taught the techniques to Edward William Barton-Wright, the creator of Bartitsu, known as “the fighting arts of Sherlock Holmes.”
The Irish also developed a cane fighting method called bataireacht, fought it with the shillelagh, a very hard cane, a baton, and combined it with a fighting style called Gleacaíocht, where fists, sticks and legs were combined.
As we see, fighting with cane or stick is a worldwide art, thus…, in South America, we also had our own, a totally native
discipline of fencing, and this story began around 1900, in Buenos Aires City and its surroundings.
The tango was a music that it was heard in the bars and bordellos of the slums, a music of the lower and working class, who spent their daily wage after work with women and so on. As time went by, tango became their chosen rhythm, while “the upper class young man”, also wanted to go to know it in those cafés. Tango was becoming fashionable…
What do you think would happen in such a place? in a bordello, for instance, in the slums, it could have been in Isla Maciel, Dock Sud, or Boedo; where there could be found dock workers, slaughterhouse workers, laborers, and others, who spent their time there before coming home, to find some warm company there … and what could have happened, if they saw an upper class young man coming in there, in his expensive suit, putties and bow tie?…, well, nothing could have ended up well for him, let’s remember that it was the time of tough guys, bullies and braggarts, who always carried a knife, and if you did not have one, there will always be someone willing to give you one.
In addition, at that time, lunfardo, (the Argentinian slang, which developed with terms from everywhere, brought by the European immigrants), was consolidated , and the term “patota (gang)” was created by the upper-class young people who went to the brothels located in marginal places, where they could not individually survive a fight with men from the slums ( experienced knife fighters), because of that they attended these clubs in a group, that is, in a gang (patota). In addition to cane fighting, fencing and boxing, the French Savate also entered, but the latter discipline was unsuccessful and ceased to be practiced among high society groups.
Finally, these young men acceded to pistols and revolvers of American and European origin that they carried and used indiscriminately.
Among the Buenos Aires elite, the young Jorge Newbery, an exceptional athlete, by the way, along with Delcasse, a fencer, and Arturo Bonafont, who we will speak about later, were the pioneers in the development of self-defense classes for the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, and it is from there on when the spreading of boxing instruction started, that Arturo Bonafont, on his behalf, started to teach fencing stick in an important institution called GEBA (Club Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires/Buenos Aires Gymnastics and Fencing Club), looking for a synchronicity, let’s say that this is like today’s boom of self-defense, why?…We all know why.
Now talking about the cane system of Arthur Bonafont, it was born as a need of the gentlemen to defend themselves. The cane, the weapon and symbol of the gentleman, and even the oldest one, is the one chosen for fighting. This system, developed by him is totally local, at the same time in Europe, the father of the cane fighting, the Frenchman Pierre Vignny, teaches its use to Edward William Barton-Wright, his system, la Canne Vigny, shows us that everywhere in each continent happened the same, from different origins, the cane was born as the gentleman’s weapon.
On its side, Bonafont system is wonderful for self-defense, true, fast, simple, powerful, it’s not stick-fighting, that is one of the wonders that Bonafont noticed. You do not have to be involved in a fight, but you have to finish it. Among its peculiar characteristics, for example, the grip is inverted, which reduces the distance, but it makes it faster, unpredictable and strong, the positions are simple, and natural, the displacements, reduced, with a technique in which you could face one or more opponents, in open and closed spaces.
It was during the 1930’s when he left his fighting system documented, his discipline embodied in a combat treaty, in a book titled “Method of Defending oneself with a cane in the Street”, by the vicissitudes of life, it was impossible for him to write a second part.
Arturo, a man skilled in combat, said about this system, “A solid cane of those that are simply adopted to serve as support, to the most peaceful man, is a tool that handled by a skilled person in that art, can easily become a highly effective weapon for self-defense. What a clear vision he had”.
With these words he defined the arrival of a combat “When the time to defend ourselves undoubtedly has come. We must observe instantly the position, attitude, gesture or aggressive movement of the adversary, to apply our attack, arresting or counter attacking his own in the act of its very initiation. Seeing and executing everything with the speed of a lightning bolt has to be all at once” Without any doubt he was a spectacular fighter.
Currently the Bonafont system of fencing cane is still alive, you only have to find who teaches you…
Fate made me meet Ismael, the last Bonafont Fighter (they called themselves”bastoneros”).Ismael, exceptional in combat and knowledge, he learned directly from Don Arturo Bonafont, trained direct line 50 years ago the real style of fencing bonafont, and he found me, and he chose me as his disciple, currently I train and learn from him, a fighter and master of exceptional life!
Those of us who have fought with a stick, stick-fighting, or any system with a stick, we know that the premise is not to lose the weapon, well, that is basic, and Don Arturo, said this: “the blow with the cane has to cross over, has to be given with attitude, to avoid the grasp by your opponent. This can only be said by those who had fought, a real master of fighting…”
How is this stick fighting style unique?
The typical cane of the gentleman, with a ball in the end, was a common accessory in the dandy porteño (of Buenos Aires), the technique differs openly from the traditional techniques of stick fighting, it has intuitive, effective and powerful movements, concepts that make in the fight is victorious. All its blows are blunt, but it is not a blow … it was taught in GEBA prestigious club of the upper class of “Buenos Aires” first Don Arturo, then followed by the teaching of his son Roque Bonafont, and the disciples of Don Arturo , until reaching Ishmael, they trained combat exercises and competed, it differs a lot from saber fencing like the traditional stick fighting, you have to train it to know it, and thus be surprised!
How might aspiring practitioners learn more about these exciting and effective art forms?
Training, and fighting, these disciplines also combine practice with history, and it is a very nice and rich story, and knowing where it comes from and how it developed is very good, especially how the boleadoras were used in the gaucho wars and Independence wars. They chose the enemy officers leaving armies without leaders as the Indian took forts with his chuzas, with extraordinary tactics, or as the gaucho preferred, with the facon since that weapon was part of his body. He felt her comfort, she felt home.
Do you recommend any books, articles or programs about the Bonafont style of stick fighting and Esgrima Criolla?
You have our site in English: http://gauchofencing.com/ [EDITOR’S NOTE: This link is no longer working]
and the page in Spanish escrimacriolla: http://esgrimacriolla.blogspot.com/
and the youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/esgrimacriolla/videos
There is a lot of bibliography in Spanish, here I will leave you a list, we also calculate that by 2020 we will have the Esgrima Criolla book in English for sale.
How might you be reached to schedule seminars or other martial arts events to be hosted here in the states?
You can contact my mail, to seminar or inquire, I am also on social networks or you can contact my friend, the Master Danny Hoskins, Representative of Esgrima Criolla in the United States
Thank you so much for answering my questions and supporting Martial Journal magazine!
It has been a pleasure for me to share Esgrima Criolla with you, until next time and here are our networks and contacts:
INFORMATION
📧Email:
jorge.prina@gmail.com
Web: http://gauchofencing.com/ [EDITOR’S NOTE: This link is no longer working]
Blog: http://esgrimacriolla.blogspot.com/
FB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esgrimacriolla/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/esgrimacriolla/videos
telephone /whatsapp: +54 9 221 6246179
Find Out More!
Related Articles: https://www.martialjournal.com/nawa-a-native-american-warrior-art/
If you are interested in learning or hosting a seminar at your school/dojo and or ranking up in Bonafont Stick Fighting System and or Esgrima Criolla in the U.S, please contact U.S representative Danny Hoskins through Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Hoskins5.
Photos: Courtesy of Jorge Prina 2019
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