Portuguese martial arts: "Galhofa", the north-central-eastern wrestling in jest
I n the northeastern Portuguese region of Trahs-os-Montes (and today to a lesser extent in the central Beiras /"Marches" region, where in the Sabugal municipality it was still practiced in the early 20th century), there is a folk fighting style of wrestling ( luta-livre in Portuguese) called Galhofa (literally meaning "Jest", due to the oldtimey practice including not only the grappling wrestling moves but in general incentivising quick-thinking as in play-insults and retorts in the flyting manner and merrymaking and drinking together along the way) or in the civil parish of Soito (Sabugal municipality) Maluta ("Muhfight" as corruption of "My-fight"). It is the only traditional Portuguese martial art that is a hand to hand combat sport (unlike the previously profiled jogo do pau /"stick-fare/-match" which is a form of fencing/armed combat). As with the jogo , nobody is quite sure on its origins or antiquity, being an old rural cu...
