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From the cós and cursa pedestre to cross-country and running Miscel·lània 233 Alexandre Planas i Ballet Xavier Torrebadella i Flix INSTITUT DEL CENTRE D’ALT RENDIMENT BARCELONA AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY Graduate in the Sciences of Physical Activity and Degree in Physical Education from the Sport, graduate in the Philosophy and Science of University of Barcelona and Doctorate from Education and Specialist Technician in Athletics. He the University of Lleida. Athlete, trainer and has won a number of literary prizes including the Vila delegate of the Athletics section in the Sícoris de Lloret Poetry Award (2015) and the Mirall review Club, Lleida (1972-1992). Lecturer at the Poetry Award (2017) and has also published Irrealitats, a collection Institut Centre d’Alt Rendiment Esportiu, Sant Cugat del Vallès, of verse (AdiA Edicions, 2016). Lecturer in Physical Activity Teaching and Associate Lecturer at the Faculty of Science, Barcelona Methodology at the Institut del Centre d’Alt Rendiment, Sant Cugat. Autonomous University. From the cós and cursa pedestre to cross-country and running A history of running as physical exercise and foot races in Catalonia Introduction the foundations for a long period that was Key words: cós, cursa de la to conclude with the nationalisation of a cordera, traditional sports, eople have reused and large part of Catalan society. The revival foot races reinterpreted historical of language and customs fostered by these Paraules clau: cos, cursa de la elements which are deeply writers was the beginning of an ideologi- cordera, esports tradicionals, pedestrisme rooted in their own culture, cal development reaffirming the national Palabras clave: cos, carrera together with contribu- identity of the Catalan people. The process de la cordera, deportes tions from other cultures of defining the cultural sense of Catalonia tradicionales, pedestrismo and even features which are pure invention, as a people has been strongly influenced Pto build a sense of national identity. and in some cases hindered by dominant external cultural traditions, such as the In Catalonia this process, the Renaixença, Andalusian ideology and Spanish purist began in 1833 with Carles Bonaventura attitudes prevalent in the late nineteenth Aribau as the leading figure in founding the and early twentieth century, the military movement. Working with Joaquim Rubió dictatorships of the twentieth century, and i Ors (“Lo Gayté del Llobregat”), he laid cultural globalisation since the 1960s. For In the ethnological heritage of Catalonia Dins el gran conjunt d’elements que Dentro del gran conjunto de elementos physical exercise and sports involving conformen el patrimoni etnològic de que conforman el patrimonio etnológico movement have played an important Catalunya, les expressions vehiculades de Cataluña, las expresiones vehicu- role. In connection with this theme we a l’entorn de l’exercici físic i del joc lades al entorno del ejercicio físico y el have undertaken a historical review of motor són profusament presents arreu. juego motor son profusamente presen- the ancient foot races known as cóssos. Efectuem en aquest context una revisió tes en todas partes. En este contexto, Primary documentary resources and històrica de les curses a peu ancestrals efectuamos una revisión histórica de las other research work lead us to reflect on anomenades cossos. El suport de les carreras ancestrales llamadas cossos. El the loss of Catalan cultural heritage and fonts documentals primàries i d’altres in- soporte de fuentes documentales prima- revise the place of the Catalan running vestigacions ens conviden a reflexionar rias y otras investigaciones nos invitan a tradition in the country’s collective con- sobre la pèrdua del patrimoni cultural reflexionar sobre la pérdida del patrimo- sciousness. català i, alhora, a ressituar la tradició nio cultural catalán y, al mismo tiempo, a catalana del córrer en la consciència resituar la tradición catalana de correr en col·lectiva del país. la conciencia colectiva del país. 234 Miscel·lània Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya December 2017 Núm. 42 example, the decline of deports1 or games for Recent studies have catalogued the cóssos by 1 By deports we understand pleasure and physical development (Torre- location: those recorded by Capdevila (2009, traditional open-air games played badella and Planas, 2011) has meant a very 2012) were mainly in L’Urgell while Juli in Catalonia before the arrival of significant loss in our own popular culture. Suau (2013) focuses on the Pla d’Urgell area. competitive physical activities ori- ginating in Anglo-Saxon countries, which reached us in the late nine- Games involve a sense of play and many of Modern sport developed in England as a teenth and early twentieth century the distinctive cultural characteristics of a recreation for middle class society following and which we would call esports. people. As Janer (1982) says, we should not the rise of capitalism, urban growth and the 2 undervalue the paedogogical task of recov- industrial transformation that took place in Cós: “[pl. cóssos] In certain festi- vities a race on foot or horseback ering the popular games of our ancestors the nineteenth century (Elias and Dunning, and other popular games in which and (re)discovering, via them, forgotten 1992). In the case of Catalonia it dated from a prize can be won” (IEC, 1995: customs and symbolic rituals or language the Bourbon restoration and was particularly 510). that has been lost. So, in line with Janer’s significant in late nineteenth century and recommendation, we shall apply a “subver- early twentieth century Barcelona (Lagard- sive” ecological ideology to the recovery of era, 1992; Pujadas, 2010; Torrebadella-Flix, popular culture. Olivera-Betran and M-Bou, 2015). In this process, which Elias and Dunning (1992: The introduction of what we refer to as mod- 34) call “sportization”, we must distinguish ern sport in Catalonia at the beginning of the old physical activities and sports (Lagard- the twentieth century was not only a result era, 1996). Although some of these activities of the social circumstances of the time but or games are absorbed by sportization, as was also influenced by a long tradition of is the case of fencing or pelota, others are participation in games and deports (Brasó excluded from this new area of recreation and Torrebadella, 2015). Artells (1972) (Brasó and Torrebadella, 2015, Capdevila, reports that, as well as the popular games of 2009, 2012). It is thus necessary to distin- the period (skittles, throwing the barra, tag, guish the origins of the old sports races, jumping, hitting targets, pelota, lifting and games from contempo- weights, etc.), “shows of strength were also rary sports (Lagardera, common, in the form of contests between 1996). According to groups. For example, they would see who Bourdieu (1993, could put a sack of corn onto his shoulders 2008), we can most quickly, or who was able to lift a weight identify two or pick something up with his teeth” (Artells, distinct mod- 1992: 28-29). els. Sport has a bourgeois ori- Artells (1972: 30) adds that “These popular gin and grows sports were spontaneous, democratic and in line with the open, requiring no codification or regula- process of civilisa- tion, such as the creation of clubs or associ- tion (Elias), or the ations to which one had to belong in order development of edu- to participate.” cation and trade, which implies a reduction in the 2 One of these deports was the cóssos , ancient levels of violence associated with foot races rooted in the popular culture of traditional physical and recreational pursuits some Catalan towns. As Capdevila says (Elias and Dunning, 1992) while defining a (2007: 286), these races had “a magical and model of social distinction (Veblen, 2008). religious origin, linked to the cycle of nature, like all the rural sporting activities that were In this article we pay special attention to finally replaced by the rise of football after the history of the cóssos to show how the the second decade of the twentieth century”. distinctive features of a people, which were From the cós and cursa pedestre to cross-country and running Miscel·lània 235 once the living expression of its traditions, ago. So much so that we can find evidence of can be erased from cultural memory. Today popular races as early as the fifteenth century. we are recovering some of the traditions Capdevila (2009, 2012) and Suau (2012, (festivities, events, customs, crafts, cuisine, 2013) have identified documented events words, games, etc.) that were on the point in towns in Lleida (1476), and in Bellpuig of being forgotten or disappearing: there is (1558), Vallfogona de Riucorb (1603) and a post-modern revival of popular culture Torà (1644). In 1580 there were foot races which emphasises ethnic experience in the and horse races in Bellpuig, in which the face of globalisation (Capdevila, 2016). In Duke of Cardona gave the prize of a sword this study we shall trace the role of games to the winner of the foot race (Bach, 1972: and deports in our traditions with a view 111). to helping to (re)position the cóssos in our country’s collective consciousness. But the reward most prized by the winners was to take home a lamb. Consequently the The methodology we have applied is based events became known as the “race for the on historiographical techniques using pri- lamb (or lambs)”. The name is still used for mary documentary sources. The findings the cós in Albesa, held every year on August of recent research have also contributed to 16 (Saint Roch’s day), which can be con- the constructivist interpretation and critical sidered the oldest race still taking place in study we present. Catalonia, as there are records of it taking place in 1590. The cós between tradition and renovation Pere Anguera (1992: X), when speaking “The Sant Pere Cós in Plaça Mercadal, Reus”.

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