Learn more about the Basque Stone Lifters and why this historic sport is still practiced today!
Anyone can write about football, baseball, swimming, or any other traditional sport, but what fascinates me are the unusual pastimes that most of us are unaware of. Consider stone lifting! That’s right; there is such as thing as stone lifters. The instructions are in the name; you simply lift a stone. Now, it’s a heavy stone, and becoming a stone lifter requires training like a weightlifter… but it really is just picking up and putting down a stone.
Stone lifting is still done in the Basque Country region, which lies between Spain and France in the Pyrenees mountains. In the country’s early days, the area was known for its farming, and stone lifting was a means to demonstrate one’s strength to others. Stone lifters would compete in these activities at community festivals and gatherings, with spectators cheering on their favorite competitors. Basque continues to host public events year after year in order to preserve tradition.
Learn more about the stone lifters of Basque and how the sport has changed over the years in the video below:
