15 - Love

THIS IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL RODEO

Rugby is the official sport of Madagascar, and football (soccer) is also widely popular. However, there are a number of sports and games played there which are home-grown innovations. These include Moraingy, Tolon-omby, and Fanorona.

Moraingy is a martial art, a test of strength and agility which could traditionally prove worth and earn prestige. It's bare-knuckle, and brutal, and only ends when one person yeilds, can't continue to fight, or is "clearly unequal" to their opponent.

Ouch. That limp at the end.

Tolon-omby (aka Savika) is a form of wrestling which is also practised in Madagascar. Oh, but wait, this isn't just people wrestling people, that would be too boring. No, no. This is people wrestling zebus.

Yeah. Zebus. They're kinda like a cow. See:

Oh wait. That's a water buffalo.

HERE'S a zebu:

You can tell it's a zebu because of the way it is. Also that giant hump. Anyways. They pretty much have a rodeo-type set-up where people are stuck in a pen with a hulking, horned beast and try not to get killed  to hang on to the hump as long as possible. Anyone who has dared tangle with a tee'd off zebu becomes somewhat of a local hero.

Cray.


Finally, we come to Fanorona! It sounds like it should be a type of pasta, or maybe a sci-fi convention. But it is, in fact a Malagasy board game! Yay! I love board games! And what's better, I've actually played it! Granted, I've only played it as a minigame within a video game...but shhhh. Let's not dwell on my nerdiness.

This is Fanorona:

The players attempt to be the first to capture all of their opponents pieces, which is accomplished by moving toward or away from the opponents piece. It's a bit hard to explain, but is kind of like checkers once you get a handle on it. If you are so inclined to try it out, there are free apps for both android and apple, or you can try here (if you don't use chrome).