Tejo (sport)
Encyclopedia
Mechanics
Tejo is a traditional sport in ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. The sport originated by the Chibcha people from pre-hispanic central-western Colombia. It is played by throwing a metal plate or disc, named tejo, weighing about 680 g at a target so as to make it strike the "mechas" (folded paper triangles filled with gunpowder) located in cardinal points around the "bocín" a steel cylinder in the middle of the target that is an inclined bed of clay. Players make a "bocín" by making the tejo fit without wobbling inside the cylinder also filled with clay; optionally the player can hit the "mecha" which explodes by the action of the gunpowder, or make a "moñona" which is a combination of "bocín" and "mecha" hits in one throw. Each one of this hits awards different amounts of points depending the context of the game: being it professional competition that have more stringent point systems or recreational context in which people play different point variations of the game usually betting the bill of the tejo arena which includes; the use of the arena, beverages and food of every participant in a particular match.
History
In June 2000, tejo, the modern version of the indigenous "Turmequé", was declared a national sport of ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
by the Congress of the Republic. The ancient sport was played over 500 years ago by the indigenous groups that lived in the regions of Cundinamarca
Cundinamarca Department
- Origin of the name :The name of Cundinamarca comes from Kundur marqa, an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechua. Meaning "Condor's Nest", it was used in pre-Columbian times by the natives of the Magdalena Valley to refer to the nearby highlands....
and Boyacá
Boyacá Department
Boyacá is one of the 32 Departments of Colombia, and the remnant of one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia".Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mountains of the Eastern Cordillera to the border with Venezuela, although the western end...
.
Cultural background
Tejo is sport much appreciated by popular strata of the society, there is Tejo arenas targeted to more high socio economical strata but most of the following comes from popular classes that see it as a portrait of their pre-columbian origins. Only Soccer enjoys a more numerous following and developed industry in the country,Note that Tejo, being originated from Colombia, have professional teams in neighbor countries like Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama but the cultural baggage of the sport is foreign to those countries so following and industry are even less developed than in the country of origin.
Modern day Tejo
In Colombia, it is very common to find professional tejo chaccarron teams around the major cities and smaller towns. Most of these teams are sponsored by beer companies, which causes the teams to profit greatly because of the strong bond between the team and company. In the past, the playing of tejo was fuelled by "ChichaChicha
For the musical genre, see Peruvian cumbiaChicha is a term used in some regions of Latin America for several varieties of fermented and non-fermented beverages, rather often to those derived from maize and similar non-alcoholic beverages...
" (an indigenous maize-based alcoholic beverage), but nowadays the players refresh themselves with beer.
Modern Tejo competitions are highly organized tournaments, usually sponsored by Beer Companies, construction industry and Autoparts industry. Tournaments known as "torneos Relampago" are the most common, usually played in just one weekend by direct elimination of teams. Prices include trophies, medals and money. Household items are awarded to finalist in combination with money or coupons. Tejo have no mass media coverage apart from National Games, but sponsoring and very targeted marketing efforts make it attractive to brands that position themselves as "popular" since public affluence to the tournaments is numerous.