Juego de Mani
According to the Atlas Etnográfico de Cuba, juego de maní is a boxing dance in which a soloist in the middle of a circle attacks the opponents surrounding him.
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About Juego de Mani
According to the Atlas Etnográfico de Cuba, juego de maní is a boxing dance usually performed by a group of men, although women used to dance it as well. Ortiz (1951), as retold by Mora Basart (2021), describes it as essentially a fistfight in which one dancer attacks a defender in a circle around him. Wikipedia also gives the name baile de maní and the recorded longer name juego de maní con grasa. According to Wikipedia, the word maní allegedly means war in an unspecified African language and has nothing to do with peanuts. We have not found the founder or the year of origin in the sources.
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Mora Basart, according to Ortiz, places maní in the Bantu and Kongo folklore cycles palo, makuta and garabato, as a derivative of one of the symbolic dances of the Bantu religion. According to Wikipedia, some researchers defend a West African origin, others place the roots in the Kongo. Ortiz, according to Mora Basart, describes maní as a dance and fight of enslaved sugar mill workers, ingenios, and fights between sugar mills were often backed by owners who raised the stakes. According to Wikipedia, the Cuban form clearly took shape in the 19th century on sugar cane plantations. The sources differ on which blows maní allowed. Ortiz, according to Mora Basart, writes that blows below the belt, with the elbow and with the foot were forbidden. Wikipedia, referring to a popular book by Crudelli (2008) and the practitioner Quijano, mentions low kicks, sweeps and blows with the head, elbow and knees. Green (2001) classes maní among the African-American martial arts that may have already died out.
History
Ortiz (1951), according to Mora Basart (2021), describes maní as a dance and combat of enslaved workers at Cuban sugar mills, the ingenios, and mentions rivalry between individual mills. In areas such as Aguacate, Canasí and Caraballo, according to him, the fighters were very skilled, and Indalecio Esponda was considered the most experienced player. Some enslaved fighters, according to Mora Basart, bought their freedom with their earnings from maní. According to Wikipedia, the Cuban form took clear shape in the nineteenth century on sugar cane plantations. The same Wikipedia states that some researchers defend a West African origin of maní, while others place its roots in Kongo. Mora Basart, following Ortiz, places maní within Bantu and Kongo folkloric cycles. Miguel Quijano (2025) on capoeirahistory.com places the origin of maní in the area of Kongo and Angola. He divides the history into the plantation era up to 1886, the era of the cabildos and street fights from 1887 to the sixties, and the folkloric era from the sixties of the twentieth century.
How it differs
Green (2001) groups Cuban maní with Brazilian capoeira, Martinican ladjia, Venezuelan broma, Guadeloupean chat'ou and Surinamese susa as African-American martial arts with musical accompaniment. Wikipedia, referring to J. Lowell Lewis's book Ring of Liberation (1992), mentions a similarity to capoeira and to l'agya and danmyé of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The difference from capoeira follows from comparing two sources. According to Ortiz (1951), as retold by Mora Basart (2021), maní was mainly a fist fight with a ban on kicks and blows below the belt, whereas capoeira, according to Green, rests on kicks, sweeps and headbutts. A list of techniques with kicks, sweeps, headbutts and elbows appears only in Wikipedia, taken from Crudelli's popular book (2008) and from the practitioner Quijano.
Technique
The soloist, according to the Atlas Etnográfico de Cuba, stands in the middle of the circle, represents his group and is surrounded by opponents. According to the atlas, the central dancer, sometimes blindfolded, hands out blows and sings insulting songs to provoke the other men in the circle. According to the atlas, the solo dance is marked by improvisation and unexpected movements that confuse opponents to surprise them with effective blows. According to Ortiz (1951), as retold by Mora Basart (2021), the rhythm was set by the yuca and agogó drums or by strikes on a hoe, the guataca. A drummer who fell out of rhythm, according to him, stopped playing and joined the fight. Ortiz, according to Mora Basart, writes that blows to vulnerable spots were forbidden, and blows below the belt, with the elbow and with the feet were called fulastrerías and harshly punished. Wikipedia, citing Crudelli (2008) and Quijano (2024), states that maní includes low kicks, sweeps, punches, and strikes with the head, elbow, forearm, knees and palm. According to Wikipedia, maní music is palo monte music, but the only source is the practitioner Miguel Quijano.
Training
Maniseros, according to Ortiz (1951) as retold by Mora Basart (2021), went barefoot and naked from the waist up, in short or rolled-up trousers. They carried no weapons, only a colorful scarf on a wide leather belt that protected the belly. Before a fight, according to Mora Basart, the champions sang epic songs about their deeds. According to the same source, people fought with bare hands, with bracelets, or with the body smeared with fat, which dampened the blows. Yvonne Daniel (2005), according to Wikipedia, states that maní dancers sometimes wore leather wrist guards decorated with metal, and early maní was therefore especially dangerous.
Competition
The struck man, according to Atlas Etnográfico de Cuba, either walks into the middle of the circle himself or drops out of the dance. Fights between different sugar mills were, according to Ortiz (1951) as retold by Mora Basart (2021), common and often backed by the owners themselves, who raised the bets. The bets, according to him, were managed by the chief of the cabildo or an elder of the group. Wikipedia, citing Crudelli (2008), states that some slave owners treated maní as a match and bet on the outcome, and also mentions a supposition of fights to the death. Duels, according to Mora Basart, could end in death. A badly beaten fighter was, according to him, placed in a special trough, a batea, and injuries were treated with a mixture of urine, liquor, and tobacco spit.
Today
Green (2001) places Cuban maní among the African-American martial arts that may already have died out. According to Ortiz (1951), as retold by Mora Basart (2021), maní was in the thirties of the 20th century still played by Black communities in Pocitos in Marianao near Havana. Miguel Quijano (2025) writes on capoeirahistory.com that since the sixties maní has lived mainly as stage folklore of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba, and before that in cabildos and Casas de Ocha. The author is himself a practitioner and calls himself the only certified master. According to Wikipedia, the founding members of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional were eight students of Argeliers León, who taught a dance-oriented folkloric version of maní.
Did you know
Mora Basart (2021) links the movement of the Cuban boxer Yordenis Ugás to the maní tradition. Mora Basart also notes that fighters were often so battered they could not work the cane harvest. An even longer recorded name, according to Wikipedia, is juego de maní con grasa, given by Ortiz (1951). Wikipedia also lists the shorter juego de maní and baile de maní. Fat is also recalled by Mora Basart, according to whom fighters sometimes fought with a body smeared in fat that dampened the blows. According to Wikipedia, the word maní supposedly means war in an unspecified African language and is unrelated to the meaning peanut.
Frequently asked questions
What is juego de maní?
According to the Atlas Etnográfico de Cuba, maní is a boxing dance in which a soloist in the middle of a circle attacks the opponents around him. According to the atlas, it is usually danced by men, formerly women too.
Which blows did maní allow?
Ortiz (1951), according to Mora Basart (2021), writes that blows below the belt, with the elbow and with the foot were forbidden. Only Wikipedia lists kicks, sweeps and elbows, after Crudelli and the practitioner Quijano.
Is maní still played today?
Green (2001) writes that maní may have already died out. According to Quijano on the website capoeirahistory.com, it has lived on since the sixties mainly as stage folklore of the Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.