Black Combat Arts Institute.
INDIAN OCEAN · LIVING · REVIVED
Ringa
An all-out face-to-face wrestling practised in the South of Madagascar by the Bara-Mahafaly, Antanosy, Antandroy and Tanalagna peoples, often with an ox at stake. Victory when the opponent's head is planted into the ground.
ORIGINS & SOCIAL FUNCTIONS
The frontal wrestling of Madagascar's South, practised by the Bara-Mahafaly, Antanosy, Antandroy and Tanalagna peoples — pastoral societies where the ox is wealth, stake and symbol, and where the wrestler's prestige is a village affair.
THE GAME
A wrestling without restrictions, often with an ox at stake: victory when the opponent's head is planted in the ground — the most emphatic form of the decisive fall.
PLACE IN THE FAMILY
The ringa is the family's vertical pole in its most radical statement: not merely the fall, but the head to the earth. Its integration of the ceremonial ox ties the duel to pastoral wealth and sacrifice, anchoring the game in the social order — victory as a transaction of prestige before the community.
SOURCES
Olivier Malo, La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles, 1905–1984, doctoral thesis in History, Université des Antilles, 2020.
HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY
MALO, Olivier. Ringa. In: The Atlas of the Black Combat Arts [online]. Black Combat Arts Institute, 2026. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/atlas-en/ringa [accessed date].
RELATED PRACTICES
→ Tolona — Malagasy wrestling
→ Tolon omby — Ceremonial ox at stake
→ Kokowa — Takedown wrestling
→ Sové Vayan — Bring the opponent down