Black Combat Arts Institute.
AFRICA · EXTINCT
Zida
A standing wrestling of the Bété of central-western Ivory Coast, where holds below the waist are forbidden and only a clean throw decides.
ORIGINS & SOCIAL FUNCTIONS
A wrestling, essentially standing, of the Bété people of west-central Ivory Coast, village contests under an active referee, who governs the duel's every phase.
THE GAME
Touching below the waist is forbidden; the referee stands the seated wrestler back up. Victory by throw, the nape in contact with the ground.
PLACE IN THE FAMILY
The zida shows the referee as the family's living rule at its most interventionist, restoring the fallen, policing the grips. Its forbidden zone below the waist carves the duel's space by law, and its nape-to-ground verdict aligns it with the strictest readings of the vertical pole.
SOURCES
Olivier Malo, La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles, 1905–1984 [Capoeira and the Black combat arts: erased history, invisible techniques (1905–1984)], doctoral thesis in History, Université des Antilles, 2020.
HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY
MALO, Olivier. Zida. In: The Atlas of the Black Combat Arts [online]. Black Combat Arts Institute, 2026. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/atlas-en/zida [accessed date].
RELATED PRACTICES
→ Gbe, Ivorian standing wrestling
→ Gba sée sé, Nape to the ground decides
→ Mgba, Throw, no touch below the waist