Black Combat Arts Institute.
AFRICA · EXTINCT
Zida
An essentially standing wrestling of the Bété people, in the Centre-West of Ivory Coast; touching below the waist is forbidden; the referee raises a seated wrestler back to his feet. Victory by a throw, the nape in contact with the ground.
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, 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