Jogo de Bola e Pau

A male-only practice, the game of “Bola e Pau” (“bowl and skittles”) is now at risk of extinction. Played on weekends by a few groups of elderly people and by returning immigrants during holidays, the game uses a bowl and some wooden pins as tools. Today, the areas linked to
the game, characterized by complex rules transmitted orally, are the district of Santarém and the district of Sintra; they reaffirm the closeness of this game to Lisbon, as similar practices cannot be found in other areas of Portugal.