El ball de bastons, litterally the wooden stick dance, started originally in the Middle Age. The first written references to this dance are dating back to the 12th Century.
This traditional dance is an evolution of the ancient battles between knights, who challenged each other with swords till the death.
Over time, the swords were replaced by wooden sticks, and what was originally a confrontation, became a popular dance.
El ball de bastons is originally danced only by men even though today women are also allowed to participate. The dance symbolize the struggle of the knoghts battle: participants pretend to beat each other following the rhythm of popular music.
There is a similar female version, known as Ball de les Cintes (Ribbon’s dance), because the dance is using ribbons instead of sticks.