BARANTA, The Hungarian Martial Art In Upper Hungary

Baranta Association in Upper Hungary is situated in the northern part of ancient Hungary and was established officially in 2008 though there were Baranta-teams in the region even before. The one eg. in Dunaszerdahely named after András Hadik and founded by Gábor Kopecsni broke new ground in the region.

What does BARANTA mean?

The Baranta legacy is the armed and unarmed martial art of the Hungarians who lived between the 9th and the 20th centuries, originating in ancient times. In a wider sense, Baranta is the collective knowledge of the Hungarian folk, which includes their way of living, community building, self improvement as well as psychology. Baranta itself was re-founded by Vukics Ferenc.

Sources

Zsolt Pucskó, Hun-Hungarian stick fighter

Gábor Kopecsni – president of Baranta Association in Upper Hungary – is gaining knowledge and experience on the subject from well-known experts in Hungary: Lajos Kassai, a world-famous horseback archer, Zsolt Pucskó, Hun-Hungarian stick fighter. Norbert Máday tought him the so-called hussar sixcut and has founded the Hungarian Sabre School recently in which Baranta Association’s Sabre School in Upper Hungary has joined.

Training with Lajos Kassai

Gábor Kopecsni is doing ethnographic research on folk martial physical culture particulary in Upper Hungary. During his research several things of worth has been found: various methods of lash-moves, folk wrestling, spontoon fighting, penknife- and stick games.

One of the evident results of his research is a series of books called Baranta Kiskönyvtár (Baranta Small Library) has come into being with 5 books published so far.

Researches are intended to be done by an official research team the result with a civil organization has been establised: Research Centre of Baranta Association in Upper Hungary.

Training

Baranta Association in Upper Hungary, in common with an enthusiastic person with Hungarian nationality Ferenc Mede, gave birth to Baranta-valley in the same region, close to a village, Gömörpéterfala. This valley opens the door to training.

Currently construction works are going on side by side with training activities such as regular training, camp and tutorial. Baranta Association in Upper Hungary has its own Research Centre with library seated also in Baranta-valley. Researched material is processed here and applied in practice.