Folklore.

The folkloric heritage of Gipuzkoa includes a large number of traditional ritual dances, which are proof of a rich culture that is over a thousand years old and which have always been linked to our town's oldest festivities. The best knows of them are:

• The sword dance, a dance associated with civic-religious festivities and which is only danced by men carrying swords.
• The aurresku, the social dance par excellence, which is danced to pay homage to or welcome important figures or authorities.
• The ochavario dantza, which has been danced by groups of eight men in Legazpia since the start of the 17th century.
• The bordon-dantza, which is supposed to originate from Medieval border skirmishes.

The colourful and popular displays of arms in Irún and Hondarribia, the re-enactment of the sailor Juan Sebastián Elcano's disembarking in Getaria, the drum displays in San Sebastián and Azpeitia or the Caldereros carnival parades in the capital of Gipuzkoa are also traditional folkloric displays.

Here, conventional sports co-exist with traditional Basque games and sports, which were originally connected to life in the rural areas, but which can now be enjoyed all over Gipuzkoa. The most famous sports are pelota - which has now stretched beyond its frontiers - and the trawler regattas.

The various types of Basque pelota are played in all of Gipuzkoa's towns and villages, most of which have magnificent fronton court, but the most sought after pelota players mainly play on the courts of San Sebastián, Hernani, Elbar and Bergara. The trawler regattas take place in summer and the climax to the season's racing is during the first two Sundays of September in La Concha bay.

There are also trunk-cutting competitions ("aitzkolaris"), lifting rocks ("harrijasotzailes"), dragging rocks using oxen or "sokatira" (tug of war), which have all now become unusual spectacles, where betting is commonplace.