The “Powder Game” (Laâb Al Baroud) or Fantasia refers to a set of traditional equestrian shows in the Maghreb. Inspired by antique military assault techniques, the Exercise of the Fantasia sees the race of row of riders with richly adorned frames, equipped with black powder rifles and followed by a synchronized fire. This is the repetition of two war cavalry movements: the throttling load (El Kerr) as well as instant retirement (El Ferr). It is a fundamental element of every large party or rite in the region and the subject of a particular artistic interest from the nineteenth century, as the orientalist paintings of Eugène Delacroix, Eugène Fromentin or Maria Fortuny illustrated.
The Powder Game celebrates the relationship between man and horse in a land where the ancestor of the native beard horse breed dates back 40,000 years: Equus Caballus Algericus.
Enduring and fast horse, the Beard was integrated into the Numidian armies, one of the best cavalry during the Punic Wars and famous for the efficiency of their charge.
The Fantasia is then a show of force and comes from the legacy of Arab-Turkish-Amazigh military equestrian art from the Maghreb.
Its practice is however heterogeneous. Thus, we note the Fantasia on foot of the Mzab region, where the cavalry is replaced by rows of dances to the rhythm of the music. There are also Fantasias performed on the back of a camel, or even female fantasias, especially in the 19th century in Constantine.
The boundaries of this perilous exercise are moreover difficult to establish in view of a form of practice of Fantasia in neighboring countries such as Chad and Egypt, but also because of its export to regions such as New Zealand. Caledonia following the arrival of Algerian deportees.
The powder game is currently under the aegis of the Algerian Equestrian Federation, which is responsible for the organization and development of modern and traditional equestrian practice in Algeria. It has nine regional leagues.
Source : translated from https://www.thecasbahpost.com/la-fantasia-lart-de-la-parade-guerriere/
