Hojas de Plata 2026 returns to La Plata with new ruleset

Hojas de Plata will return to La Plata on Aug. 15-16 with a new ruleset built around clean and safe fencing, a €15 entry fee and a venue at Circulo Siciliano de La Plata, C. 71 429. The weekend is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. on Aug. 15 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 16, and the listing frames it as the long-awaited return of one of Argentina’s most important HEMA events.

That rules language is the story. The organizers are not simply reopening a bracket after time away, they are using the comeback to define what kind of fencing should be rewarded. By putting control, clarity and judged execution ahead of pure point-chasing, Hojas de Plata is signaling that the return is meant to raise the bar for how matches are fenced and judged on the floor.

The event lands inside a busy national scene. HEMA Argentina connects more than 10 independent historical fencing clubs across the country and lists open tournaments in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario and Mendoza. La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province, gives the weekend a larger catchment area than a single club hall would, with 772,618 residents in the Partido and 938,287 in Greater La Plata at the 2022 census.

Hojas de Plata also arrives with history behind it. HEMA Ratings records the 2019 edition in La Plata on Aug. 17, 2019, with 22 fighters across two divisions, Mixed Steel Longsword and Mixed Synthetic Longsword. The steel division produced 21 fights among 9 fighters, while synthetic logged 34 fights among 13 fighters. The field included Agustin Burgos, Andrés Halabi, Antonio Diverso, Daniel Alejandro Bassi, Valeria Ibañez and others from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Peru, underlining the event’s regional reach.

The weekend has also long been more than a simple elimination tree. In 2018, Sala de Armas Tercio de Ultramar thanked Círculo de Esgrima Histórica Cruz del Sur for making the event possible and noted the sacrifices involved in hosting it. By 2019, Cruz del Sur was describing Hojas de Plata as a gathering for Argentina and Latin America built around camaraderie, competition and learning, with talks and workshops split between short sessions of about half an hour and longer blocks of roughly two hours. The club later used HEMA Scorecard for the tournament and uploaded the results to HEMA Ratings, tying the event into the wider competitive record.

A 2022 attempt to bring Hojas de Plata back from La Plata was canceled, which makes this year’s return feel less like a calendar item and more like a reset. If the new ruleset produces the kind of controlled, well-judged fencing the organizers want, Hojas de Plata can reclaim its place as a standard-setter for the Argentine scene.