LL-L "Games" 2003.06.03 (01) [E]

[R. F. Hahn]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 03.JUN.2003 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: globalmoose at t-online.de (Global Moose Translations)
Subject: LL-L "Games" 2003.06.02 (07) [E]

When I grew up in Southern Lower Saxony (born in 1958), we had quite a
few
"primitive" games, and I know that some are still played today.

First let me mention the all-time favourites: Hide-and-seek, and Tag,
and
the countless variations thereof. Of course they are still played all
over
the world. And children will always be climbing trees and constructing
their
own retreats in the woods, like my nine-year-old and her friends do.

There's the game of "A zerlatschen", which is still played today. It's a
hiding/catching/running game; the letter A is formed on the ground with
three sticks which are then thrown as far as possible in different
directions. The catcher/seeker has to collect them and form the A again
before (s)he may go after the others. If you manage to sneak back and
step
on the A, you're home free.

There were several schoolyard games that I loved involving territory; we
would draw the boundaries of our "countries" on the ground with sticks
(before they paved the schoolyard over), and then there were several
possibilities of gaining more territory. I have no idea whether these
are
regional games or not.

1. Everybody's territory is a section of a large circle. You throw a
small
stick or flat stone (gently!) in one of the neighboring circles; the
owner
tries to block it with his/her body (no hands). Depending on where it
lands,
you get to take some of their land, or they get to take yours.

2. Here, territories are larger and farther apart, and are given country
names. You shout the name of a "country" and throw in a stick; the owner
has
to step on it while everybody else runs away, and then shout "Stop".
Everybody freezes, and the owner of the country tries to throw the stick
at
someone and hit him/her with it. Territory is given /taken away
according to
the outcome (and of course you lose if you don't hit the country in the
first place.

3. Everybody starts on a small island (circle), only just big enough to
stand in. Again, you throw a stick at someone else's country and they
try to
block it with their bodies (no hands). Then they are allowed to expand
their
territory - draw a "nose" from their island around where the stick fell.

In all three variations, the person with the largest territory wins. But
of
course, the more successful you are and the more territory you gain, the
harder it becomes for you to guard it...

These are all games I learned from other children, not my family.

Gabriele

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From: William Parker <William.Parker at three.co.uk>
Subject: Documentation of Children's Games

Ron,

Regarding your question about whether anyone is capturing these
children's
games you should be aware of the work of Peter and Iona Opie who over
the
past c45 years have done much to capture children's poetry / songs /
rhymes,
dances and games in their various books - see below:

*       The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, Peter Opie with Iona
Opie
OUP 1959
*       Children's Games in Street and Playground, Peter Opie with Iona
Opie
OUP 1969
*       The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford Dictionary
Nursery
Rhymes, 2nd Ed), Peter Opie with Iona Opie OUP 1998
*       The Oxford Book of Children's Verse (Oxford Books of Verse),
Peter
Opie with Iona Opie OUP 2002
*       The Classic Fairy Tales, Peter Opie with Iona Opie OUP 1992

In addition there are other related books prepared by the couple not
mentioned here but this should be a good start!

> William Parker

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