CONTENTS
PAGE 3
Preface
PAGE 80 PAGE 81 PAGE 82
About the Author and Illustrator Acknowledgements Bibliography
PAGE 4 PAGE 20 PAGE 36 PAGE 58
Games from the Viking Age and Mediaeval times Games from the 16th and 17th centuries Games from the 18th and 19th centuries Games from the 20th century
Lek- och idrottshistorisk verkstad Wande production Frejavägen 10 15534 Nykvarn Sweden www.1000yearsofgames.com Swedish title: 1000 år av lek © Martin Wande & Olof Johansson 2014 Photo p 7, 11 & 79: Espen Winther Photo p 75: Henrik Ljungqvist Photos: Nina & Martin Wande Illustrations & layout: Martin Wande ISBN: 978-91-637-7269-6 Printed by: www.boktryckarna.se
PREFACE
n this book we present a variety of games, including games of strength and wrestling, tug-of-wars, agility tests, balance games, and games for amusement, drawn from historical sources ranging from the Viking Age to the 20th century. There is an abundance of old traditional games and sports, nowadays mostly forgotten, and we would like to spread the knowledge of these crazy, fun and tough games that so amused our forefathers. If we do have any ambitions with this book they are that you will test these games and be inspired to change the rules (which are more like guidelines anyway), invent new versions, or use the ideas to create completely new games of your own. Play is a fantastic way of having fun together! Olof Johansson and Martin Wande
3
RIDA TILL STRID Mounted battle
ne of you acts as a horse with a rider on your shoulders. You fight other pairs alone or in teams. The pairs of horses and riders fan out and place themselves some distance from each other. When the battle begins the riders try to pull each other down from the horses. The horses hold on to their rider’s legs and try to keep the riders safe. You may run away to regroup if necessary. TEAM BATTLE If you have enough people you can divide them into two teams. To have an even more tactical game, one rider in each team may carry a flag. The aim is then to conquer the flag or to pull the rider with the opponent’s flag down to the ground.
You can also sit on the horse’s back.
Viking Age and Mediaeval times
RULES Only the riders are allowed to wrestle and pull each other down. The horses may only push and jostle, but not trip or grab any one. If a rider touches the ground, both rider and horse are out of the game. The last pair standing wins. In a team battle with flags, the winning team is the first one that takes the opponent’s flag or pulls down the rider holding it.
TIPS AND TRICKS Keep injuries down to a minimum by agreeing beforehand that it is not permitted to attack a rider by pulling him or her down from behind. If you find sitting on the horse’s shoulders puts you too high up, you sit on your horse’s back instead. If any rider changes to this position, it is best if everybody does the same, to keep the game fair.
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HISTORY
Rida till strid – Mounted battle
ounted battle is a fun mediaeval wrestling and fighting game. It is demanding of its participants: strength, swiftness, and balance are required, as well as wrestling skills. Two 14th century mediaeval manuscripts include what are probably the first depictions of the game: the Luttrell Psalter (British Library, London, Ad. MS 42130 fol. 62r) dated 13251340, and the Romance of Alexander (Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Bodl. 264 fol 3r) which is dated as 1338-1344. The name Mounted battle is not the original name, but a later description of the game. VARIANT In a variant of Mounted battle, many pairs of horses and riders join together in a team and battle another group of mounted riders. In 12th century Europe, such a battle was called a mêlée. A mêlée was more of a real battle than a regulated tournament with lance and shield where one knight rode against another. That kind of tournament, known as jousting, became popular at a later time in mediaeval Europe. The kind of jousting that we commonly associate with knights and tournaments developed from these earlier forms of battlelike warfare. The victors in a mêlée got to take the losers’ horses, weapons, and armour. 18
Sometimes they even got some money, an incentive that surely led many poor knights to participate. MEDIAEVAL WRESTLING Wrestling was one of the most popular sports during the Middle Ages. Mounted battle is just one example of a fun and playful wrestling game that existed at the time. Wrestling competitions were often held in special places, like for example Fangabrekka (the wrestling slope) at the Althingi of Iceland, or on special days or festivities. In England wrestling competitions were held, especially on St Bartholomew’s Day in August each year. The winner’s prize was often a ram, a symbol of strength and virility. Roosters were also often given as prizes for the winner of a wrestling competition. The wrestling bout started with a handshake and it was not unheard of to wrestle clad only in a loincloth. The exact rules for these bouts are not known, but usually the aim was to throw one’s opponent to the ground. In the Icelandic sagas, the oldest known term for wrestling was Fang. Fang is an Icelandic expression meaning ‘catching’ in order to obtain control of something. In Icelandic Fang also denotes the area between one person’s arms. There were different kinds of Fang in the Icelandic sagas.
The Luttrell Psalter, 1325-1340. Š The British Library Board Add. 42130, f.62r
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SPENNA KYRCKJA Guess who hit you
painful guessing game for four people or more. In this game a winner is difficult to determine. One of you will be the punching bag and bend forward with your bottom towards the others. To make sure you don’t see what’s going behind you can use a blindfold or put your head in the lap of another person sitting on a chair or bench. The other participants place themselves in a semicircle behind the punching bag and one of you hit him or her on the backside with an open palm. The punching bag must now try to guess who dealt the blow.
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RULES The game starts by deciding who will be the punching bag. This is more easily said than done, so some sort of lottery is recommended to sort that out. The punching bag must have his or her eyes shut or wear a blindfold. The other players standing behind the punching bag decide who will deal the next strike. One of you hits the punching bag with your open hand on their rear end and then the punching bag quickly turns around and tries to guess who hit him or her. If the punching bag is wearing a blindfold, now is the time to take it off.
If the punching bag makes a wrong guess the game continues. If the punching bag guesses correctly who dealt the blow he or she will change places with the one who hit. There is no actual end to the game, so just stop playing when you want to. TIPS AND TRICKS Sometimes the palm of the hitter hurts more than the punching bag’s behind, especially if the punching bag has pulled down his or her trousers. There is no evident winner of this game and it may continue indefinitely.
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HISTORY
Spenna Kyrckja – Guess who hit you
uess who hit you is a simple and fun guessing game where one person bends forward and the other participants in turn smack the guesser’s backside with their open hand. The one bending forward must try to figure out who hit him or her to end their misery. The name Spenna kyrckja (from Swedish ‘Spänna kyrka’) is first mentioned in Olof Rudbeck’s book Atlantica, published in 1689. Traditionally it was a game for men, especially played during Christmas and it could turn a bit rough. Christmas then, as now, was one of the major celebrations and festive periods of the year and was filled with food, dancing, and games. Spenna kyrkja was a widely played game during the 19th and 20th centuries in Sweden. The game had a number of different names in different provinces. A common title was Gissa vem som slog, (‘Guess who hit You’), but the game was also called Täcka kyrka in the province of Halland, Spela kyrka in the province of Sörmland and Sla brakstut in the province of Ångermanland. There were a number of different varieties of the game. Paintings and tapestries show that Spenna kyrckja and similar games were played in the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe. One example is a game depicted on a Flemish tapestry from the 15th century. It shows a similar game played as a parlor or pledge game. 34
SPÄNNA KRÅKA Guess who kicked you
Don´t kick like this when playing Spänna kråka.
tougher version of Spenna kyrkja is called Spänna kråka and is known from the 19th and 20th century Swedish province of Skåne. Instead of being hit in the backside with the open hand, here the one bending over was kicked in the behind! Start carefully by kicking with the side of your foot. Make sure not to kick between the legs. Otherwise this game is played in the same way as Spenna kyrkja as described on page 32 and 33.
ESEL WER REITET? Donkey, who is riding you?
nother variant of the game is called Esel wer reitet? or Donkey, who is riding you?, originating from the area known as Mühlviertel in Bundesland Oberösterreich in Austria. In this variety one of the participants in the game bends forward (he or she is called the Donkey) and puts his or her head in the lap of another person sitting on a chair or bench. The other players gather a couple of meters behind the donkey. The game starts with one of the participants gathered behind the donkey running and jumping up onto the back of the donkey. The one sitting on the chair calls out: “Donkey,
who is riding you?”. The donkey guesses a name and if the name is correct the donkey joins the ones who run and jump onto the back of the donkey. The one on the donkey’s back becomes the donkey instead. But if the donkey guesses wrong, another person jumps up and sit behind the first person on the donkey. The game continues until the donkey guesses the right name or collapses under the weight of all the people sitting on his or her back. The game, Esel wer reitet? could be older than the 20th century. The painting Children’s games on page 27, from 1560, depicts among other games one that could be a version of Esel, wer reitet? 35
TREBOLD Three-ball
ballgame for three people where accuracy and agility are crucial to winning the game. Two of you stand 6-10 m apart with the third person standing between, in the middle. The two at the ends throw a ball back and forth and try to hit the one in the middle.
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The middle person tries to avoid being hit by the ball by leaning toward either side or by jumping straight up. You can mark a circle on the ground, approximately 50 cm in diameter, in which the one in the middle must have at least one foot all the time. If there are four of you, you can play in teams with two throwers and two jumpers. Compete against each other as to which team can stay in the middle the longest without getting hit.
RULES The ones in the middle must keep at least one foot in the circle at all times, except when jumping. If you are in the middle and get hit by the ball you change places with the one who threw the ball and the game continues. YOU WILL NEED A ball, approximately 5-8 cm in diameter. An ordinary tennis ball works just fine. TIPS AND TRICKS Make sure you have extra balls nearby, or some friends acting as fielders so you don’t have to spend time running after balls that go astray. 49
HISTORY Trebold – Three-ball
rebold was played in Denmark from the middle of the 19th century. A direct translation into English would make the name ‘three-ball’, meaning a ballgame for three people. Trebold is known from the province of Midtsjaelland in Denmark and was played by both men and women, which wasn’t always the case for games during this period of time. Many games in the old agrarian peasant society were divided into games for men and games for women. Ebbe Schön writes about this separation of men’s and women’s games during the Christmas festivities in his book Julen förr i tiden: Games of men and women were carefully separated. The men’s games were quite rough, and they could often result in a black eye, a broken bone or a twisted wrist. (Translated from Swedish) In the so-called Våg from Gotland, which were a sort of organized team competition between different parishes or between different groups within a parish, for example maids against farmhands, there are examples of men and women competing against each other. Women often got a handicap when competing against men, for example the men would have to stop and drink a measure of schnapps 50
during a running competition between men and women. The game Trebold could be much older, and it is possible that a similar ballgame is depicted on one of the golden Gallehushorns from 400-450 AD. These horns are named after the place where they were found in Denmark. The first horn were found in 1639 and the second in 1734. The horns were later stolen and melted, but fortunately drawings had been made and copies were later made of the Gallehushorns. On the larger of the two horns it looks as if a ballgame is depicted. The picture shows three people sitting in a row on the ground and a ball is up in the air in between them. Could it be the first picture of a ballgame from the Nordic countries? PLAYING FIELDS Before and during the 19th century there was a tradition of certain special sporting places, playing fields (Swedish lekvallar), where people would congregate to dance, play, and test their strength against each other in competitions. We can sometimes find these old traditional places for playing and doing sports by certain name elements in place names such as Dansvallarna, Lekeslätt or Leksvall with the Swedish words dans (dance), lek (play), sometimes in combination with vall (field) indicating an ancient playing field.
Oktorpsgårdens dwelling house and barn from Slöinge socken in Halland, Sweden, built in the mid-1800s.
PLAY COTTAGES An important part of countryside social life for the older youth were the lekstugor (playcottages). Dancing played the central role in these gatherings of youths. Best of all was if a fiddler was present to play, but games of different kinds were also important in these
gatherings. ‘Play-cottages’ took place in old abandoned cottages or in a room that a farmer would let the youths use. Christmas was, then as now, one of the major feasts of the year, and during the days between Christmas Eve and New Year the youths organized ‘play-cottages’ with food, drink, and music. 51
BRYTA SJÖMANSHANDSK Bend the sailor’s glove
balance-breaking wrestling type of game which can be played almost anywhere. You and your opponent face each other, placing the toes of your right feet against each other’s and making sure you have a wide stance and good balance. Take hold of your opponent’s right hand with your thumbs over each other’s, gripping the fingers around the back of your opponent’s hand. The aim of the game is to get your opponent to lose his or her balance and either fall to the ground or move his or her feet.
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RULES You will begin on a start signal and if you move or lift one of your feet you lose the game. You will also lose if you touch the ground with any part of your body other than your feet. Keep hold of each other’s hands for the duration of the game. TIPS AND TRICKS Try to get your opponent’s arm behind his or her back. Keep pushing forward and downwards. Avoid getting your own arm behind your back.
HISTORY
Bryta sjömanshandsk – Bend the sailor’s glove
end the sailor’s glove is a game that many people will recognize, perhaps with a different name: Indian wrestling. Indian wrestling is quite a young name for the game. Other 20th century names are ‘Bend the skraeling (native)’ and ‘Push over a friend’. One of the older names is Bryta sjömanshandsk. In the first half of the 20th century the game was played, among other places, in Korpo, Finland. VERSION A fun version of the game Bend the sailor’s glove is called ‘Push over friends’ (Swedish Välta vänner) and is a team effort with two or more in each team. There is no limit to the amount of people who can join a team. The team builds a human chain by standing alternately turned towards the front or back of the chain, front-back-front-back and so on. The outside of your feet are placed against each other’s in the team and you must hold hands, with the same grip as in Bend the sailor’s glove. The last one of each chain is the only one holding only one hand. RULES Your team tries to make someone from the other team to lose their balance and either move a foot or fall down. The advantage in this version is that your team can help each other. 18th and 19th century
1000 YEARS OF FUN AND GAMES FROM THE VIKING AGE TO THE 20TH CENTURY
n this book we present a variety of games, drawn from historical sources ranging from the Viking Age to the 20th century. There is an abundance of old traditional games and sports, nowadays mostly forgotten, and we would like to spread the knowledge of these crazy, fun and tough games that so amused our forefathers.
Olof Johansson and Martin Wande
ISBN 978-91-637-7269-6
www.1000yearsofgames.com