The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume Ii Part 117

Old Dame.

Rashes.

Shepherds and Sheep.

Steal the Pigs.

Thread the Needle.

Three Jolly Welshmen.

Tower of London.

Trades.

Who goes round my Stone Wall?

Willie Wastell.

Witch.

Wolf.

Nearly all the remaining dramatic games form a third cla.s.s, namely, those where action remains, and where both words and singing are either non-existent or have been reduced to the merest fragments.

In order to complete the investigation from the point we have now reached, it is necessary to inquire what is the controlling force which has preserved ancient custom in the form of children's games. The mere telling of a game or tale from a parent to a child, or from one child to another, is not alone sufficient. There must be some strong force inherent in these games that has allowed them to be continued from generation to generation, a force potent enough to almost compel their continuance and to prevent their decay. This force must have been as strong or stronger than the customs which first brought the games into existence, and I identify it as the dramatic faculty inherent in mankind.

A necessary part of this proposition is, that the element of the dramatic in children's games is more ancient than, or at all events as ancient as, the customs enshrined in the games themselves, and I will first of all see if this is so.

With the child the capacity to express itself in words is small and limited. The child does not apparently pay as much attention to the language of those adults by whom he is surrounded as he does to their actions, and the more limited his vocabulary, the greater are his attempts at expressing his thoughts by action. Language to him means so little unless accompanied by action. It is too cold for a child. Every one acquainted with children will be aware of their dramatic way of describing to their mother or nurse the way in which they have received a hurt through falling down the stairs or out of doors, or from knocking their heads against articles of furniture. A child even, whose command of language is fairly good, will usually not be content to say, "Oh, mother, I fell down and knocked my head against the table," but will say, "Oh, I fell down like this" (suiting the action to the word by throwing himself down); "I knocked my head like this" (again suiting the action to the word by knocking the head against the table), and does not understand that you can comprehend how he got hurt by merely saying so.

He feels it necessary to show you. Elders must respond in action as well as in words to be understood by children. If "you kiss the place to make it well," and if you bind up a cut or sore, something has been done that can be seen and felt, and this the child believes in as a means of healing. A child understands you are sorry he has been hurt, much more readily than if you say or repeat that you are sorry; the words pa.s.s almost unheeded, the action is remembered.

Every one, too, must have noticed the observation of detail a child will show in personifying a particular person. When a little child wishes to personate his father, for instance, he will seat himself in the father's chair, cross his legs, pick up a piece of paper and pretend to read, or stroke an imaginary beard or moustache, put on gla.s.ses, frown, or give a little cough, and say, "Now I'm father," if the father is in the habit of indulging in either of the above habits, and it will be found that sitting in the chair (if a special chair is used by the father to sit in when at home) is the foundation and most important part of the imitation. Other men of the child's acquaintance read papers, smoke, wear gla.s.ses, &c., but father sits in that chair; therefore to be father, sitting in the chair is absolutely necessary, and is sufficient of itself to indicate to others that "father" is being personified, and not another person. To be "mother" a child will pretend to pour out tea, or sew, or do some act of household work, the doing of which is a.s.sociated with "mother," while a lady visitor or a relative would be indicated by wearing hat or bonnet or silk dress, carrying a parasol, saying, "How do you do?" and carrying on conversation. Again, too, it is noticeable how a child realises a hurt if blood and swelling ensues after a knock. This is something that can be seen and shown.

When wishing to be an animal, a child fixes at once on some characteristic of that animal which is special to it, and separates it from other animals similar in other ways. Children never personate horses and cows, for instance, in the same manner. Horses toss their heads, shake their manes, paw the ground, prance, and are restless when standing still, gallop and trot, wear harness, and their drivers have reins and a whip. When a child is a cow he does none of these things; he walks in a slower, heavier way, lowers the head, and stares about as he moves his head from side to side, lies down on the ground and munches; he has horns, and rubs these against a tree or a fence.

A child of mine, when told that he must not run in the gutter when out of doors, because that was not the place for little boys, replied, "I am not a little boy now, I am a dog, so I may run in the gutter." When he came into the path again he became a boy.

Again the same child, when called by his name and told to come out from under a table, a round one, under which he was lying rubbing his head against the pedestal centre, because under the table was not the place for little boys, said, "But I'm not [ ], I'm a cow, and it's not a table, it's a tree, and I'm rubbing my horns."

Again, when personating a train, the actions used are completely different from those used when personating an animal. The child moves at a steady rate, the feet progressing without raising the legs more than necessary, because engines only have wheels, which keep close to the ground; they don't jump up like feet do, the arms are used as the propeller, and the puffing and screeching, letting off steam, taking in water, are imitated in sound to perfection. This is entirely on the child's own initiative. When children play in groups the same things occur. Instances could be given _ad nauseam_. It cannot, therefore, surprise us that in these games children should be found to use actions which indicate to them certain persons or things, although the words they use may render action unnecessary, as action is to them most important. Children, when acting these games or dramas, appear not to need the element of dress or of particular garments to indicate their adoption of certain characters or characteristics. To display your heels and look down at them while doing so signifies a man who wears spurs, a knight; to prance along as if a horse, shows a man on horseback, a duke a-riding. A child lies or stoops down and shuts her eyes, she is dead; if she is pa.s.sively carried by two others a little distance, she is going to be buried. The child, by standing still, becomes a tree, a house, or a stone wall. If an animal is required to be shown, down goes the child on hands and knees, bends her head down, and the animal is there. If a gate, fortress, or castle is wanted, two children join hands, and their arms are raised or lowered when required for opening the gate, &c. If one child is to personate a "mother," one or two or more smaller children are placed behind or beside her as her children, because "mothers have children," and so on. Many other examples could be given from these games of the same kind of thing. There is, then, no difficulty as to the reason why children should have continued playing at these games when once they had seen their elders play them or similar performances, nor why children should not have embodied in a game or play some of the manners and customs which were constantly going on around them in olden times as they do now, imitating the habits and customs of the men and women and animals by whom they were surrounded.

We know from the evidence of those who have collected the games that many were played as amus.e.m.e.nts by young men and women up to a few years ago. Some are still so played, and some years further back it was a general practice for men and women in country districts to play these or similar games at fairs and festivals; it is unlikely that adults would play seriously at children's games, but children having seen their elders playing at these amus.e.m.e.nts would adopt them and use them in their turn, until these amus.e.m.e.nts become in turn too frivolous and childish for them. It is not so very many years since that the then educated or cultured cla.s.ses amused themselves by occupations now deemed silly and unfit even for children of the uneducated cla.s.s-witness practical joking, c.o.c.k-fighting, &c.

The natural instinct to dramatic action in children is paralleled by the same instinct in grown-up people when in a state of culture where they are chiefly dependent upon their natural capacities for existence. Thus evidence of the natural dramatic power in savages and in semi-civilised races is abundant. The dances of savages are strongly dramatic. They advance in lines dancing, gesticulating, and singing, while others sit and look on; they dance in circles joining hands, they go down on all fours imitating animal postures and noises, they wear masks, special dresses and ornaments, and these have significance for their audience.

Some of these dances are peculiar to and only witnessed by men, others performed by men are witnessed by both s.e.xes. These ceremonial dances are performed princ.i.p.ally at the celebration of the initiative rites, but some also represent other customs periodically performed.

Catlin's (_North American Indians_) description of the Buffalo dance among the Mandan Indians shows the dancers wearing masks made of a buffalo's head and horns, and a tail hanging down behind. The dancers went through the actions of hunting, being shot with bow and arrow, skinned and cut up, accompanied by singing and yelling. This dance was performed as a ceremony when food was required and the hunters were at a loss, and would continue until a herd of buffalos came in sight on the prairie.

Mr. W. E. Roth gives dances accompanied by songs and pantomimic action and games practised by the N.W. Central Australian aborigines.[21]

[21] _Ethnological Studies among the N.W. Central Queensland Aborigines._ By Walter E. Roth. 1897. London.

In "Secular and Ceremonial Dances of Torres Straits" (_Zeit. fur Ethnogr._, vi. 1893, p. 131), Dr. Haddon describes a "saw-fish dance"

performed by natives. He says "the advent of different seasons of the year is celebrated by ceremonies amongst most peoples; the most frequent of these are harvest festivals, or periods of rejoicings at the abundance of food. Very frequent also are ceremonies which relate to the preparing for crops or the inauguration of a season which promises abundant food supply. The saw-fish dance belongs to the latter cla.s.s."

Dr. Haddon visited the men, and saw the making of the masks which he describes at length. These were worn by the dancers, and consisted of an imitation of a human face resting on a crocodile's head, and surmounted by a figure of a saw-fish represented in a traditional method. The dance, which lasted for hours, was accompanied by singing a chant, the words of which served as a description of the meaning of the dance. This dance is performed to ensure a good harvest from the sea.

He also refers to dramatic death dances and war dances, and describes some interesting forms of other dances, one in which crabs are represented. He says, all the men dance in single file, and each man during the dance performs some definite movements which ill.u.s.trate an action in real life, such as agricultural, nautical, or fishing employments; for example, a man would crouch and move his hands about as if he were planting yams or looking for pearl sh.e.l.l at the bottom of the sea. These movements are known to the spectators, though the foreign observer may not catch the allusion. Probably most of these actions have become more or less conventionalised during innumerable dance representations, just as some of the adjuncts to the dance are degenerate representations of objects used in everyday life. In the war dance the actions ill.u.s.trate the method pursued in war, ending with an evolution which represented the successful warriors threading the heads of the slain on the rattan slings which always hung on their backs when they went out to fight.

Mrs. Murray-Aynsley in a paper on the secular and religious dances in Asia and Africa (_Folk-lore Journal_, vol. v. pp. 273, 274), describes an aboriginal dance which still takes place annually in certain villages in the Kha.s.sia and Jaintia hills. It generally takes place in May. The special reason of the dance is the display of all the unmarried girls from far and near to choose, or be chosen by, suitable parties, and from description it is probable that the girls choose. Many marriages result from this one annual dance. The dances take place in a circular enclosure which is set apart for this annual feast. The musicians sit in the centre, and the girls form a large circle round the musicians, and behind the girls, holding hands in a larger circle, the men dance and go through their part of the performance. The girls perform very quiet movements and dance slowly, while the men jig, leap, hop, and wave their arms, legs, umbrellas, and _daos_ in the wildest confusion, accompanying their movements with the most savage war-whoops, signifying nothing. It is also usual for the men to dance when one of their tribe is buried.

In the Kulu district at Sultanpore is held the feast of Rugonath, the chief G.o.d, when the G.o.ds belonging to every village in the valley are bound to appear and pay him respect. There is feasting, and the men dance round and round the palanquins containing the inferior G.o.ds. When the excitement is at its height the temple attendants seize the palanquins and dance them up and down violently, and make the G.o.dlings salaam to each other and to Rugonath, the chief G.o.d.

In Spiti, a valley in the Western Himalayas, the people frequently dance for hours for their own amus.e.m.e.nt. Men and women dance together, all join hands and form a long line or circle. They commence by singing, then dance to the accompaniment of their own voices, and the fun speedily becomes fast and furious (_ibid._ p. 281).

Amongst the Lamas there are also religious and secular dances performed at their feasts or fairs, the religious dances by the Lamas, the secular by men and women together, or by each s.e.x separately. In one dance those who take part form themselves into two long lines. Each dancer holds on to the one in front of him, as in our game of "Fox and Goose." The two strings of dancers wind in and out, then divide and dance opposite each other, advancing and receding with a slow undulating movement, which gradually becomes more energetic. Mock sword fights then take place between two combatants, also sword dances, with two crossed weapons laid on the ground, and precisely like those performed at our Highland gatherings. In the religious dances each man wears a gigantic headpiece, which comes down as far as the shoulders. Some of the masks are ornamented. They perform several different dances, in which separate characters are performed, one a Chinese mandarin and his wife, another, two actors wear masks resembling ferocious-looking dogs, one places himself against the entrance door, the other guards the door of exit.

They remind one, says Mrs. Murray-Aynsley, of the divan-palas, or doorkeepers, whose statues are seen placed as guards on each side of the shrine of some old Hindu temple. In Algeria the dancing at weddings is performed by men and women. Before each woman went out to dance she was enveloped in a garment which covered her from head to feet, her hands even not being visible, the sleeves being drawn over and tied at the ends so that the hands and arms were enclosed as in a bag. This was apparently a form of disguise, as one woman was sent back because her husband had discovered her. At a funeral also hired female mourners were dancing on the surface of a newly-made grave and uttering wild shrieks.

An interesting account of the war-dance of the Coorgis is also given (_ibid._ p. 251). "The Coorgis a.s.sembled in a clearing in the natural jungle. The forest was only illumined by jungle. The torch-bearers formed a large circle; within the open s.p.a.ce, in the centre, were the musicians. One dance was very peculiar, inasmuch as it seemed to be a remnant of a period when every man's hand was against his brother's.

The performers may consist of any equal number of persons; they always dance in pairs. Before they begin each man is given a bundle of sticks or bamboos. This he holds in his left hand, and a stouter stick is given him in his right hand. At first all the men dance round and round, with head erect, as if going to war. Presently they narrow the circle and a.s.sume a crouching att.i.tude, their eyes glancing here, there, and everywhere. The respective adversaries have been singled out; the intending aggressors make a feint or two, then bend their knees so that they are only about two-thirds of their ordinary stature; at the same time they place their feet together and make a succession of bounds, or rather hops, like a frog, and with the sticks the attacking party aim cuts at the legs of the men whom they selected as their adversaries. The latter now takes up the same att.i.tude; he wards off attack, and returns the blow if he can. Whether intentionally or not, one party is victorious in the end."

"A curious dance is also executed by Hindu women at Sagar, in the Central Provinces of India (_ibid._ p. 253). Men are present, but as spectators only. Some little time before preparations have been made for this feast. Wheat or other grain has been sown in earth placed in pots made of large leaves, held together by thorns of a species of acacia.

The richer women walk along, followed by their attendants carrying trays filled with such pots; the poorer people carry their own plants. As soon as each procession arrives at the ghat, or flight of steps leading down to the lake, every family-circle of friends deposit their pots on the ground and dance round them. After a time the dancers descend to the water's edge, taking their pots of earth and corn with them. They then wash away the soil from the plants, and distribute these amongst their friends. The whole of the ceremony is observed by the men, but they take no part in it. It probably fixes the season for sowing some particular crop."

These amongst others are all dances of semi-civilised peoples, and these dances, being all of a ceremonial nature, are probably derived from older customs, and performed in commemoration of these.

There are also surviving some ceremonial dances, such as the singular ceremony observed at Echternach, in Luxemburg, on Whit-Tuesday, in which ten or fifteen thousand pilgrims take part. Professor Attwell thus describes it in _Notes and Queries_ of May 17, 1890:-

"Early on the morning of Whit-Tuesday pilgrims arrive at Echternach from the neighbouring villages, some alone, or in little family parties, some in small bodies personally conducted by their _cures_, singing litanies in honour of St. Willibrord. At about eight o'clock the bells of the parish church begin to peal, and the clergy, intoning the 'Veni Creator,' and preceded by numerous banners, issue from the princ.i.p.al porch and march along the bank of the Sure to a stone crucifix, near which, from an extemporised pulpit, the crowd is addressed. The short sermon ended, the procession begins. It is headed by a choir of some hundreds of voices chanting antiphonally with the clergy the litanies of the saint. Then come numerous ecclesiastics, followed by a band playing the cadenced music of the dance. The pilgrims are headed by young children and men and women belonging to the parish, after whom comes the throng, in groups of from three to six persons of either s.e.x. The dancers take three jumps forward and one backward, or five forward and two backward. It is, of course, impossible for a moving crowd consisting of many thousands to keep anything like time, save those who are near one of the many bands of music, which, at irregular intervals, accompany the procession. No special order is observed, but there is no confusion.

Poor mothers with sickly children in their arms jump side by side with young well-to-do girls; old men, broken with toil, jump in step with vigorous fellows in the heyday of youth. Water and wine are freely offered by the townsfolk to the pilgrims, many of whom sink exhausted under the unwonted effort. It sometimes happens that sick persons get paid subst.i.tutes to perform for them the expiatory jumping. The distance traversed is less than a mile, but the time occupied is fully two hours.

Before the church can be entered sixty-four steps have to be mounted.

But the singular backward and forward movements and the accompanying music are continued, not only while the steps are ascended, but during the circ.u.mambulation of the church, beneath the altar of which is the tomb of the saint. On reaching the hallowed shrine the devotees manifest their enthusiasm in various ways, kneeling before the altar, which is surrounded by votive offerings, with sobs and gesticulations. When the whole of the immense mult.i.tude has pa.s.sed the shrine, the clergy ascend the altar, the 'Salve Regina' is sung, the Benediction is given, and the imposing ceremony is ended."

Grimm also records the fact that about the year 1133 in a forest near Inda (Ripuaria) a ship was built, set upon wheels, and drawn about the country by men who were yoked to it, first to Aachen (Aix), and up the river to Tongres, Looz, and so on, everywhere with crowds of people a.s.sembling and escorting it. Wherever it halted there were joyful shouts, songs of triumph, and dancing round the ship, kept up till far into the night. This Grimm describes as a recollection of an ancient heathen festival. It was utterly repugnant to and opposed strongly by the clergy as a sinful and heathenish piece of work. On the other hand, the secular power authorised and protected it (_Teutonic Mythology_, i.

258).

The story of the pied piper of Hamelin probably commemorates a procession similar to the Echternach (see _Folk-lore Journal_, vol. ii.

209).

With this may also be noted a dance recorded by Mr. Newell (_Games of American Children_, p. 89), who states that the name "Threading the Needle" is given to a dance in which hundreds take part; in which from time to time the pair who form the head of the row raise their arms to allow the line to pa.s.s through, coiling and winding like a great serpent. When a French savant asked the peasants of La Chatre why they performed this dance, the answer was, "To make the hemp grow."

I remember when quite a small child planting hemp seeds in a patch of garden ground, and being told by a maid-servant, an illiterate country girl, that the seeds would not grow well unless we danced, we joined hands and danced round and round in a circle, then stooped down and jumped about, saying, "Please, G.o.d, send it all up," then again danced round. This may have been said only to amuse us, but it may also have been the remains of an old festival dance. I believe there were more words, but I cannot remember them. Hemp seed is a.s.sociated with ceremonies of magical nature, being one of those used by maidens as a charm to enable them to see a future husband.

Representation in pantomime of the different actions used in the ceremonies of sowing the grain, its growth, and the consequent reaping, binding, and carrying the grain, are practised in different parts of the globe. This is brought down to later times by the custom noted on p.

319, vol. i., where from _Long Ago_ and Best's _Rural Economy of Yorkshire_ (1641), instances are given of it being customary, at harvest-homes, to give representations of "hirings" of farm-servants.

The hiring of a farm labourer, the work he had to do, his terms of service, and the food to be supplied him, were dramatically performed, showing clearly that it had been customary to go through this sort of thing, in earnest of what was expected-in fact, a sort of oral contract, in presence of witnesses.

I will conclude this part of my evidence by a summary of the conclusions arrived at by anthropological authorities.

Sir John Lubbock, in _Origins of Civilisation_ (fifth ed., p. 257), says, "Dancing among savages is no mere amus.e.m.e.nt." He quotes from Robertson's _America_ (iv. p. 133) as follows: "It is an important occupation, which mingles in every occurrence of public or private life.

If any intercourse be necessary between two American tribes, the amba.s.sadors of the one approach in a solemn dance, and present the calumets or emblem of peace; the sachems of the other receives it with the same ceremony. If war is denounced against an enemy, it is by a dance expressive of the resentment which they feel, and of the vengeance which they meditate. If the wrath of their G.o.ds is to be appeased, or their beneficence to be celebrated; if they rejoice at the birth of a child, or mourn the death of a friend-they have dances appropriate to each of these situations, and suited to the different sentiments with which they are animated. If a person is indisposed, a dance is prescribed as the most effectual means to restore him to health; and if he himself cannot endure the fatigue of such an exercise, the physician or conjurer performs it in his name, as if the virtue of his activity could be transferred to his patient."

Sir J. Lubbock mentions some special dances practised among different peoples, and gives an ill.u.s.tration of a circle dance practised by the natives of Virginia round a circle of upright stones (p. 268).

Dr. Tylor (_Anthropology_, p. 296) says, "Savages and barbarians dance their joy and sorrow, love and rage, even their magic and religion. The forest Indians of Brazil, rattle in hand, stamp in one-two-three time round the great earthen pot of intoxicating kawi-liquor; or men or women dance a rude courting dance, advancing in lines with a kind of primitive polka step; or the ferocious war-dance is performed by armed warriors in paint. We have enough of the savage left in us to feel how Australians leaping and yelling at a corrobboree by firelight in the forest can work themselves up into frenzy for next day's fight. But with our civilised notions it is not so easy to understand that barbarians' dancing may mean still more than this; it seems to them so real, that they expect it to act on the world outside. Such an example as the buffalo dance (given _ante_, p. 518) shows how, in the lower level of culture, men dance to express their feeling and wishes. All this explains how in ancient religion dancing came to be one of the chief acts of worship. Religious processions went with song and dance to the Egyptian temples, and Plato said all dancing ought to be thus an act of religion... . Modern civilisation has mostly cast off the sacred dance... . To see this near its old state the traveller may visit the temples of India, or among the Lamas of Tibet watch the mummers in animal masks dancing the demons out or the new year in, to wild music of drums and sh.e.l.l-trumpets. Remnants of such ceremonies come down from the religion of England before Christian times are still sometimes to be seen in the dances of boys and girls round the midsummer bonfire or mummers of Yuletide."

Dr. Tylor continues: "At low levels in civilisation it is clear that dancing and play-acting are one. The scenes of hunting and war furnish barbarians with subjects for dances, as when the Gold Coast negroes have gone out to war and their wives at home dance a fetish dance in imitation of battle to give their absent husbands strength and courage... . Historians trace from the sacred dances of ancient Greece the dramatic art of the civilised world. Thus from the festivals of the Dionysia arose tragedy and comedy. In the cla.s.sic ages the players' art divided into several branches. The pantomimes kept up the earliest form, where the dancers acted in dumb show such pieces as the labours of Herakles, or Kadmos sowing the dragons teeth, while the chorus below accompanied the play by singing the story. The modern pantomime ballets which keep up remains of these ancient performances show how grotesque the old stage G.o.ds and heroes must have looked in their painted masks.

In Greek tragedy and comedy the business of the dancers and chorus were separated from that of the actors, who recited or chanted each his proper part in the dialogue."

Grimm (_Teutonic Mythology_, i. p. 43), says, "Easter fires, May Day fires, Midsummer fires, with their numerous ceremonies, carry us back to heathen sacrifices, especially such customs as rubbing the sacred flame, running through glowing embers, throwing flowers into the fire, baking and distributing loaves or cakes, and the circular dance. Dances pa.s.sed into plays and dramatic representations."