mid-Cornwall, in the second week in June, at St. Roche and one or two
adjacent parishes, a curious dance, like a serpent's coil, is performed
at the annual "feasts." The young people are assembled in a meadow, and
the band plays a lively tune. The band leads, and all the people follow
hand in hand. The band or head keeps marching in an ever-narrowing
circle, while its train of dancing followers becomes coiled round it in
circle after circle. Then the band, taking a sharp turn about, begins to
retrace the circle, still followed as before, and a number of young men,
with long leafy branches in their hands as standards, direct this
counter-movement. Although there is no mention of a tree in the account
round which this ceremony is performed, the custom is so striking as to
leave very little doubt of their connection. Lady Wilde (_Ancient Cures,
Charms, and Usages of Ireland_, p. 106) says, "On May-Day in Ireland all
the young men and maidens hold hands, and dance in a circle round a tree
hung with ribbons or garlands, or round a bonfire, moving in curves from
left to right, as if imitating the windings of a serpent." This is a
closer parallel to the game still, and leaves no doubt as to its
connection with custom. There may be, too, some connection between these
winding-up or serpentine dances and the Maypole dances on May-Day in
England.
The detail into which I have gone in the case of these games makes it, I
think, unnecessary that I should enter into equal detail in other
customs mentioned in the classification. Thus, with regard to the
funeral customs indicated in "Jenny Jones," we have not only a ceremony
of burial, but the courting of a maiden or maidens by a band of suitors,
the opposition of the mother or guardians to their suit, the putting
forward of domestic occupations as pretexts for refusal; there is also
the illness, dying and death of the maiden, the manner of her funeral
indicated by the colour selected for her burial, followed by the burial
itself, the singing of the lament or funeral dirge, and, in some
versions, the rising of the ghost or spirit of the departed. This game
in its best versions is played in line form. But in those versions where
two children only play the parts of "mother" and "Jenny Jones," there is
also evidence of the tendency of the game to develop into the individual
form.
Again, those games in which "guessing" occurs remind us of the important
part that guessing or chance plays in the beliefs of the savage and
uncivilised. A person who, by a guess, discovers a special person out of
a number, or the exact number of articles concealed in a hand or under a
foot, has something of the supernatural or witch-element about him. This
is largely the foundation of the belief in witchcraft and the sorcerer.
It is not surprising to find, therefore, the guessing-element largely
extant in the dramatic game. The "guesser" is usually chosen by lot by
means of the counting-out rhyme; the leader then proceeds to confuse the
guesser's or witch's mind by re-naming secretly the rest of the players.
He calls the "guesser," and in a doggerel rhyme (the remains or
imitation probably of an incantation), tells him to pick out or name a
certain person or thing. If the guess is correct, the "guesser" takes
that person to his side, indicating power over that individual or thing.
If the "guesser" is unsuccessful, he is scouted, mocked, and ill-used.
I now proceed with the second classification referred to on p. 461. Of
the games classified on pp. 461-470, _ante_, it will be found on
examination that nearly all of them are dramatic in form. This leads me
at once to suggest that so important a phase of their character needs
separate investigation, and this I proceed to do.
In the first place, it will be found that certain of the games are
wholly dramatic whatever may be the customs or rites they imitate. These
games are of two classes--first, where dramatic action is complete
throughout the whole game, that is where singing, action, and words are
represented; secondly, where singing has dropped out, action and words
only remaining.
These two classes are as follows:--
DRAMATIC GAMES.
(1) SINGING (_containing words, tune, action_).
All the Boys.
Babbity Bowster.
Booman.
Curly Locks.
Cushion Dance.
Dillsie, Dollsie Dee.
Down in the Valley.
Down in yonder Meadow.
Galley, Galley, Ship.
Glasgow Ships.
Green Grass.
Green Gravel.
Hark the Robbers.
Hear all! let me at her.
Here comes a Lusty Wooer.
Here comes a Virgin.
Here I sit on a Cold Green Bank.
Here's a Soldier.
Here stands a Young Man.
Hey Wullie Wine.
Isabella.
Jenny Jones.
Jolly Fishermen.
Jolly Hooper.
Jolly Miller.
Jolly Rover.
Jolly Sailors.
Keys of Heaven.
King William.
Kiss in the Ring.
Knocked at the Rapper.
Lady of the Land.
Lady on the Mountain.
London Bridge.
Mary Brown.
Mary mixed a Pudding.
Merry-ma-tansa.
Milking Pails.
Mulberry Bush.
Needle Cases.
Nettles Grow.
Nuts in May.
Oats and Beans.
Old Dame.
Old Roger.
Oliver, Oliver, follow the King.
Oranges and Lemons.
Poor Mary sits a-weepin'.
Poor Widow.
Pray, pretty Miss.
Pretty little Girl.
Queen Anne.
Queen Mary.
Ring me Rary.
Rosy Apple.
Round and Round the Village.
Sally Water.
Salmon Fishers.
Silly Old Man.
Soldier.
Soldiers.
Three Dukes.
Three Knights.
Three Old Bachelors.
Three Sailors.
Wallflowers.
We are the Rovers.
When I was a Young Girl.
Widow.
Wind.
Would you know how doth the Peasant?
(2) DIALOGUE AND ACTION (_no singing_).
Auld Grannie.
Barbarie, King of the.
Chickens, come clock.
Deil amo' the Dishes.
Doagan.
Draw a Pail of Water.
Dumb Motions.
Eller Tree.
Fox and Geese.
Ghost at the Well.
Giddy.
Gipsy.
Gled-Wylie.
Hen and Chickens.
Honey Pots.
How many Miles to Babylon.
Jack, Jack, the Bread's a-burning.
Keeling the Pot.
King of Barbarie.
King of the Castle.
Lady on yonder Hill.
Lend me your Key.
Mother, may I go out?
Mother Mop.
Mother, Mother, the Pot boils over.
Mouse and Cobbler.
Namers and Guessers.
Old Cranny Crow.
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 class, 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 pass
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 glasses, 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 glasses, &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
associated 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 passively 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 amusements 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 amusements would adopt them and use them in
their turn, until these amusements become in turn too frivolous and
childish for them. It is not so very many years since that the then
educated or cultured classes amused themselves by occupations now deemed
silly and unfit even for children of the uneducated class--witness
practical joking, cock-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 sexes. These ceremonial dances
are performed principally 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. für
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 class."
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 illustrate 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 shell 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 illustrate 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 Khassia 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 god, when the gods 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 gods. When
the excitement is at its height the temple attendants seize the
palanquins and dance them up and down violently, and make the godlings
salaam to each other and to Rugonath, the chief god.
In Spiti, a valley in the Western Himalayas, the people frequently dance
for hours for their own amusement. 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 sex 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 assembled in a clearing in the natural
jungle. The forest was only illumined by jungle. The torch-bearers
formed a large circle; within the open space, 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
assume a crouching attitude, 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 attitude; he wards off attack, and returns
the blow if he can. Whether intentionally or not, one party is
victorious in the end."