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 _curés_, 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 principal
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 sex. 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 substitutes 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 circumambulation 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 multitude has passed 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
assembling 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 pass through, coiling and winding like a great
serpent. When a French savant asked the peasants of La Châtre 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, God, 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 associated 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 amusement." 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
ambassadors 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 gods 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 illustration 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
shell-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 classic 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 gods 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 passed
into plays and dramatic representations."
It is then clear that dances accompanied with song and pantomimic action
have been used by men and women from the earliest period of which we
have record, at all times and upon all occasions. In times of joy and
mirth, sorrow and loss, victory or defeat, weddings and funerals,
plagues and pestilences, famine and plenty, civilised and savage alike
dance, act, and sing their griefs and their joys. The gods of all
nations have been worshipped by pantomimic dance and song, their altars
and temples are encircled by their worshippers; and as the occasion was
one of fear or joy, and the god entreated or terrified by his followers,
so would the actions and voices of the dancers be in accord. When once
certain actions were recognised as successful, fitting, or beautiful,
they would tend to become repeated and stereotyped, and the same form
would be used for other gods, other occasions, and other customs where
the requirements were similar or the same. The circle dance, for
instance, after being performed several times would necessarily become a
part of the religious customs or ceremony, and form a part of the
ordinary religious observance. It would become particularly associated
with the place where it was first instituted, and might be used to
inaugurate other festivals. We know that the early Christians when
taking over to their use the temples and altars of their so-called
heathen predecessors, or when erecting a church where a temple had
previously stood, held their worship there and performed their dances to
their God as the heathens had done to theirs. The custom of encircling a
church on its festival day existed until lately in several parishes in
England, and this could only be a descendant of the custom once held
sacred by all the followers of one belief, demonstrating by their action
in group form the fact that they all believed in the same thing and held
together, by the clasp of hands and the dance round, their determination
to hold to and keep to it.
If these customary dances obtained and have survived in religious ritual
to the present day, is it not to be expected that we should find
survivals in dance form of non-religious customs which also impressed
themselves strongly on the minds of the people? Births, marriages,
deaths, the sowing and gathering in of the crops; the protection of
cattle from disease and animals of prey; the necessity for water and
fire; the protection of the house and the village--have all helped to
surround these events with ceremonials which have lasted, and been
transmitted from generation to generation, altering to suit later ideas,
it is true, but preserving through all some trace of the events which
first called them into existence.
It is because of this tendency to believe more in the power of
expression by action, than in the power of expression by language alone,
that dramatic action and gesture have formed such a necessary part of
representation of custom as to become an integral part of it. Limited as
is our knowledge of the popular plays performed about the country by
troops of strolling players before the age of the written play, we know
that their chief attraction must have been the dramatic rendering of
characters and events personified by certain well-known actions of the
actors, accompanied by special style of dress, or portions of dress,
which were recognised as sufficient in themselves to show who and what
was being personified. The story was shown more by action than by words;
the idea being to present events to the onlooker, and impress them on
his mind. It is in these dramatic performances of what was expected we
have the germs of the dramatic art that afterwards developed into the
regular play or drama. Every important custom of life was probably
depicted by pantomimic action. We have, first, words, describing the
events, sung or said by a chorus of onlookers and dancers, afterwards a
short dialogue between the chief characters taking the place of the
chorus, and then, as the number of characters were increased, the
representations become something that could be performed independently,
without the need of a particular season or custom to render it
intelligible.
At this stage of the primitive drama the characters merely present
actions of the _dramatis personæ_ time after time, always performed in
the same manner, and this would produce conventional methods of
presenting certain events. We know that events of a religious nature
were presented in the same manner by the Church. This must have been in
consequence of the attraction plays possessed as depicting pagan
religion and events of ordinary life and manners and customs. It is
easily conceivable that before the era of books and literature, a rough
sort of presentation of life, present and past, would be eagerly
welcomed; and it would not be until the advent of a writer who developed
the individual acting, at the expense of the event depicted, that what
we know as a play could be written.
Mr. Ordish, in his study of Folk drama, published in the Folk-lore
Society's journal, has conclusively proved the development of the drama
independently of the miracle and mystery plays of the Middle Ages, or
from the old Greek plays, and this development has taken place through
the action of the people, always accustomed to the influence of dramatic
representation. Hence in the remains of the traditional games we have
preserved a form in which we can see the beginning and early development
of the drama. When once the line form was firmly established as an
indication of two opposite parties, it would be used for such indication
wherever it was required, and thus it became the common property of the
children's game and the early stage. The remains of the line and circle
form, as denoting opponents and friendly communion can, I think, be
traced in old plays and old methods of acting.
In old pantomimes, the demons or evil spirits and their followers enter
on one side and stand in lines; the good fairy and her followers enter
on the opposite side and stand in line; the principal characters advance
from the line, and talk defiance to each other. We do not have a circle
form on the stage, but a half-circle, seated on the stage, is or was
until comparatively lately a method of representing a social or family
party. Every one who has seen a mummer's play performed, either in or
out of doors, will be aware that the same method obtains in them--the
performers are all on the stage or stand together at once, walking
forward as each one's name is mentioned, saying his allotted part, and
then standing back again, while the next player has his turn.
The action in these plays has remained in stationary form; as far as the
method goes there has probably been very little difference in the manner
of presenting them for a long period of time.
These traditional games are valuable, therefore, for the information
they afford in a direction not hitherto thought of, namely, in the study
of the early drama. If the drama can be seen in its infancy anywhere,
surely it can be seen in these children's plays.
The study of children's games takes us, therefore, into several
departments of research. Many traces of customs that do not belong to
modern life, customs that take us back to very early times indeed, are
brought before us. The weapons are bows and arrows, the amusements
hunting and hawking; animals are found in such close relationship with
human beings, that only very primitive conditions of life would allow:
contests between men and women occur in such a way that we are taken
back to one of the earliest known customs of marriage, that known as
marriage by capture--then from this stage to a later, where purchase or
equivalent value obtains; then to a marriage with a ceremony which
carries us back to the earliest forms of such ceremonies. That such
customs can be suggested in connection with these games goes far to
prove that they, in fact, originate the game--that no other theory
satisfactorily accounts for all the phenomena.
In looking for the motive power which has caused the continuity of these
customs to be practised as amusements, we have found that the dramatic
power inherent in mankind supplies the necessary evidence, and from this
stage we have been led to an interesting point in the early history of
the drama and of the stage. It is not, therefore, too much to say that
we have in these children's games some of the oldest historical
documents belonging to our race, worthy of being placed side by side
with the folk-tale and other monuments of man's progress from savagery
to civilisation.
ALICE B. GOMME.
THE END
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
Edinburgh & London
Transcriber's notes:
General:
This eBook is Volume II of a two-volume work. Volume I is available as
ebook number 41727 via the website of Project Gutenberg
(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41727). Because Volume I was published
in 1894 and Volume II in 1898, there is no symmetry in the references
between the two volumes (for example, Gled Wylie from Volume I does not
refer to Shue-Gled-Wylie from Volume II, whereas Shue-Gled-Wylie does
refer to Gled Wylie).
This text follows the original printed work, including inconsistencies.
Inconsistencies include differences in spelling of the names of games
and locations, differences in transcription of dialect, inconsistencies
in lay-out, etc. Where changes were made, these are documented below.
References:
Both volumes contain some uncertain references to (other) games, caused
by the naming and/or spelling of game names. Where these differences
were trivial (for example, Wolf and Lamb versus Wolf and the Lamb),
their identity has been assumed silently. Following is a list of less
trivial references.
The game Stag is often referred to as Stag Warning, but occasionally
they are listed as thought they were separate games.
Page xiv: Lubin, Looby Loo is listed as game in the Addenda, but not
present there; Hulla-balloo-ballee is not listed, but present in Addenda
(including references to Lubin and Looby Loo).
Page 56: reference to the Scottish version. From the text and the
analysis this is probably version XVIII.
Page 145: reference to Tag. This game is not listed as such, but
according to the description it could be a version of French Jackie,
which is called French Tag in some places.
Page 282: reference to See the Farmer Sow his Seed, which is not a
separate game, but one version of Oats and Beans and Barley.
Page 307 and 421: reference to Twos and Threes, which is not a separate
game, but a local name for Round Tag.
Page 383: reference to Silly Young Man, which is probably a mistake for
Silly Old Man.
Page 436: reference to Jolly Lads, which is not a separate game
(probably the game intended is Jolly Sailors).
Page 467: reference to Drummer Man; no such game listed, the only
Drummer Man occurs in one of the variants of Follow my Gable.
Page 470: reference to Lugs; there is no such game listed, possibly this
should be Luggie.
Page 476: reference to Old Widow; there is no such game listed, it could
be a reference to Poor Widow; Baste the Bear, ditto, this is mentioned
under Badger the Bear; Old Woman, ditto, this could refer to Dumb
Motions.
Textual remarks:
At least some of the quotations presented by the author are not verbatim
quotations, they have been edited by the author (for example Aubrey on
cockle-bread).
In the Addenda, the original work uses Arabic rather than Roman numerals
for different variants; this has not been changed.
The original work uses both 2-4 and 2/4 to indicate musical time; this
has not been standardised.
Page 199: Love another like sister and brother is probably a mistake
(Love one another like sister and brother).
Page 336/7: The original work does not give a source or authority for
variation XXV.
Changes made to the original text:
Footnotes have been moved to end of the description of the game or to
immediately underneath the relevant paragraph (in the Memoir).
Sources (when printed in smaller type in the original work) have been
moved to a separate line where necessary.
In the Addenda, the references to games have been moved to the next
line.
First page: mustergiltig changed to mustergültig (exemplary)
Page vii: Pocklington Coltman changed to Pocklington-Coltman
Page xiii: Teesty-Totsy changed to Teesty-Tosty as in text
Page xv: Game Hulla-balloo-ballee added to list
Page 35: the other player's changed to the other players
Page 56-60: some rows consisting of dashes only were combined in the
original work, these have been split into separate rows
Page 66: Hurstmonceaux changed to Hurstmonceux as elsewhere
Page 67: Hurstmonceaux changed to Hurstmonceux as elsewhere
Page 88: galop changed to gallop as elsewhere
Page 100: square brackets moved from line of verse to explanation, as
elsewhere [I pray ... the ball], putting ... three girls. changed to I
pray ... the ball, [putting ... three girls.]
Page 101: square bracket after yield up the ball. removed
Page 108: Egmond changed to Edgmont
Page 150: Biddgelert changed to Beddgelert
Page 153: (variant VIII) rise, Sally changed to rise, Sallie
Page 167: Strixwould changed to Stixwould
Page 192: Encyclopedia changed to Encyclopædia as elsewhere
Page 212: seldom or ever changed to seldom or never
Page 214: Warkwickshire changed to Warwickshire
Page 221: 1 and 2 changed to I and II as elsewhere
Page 274: come with we changed to come with me