SLAVES
The participants are divided into two teams facing each other. A line is
drawn in front of each team that cannot be crossed by the participants.
Each of the teams has a king who runs first. One child runs towards the
line of the opponent team and at the moment of crossing it, the other
child rushes after him, trying to catch him. He may chase him to the line
of the other team, where the chaser must run back to his own team,
chased by the second child in the row. A child that has been caught and
touched is considered a slave and goes to a specific spot to wait the end
of the game. The game continues until all the players from one team are
caught.
BROENKI (COUNTING RIMES)
The children stand in a circle. One of them starts counting, pointing
successively at the next child with each word. The child that has been
pointed at with the last word of the “broenkata”, steps aside. This is
repeated until only one child stays.
1. Akata bakata chukata be
Andersan is domine
Kiki riki do mastiki
Anfrichuk
2. Onche, bonche, broken nail
Fish pickerel, you get out of here
3. My mother gathers beans
Your grand-mother gives out grain
4. Two small roosters quarreled
In front of the door of the parson
The parson went out and told them:
“Ish – mish, it’s you to keep your eyes closed!”
Note of the translator: The “broenki” are small poems, often with words with no meaning, used to fit the rhythm and
the rime of the poem.
SACKS RACE
The participants are divided into two teams. The first child from each
team gets in a sack and starts hopping with it. When he reaches the goal,
he goes around it and continues hopping towards the spot he started
from. He gets out of the sack and passes it to the next child. The team
whose last player gets to the starting point first is the winner.
DZHILIT OR CHILIK
Two wooden sticks are needed for this game. The shorter one is
thrown in the air. The longer one is used to hit the shorter one, before
the latter falls down. The child whose stick has flown the farthest away
is the winner.
OVER-GRIPPING
A long staff is used. One of the players puts the staff on the earth and
grips it low. The other player puts his hand just above the first player’s
hand. The players continue that way putting successively both their
hands until they reach the end of the staff. The child who puts a hand on
the top of the staff is the winner.
I DROP, I DROP A HANDKERCHIEF
The children are kneeling down in a circle. One of them is holding a
handkerchief. He starts going around the circle from the outer side and
drops the handkerchief behind one of the children. The child that got
the handkerchief takes it and starts chasing the first one around the
circle. If the first child makes it to kneel down at an empty spot before
being caught, he continues playing. If not, he waits aside until the end
of the game. The child, holding the handkerchief, starts going round
the circle in order to drop it behind someone else.