May games

“ The abuses which are committed in your May-games are infinite. The first whereof is this, that you do use to attyre in woman's apparrell whom you doe most commonly call may-marrions, whereby you infringe that straight commandment given in Deut. xxii. 5, that men must not put on women's apparrell for fear of enormities. Nay, I myself have seene in a May-game a troupe, the greater part whereof hath been men, and yet have they been attyred so like unto women, that their faces being hidde (as they were indeede) a man could not discerne them from women. ”

“ The connection of the morris-dance with May-day is alluded to in All's Well that Ends Well (ii. 2. 25) : "as fit ... as a morris for May-day"; but it came to be a feature of many other holidays and festivals, and was often one of the sports introduced to amuse the crowd at fairs and similar gatherings.
Mr. Knight gives us this fancy picture of the May-day games as they probably were in Shakespeare's boyhood:—
"An impatient group is gathered under the shade of the old elms, for the morning sun casts his slanting beams dazzlingly across the green. ”

“ In the case of the line games hands are clasped by all players on each side, who are thus in alliance against those on the opposite side. When hands are joined all round so that a circle is formed, all are concerned in the performance of the same ceremony. There is no division into parties, neither is difference of opinion shown either by action or words in circle games.
In the third class of game there are several distinct characters, and the game partakes more of the nature of what we should call a play proper, and may be considered an outcome of the circle play. ”

“ But until midnight we are going to play games—old games, such as I'm told they played in England two hundred years ago on May Day and on All Fools' Day and on Halloween. There'll be no servants about and no one to bother us and we'll have these rooms to ourselves to do just as we please in. ”

“ This is in the Bocking version, where Galloway Hill is named, in reply to the unusual question, “Where do you gather your nuts in May?” A player is usually gathered for “Nuts in May.” In three or four cases only is this altered to gathering a player’s “nuts away,” which is obviously an alteration to try and make the action coincide exactly with the words. The game is always played in “lines,” and the principal incidents running throughout all the versions are the same, i.e., one player is selected by one line of players from their opponents’ party. ”

“ The game is won when the string has been entirely wound around the pole above the limit line. When there are but two players, the one wins who has the majority out of eleven games. Where there are more than two players, the team wins which has the greatest number of games to its credit at the end of from two to five rounds, as may be decided at the opening of the series. ”

“ Should he succeed, it counts one point for the red. Should he miss and the ball go across to where the white team is stationed, any member of the white team endeavors to hit one of the blue and scores a point if successful. Should the ball fail to return to either the red or the white team, a member of either of those teams may run into the blue territory to recover it, but must return or toss the ball back to his team beyond the line before it is again in play. The playing time of the game is divided into thirds. ”

“ Group play, by which is meant the division of a large number of players into smaller squads or groups, is undoubtedly the best method for getting the best sport and the greatest playing values out of most games. Such a division of players is not always an easy matter to inaugurate, untrained players being inclined to follow the teacher from point to point in the playground. This may be obviated by appointing group leaders, each of whom should understand the game to be played and be appointed to take charge of it. ”

“ As children grow into the tendency to enjoy group or team play, the competitive spirit becomes very strong, and games in which the players work in competitive teams, as in relay races, or in opposing sides, as in Bombardment, may serve the purpose of continuous mutual interest. As a rule the competitive spirit is strong in games in the line and group formations, and, indeed, is usually the basis of such formations.
For all formations pupils should be trained to move quickly. ”

“ It often becomes necessary for the sake of discipline and unity to unite all of the players in a playground in one game. Comparatively few games, however, are successful when played by very large numbers. A special index has been prepared of such games, however, and will be found at the end of the present volume. Classes may often be brought into order and attention in a playground by the simple device of marching, the march to end in one game for all of the players, or several games in groups. ”

“ TEAMS.—The players are divided into three equal teams, which for convenience may be designated by colors, Red, White, and Blue. There are no officers for the teams, but one referee for the game, who should also act as score keeper, is desirable, and for match games necessary. At the opening of the game the two outer teams line up, each on its inner boundary line, each player standing with one foot on the line. ”

“ START.—The ball is put in play at the beginning of the game, and always thereafter, when necessary, by the Emperor. He must naturally be perfectly impartial, and may toss the ball to either side, in turn, or use his judgment in choosing which side shall have it. He will, of course, do his best to catch the ball for either side that throws it to him. The ball is put newly in play after every point scored, after every foul, and after going afield. ”

“ As the ball should not be allowed to touch the ground, scoring for the opponents whenever it does so, the players have to be very alert, and there is opportunity for much sport in the game. For a very large number of players, more than one ball may be used. ”

“ Nurspel is simply ball-play, therefore which name, taken in connection with the fact that the game is elsewhere called “Spell and Knor,” and not “Knor and Spell,” is significant. There is one day in the year, Shrove Tuesday, when the play is customarily practised, though not quite exclusively.—Atkinson’s Cleveland Glossary.
Easther (Almondbury Glossary) describes it as played with a wooden ball, a spel, and a pommel. Two may play, or two sides. When a player goes in he drives the knor for, say, 100 yards, i.e., five score, and he reckons five. ”

“ The teams keep their new places and B throws the ball over to A. If the ball is not caught, it is thrown back and forth over the building until caught. The team which first hits all of its opponents wins, or a time limit may be agreed upon and the team having the greatest number of players at the end of that time, wins. ”

“ In Shropshire it is the closing game of any playtime, and was played before “breaking-up” at a boys’ school in Shrewsbury in 1850-1856. This tends to show that the game had originally been played at a special time or season.
For an example of this custom I may repeat (from ii. p. 386) that in 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. ”

“ Any kind of ball or bean bag may be used for this game. If there be few players, one Indian club is set up for each player, all clubs being widely separated and on a given line. At from ten to thirty feet from this club line a second line is drawn, on which the players must stand to play. The players all slide the bag over the floor or roll the ball, at once, each player scoring one when he knocks over his Indian club. The clubs are then replaced, the balls or bags gathered up, and the players return to the starting line and bowl again. ”

“ Players will try to deceive their opponents as to the point where the ball is to cross the curtain, and the more rapid the play is the more alert the players will have to be. The great sport of the game consists in the unexpectedness with which the ball may appear at any given point. ”

“ The first runners, having been called by their respective captains to the starting bases, run on a signal; the players may reach the club together and go through many false moves and dodges before one snatches the club and turns back to his goal. Should he succeed in reaching the goal before the other player can tag him, his team scores one point. ”

“ At the signal to start the balls are thrown at such opponents as may hold one of the balls. The players may move around in their playing space, but are not allowed to step over the centre line. Any player can recover a ball, but so long as he holds the ball in his hands, he is the target for the fire of the opponents. Each time a player, holding a ball, is hit by an opponent, he drops out of the game. The team first retiring all of the opponents wins. ”

“ The game is now on and each player endeavors to knock the ball, by means of his club, towards and through the opponent's goal. Swinging the club higher than the shoulder is barred. Should the ball be knocked outside of the playing space, it is brought back in and faced off by any two opposing players at a point well within the playing space, opposite to where it went out of bounds.
A goal counts one point and after each goal the ball is faced off in the centre. Goals should be changed in the middle of the game, so that no team may have an advantage over the other because of location of goals. ”

“ This is a boys’ game. The players may be of any number. They place their caps or bonnets in a row. One of the boys takes a ball, and from a fixed point, at a few yards’ distance from the bonnets, tries to throw it into one of the caps (fig. 1) . If the ball falls into the cap, all the boys, except the one into whose cap the ball has fallen, run off. The boy into whose cap the ball has been thrown goes up to it, lifts the ball from it, and calls out “Stop!” ”

“ If one of the adverse party happens to stand or run among his opponents, they call out “Hummie, keep on your own side.”—Jamieson.
Hundreds
A game at marbles, which is carried on until one of the players scores 100 or some other high number agreed upon. Any number can play, but it is best described for two players, A. and B. First the players taw up to a hole; if both get in, they repeat the process until one is left out, say B.; then A. counts 10. Should both fail, the nearest goes first. He may now lay his taw about the hole or fire at the other, on hitting which he counts another 10. ”

“ Similarly, the comparatively simple game of Bombardment may be interesting and refreshing for a class of tired business men, while high-school pupils coming to care largely for team play may prefer Battle Ball, a more closely organized game of the same type. In general, boys and girls dislike the mode of play they have just outgrown, but the adult often comes again to find the greatest pleasure in the simpler forms, and this without reaching second childhood. ”

“ A. G. Spalding & Brothers, publishers of the handbook in which the game first appeared.
PASSING RELAYS
There are several forms of this game, some of which are suited only to young children; others may be full of sport and interest for adults. The games may be adapted to comparatively small numbers or very large numbers. Several passing races will be found among the ball games. For bean bags, see:—
Bag Pile. ”

“ A game at marbles played by “chocking” or pitching marbles in a hole made for the purpose, instead of shooting at a ring [68] (Northamptonshire, Baker’s Glossary) . Clare mentions the game in one of his poems.
Chow
A game played in Moray and Banffshire. The ball is called the Chow. The game is the same as “Shinty.” The players are equally divided. After the Chow is struck off by one party, the aim of the other is to strike it back, that it may not reach the limit or goal on their side, because in this case they lose the game, and as soon as it crosses the line the other party cry Hail! ”

“ because games in which all may win, such games remain as yet in this world uninvented, I think.” ”

“ It’s over there,
as the case may be, or rather may not be, in order to throw the victim in the centre off the scent.—West Riding of Yorkshire (Miss Bush) .
The players sit in a row or circle, with their hands held palm [227] to palm in their laps. The leader of the game takes a thimble, and going to every member of the company in turn, pretends to slip it between their fingers, or to hide it in their pinafores, saying as she does so—“I bring you my lady’s thimble, you must hold it fast, and very fast indeed.” ”

“ But the popular nature of the game is not indicated by these facts. For this we have to turn to the doings of the people. In the villages of the West Riding the streets may be seen on the second Sunday in May full of grown-up men and women playing “Battledore and Shuttlefeathers” (Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 80) . In Leicester the approach of Shrove Tuesday (known amongst the youngsters as “Shuttlecock Day”) is signalised by the appearance in the streets of a number of children playing at the game of “Battledore and Shuttlecock.” ”

“ In some versions (Shropshire and London) the player who is selected for “Nuts” is always captured [431] by the one sent to fetch her. Some Barnes children also say that this is the proper way to play. When boys and girls play the boys are always sent to “fetch away” the girls. In Sheffield (a version collected by Mr. S. O. Addy) a boy is chosen to fetch the girl away; and in the Earls Heaton version the line runs, “We’ll have a girl for nuts in May.”
(e) There is some analogy in the game to marriage by capture, and to the marriage customs practised at May Day festivals and gatherings. ”