Category Archives: Game

Sephardi and Persian Seder Traditions

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 5/5/2021
Primary Language: English

Sephardi and Persian Seder Traditions:

Main description:

AB: “What kind of Jewish traditions can you tell me about?”

AA: “Ok well we always go to our family friends house for Passover Seder and one tradition Sephardi and Persian Jews have is to run around and hit each other with celery or large green onions during the song dayenu, which is about liberation from slavery and appreciation or gratitude. And some people think the hitting with celery is to symbolize slavery and whipping but it’s become a fun thing and I think it’s more about celebrating liberation from many things.”

Informant’s interpretation:

AB: “How do you see this tradition? What does it mean to you?”

AA: “It feels more celebratory to me. As a kid, I used to think of it as a game and as I’ve gotten older it’s fun to revisit that inner child. And I think perhaps more importantly it feels like physically letting go and like a physical manifestation of liberation—not necessarily from slavery, but from oppression, harmful thought patterns etc. Passover in general is about escaping a “narrow place” and to me it’s a way to communally perform that liberation and also to acknowledge what oppressive systems exist now and how can we escape them or help others escape them if that makes sense. In short, I love the vegetable violence thing.”

Personal interpretation:

Freedom and liberation appear central to this tradition. The informant notes that the tradition itself mimics the violence of slavery but emphasizes that it’s a celebratory tradition rather than a mournful one. By mimicking slavery in a harmless way, those who practice the tradition can call upon a shared past of oppression and celebrate survival rather than mourning what was lost.

Main Piece: Miss Susie

Nationality: American
Age: 11
Occupation: Student
Residence: CO
Performance Date: 04/12/2021
Primary Language: English

Miss Susie had a steamboat,

The steamboat had a bell,

Miss Susie went to heaven,

The steamboat went to…

Hello Operator,

Please dial Number 9,

And if you disconnect me,

I’ll cut off your…

Behind the ‘frigerator,

There was a piece of glass,

Miss Susie sat upon it,

And cut her little…

Ask me no more questions,

Tell me no more lies,

The boys are in the bathroom,

Pulling down their…

Flies are in the meadow,

The bees are in the park,

Miss Susie and her boyfriend are kissing

D A R K, D A R K, 

dark, dark dark 

Background: This is a folk song that has been circulating the playground since I was a kid, and now, the informant, my little sister, also knows this tune. When she sings it, I can always join in, as can my mom because she also remembers a similar version from her childhood. There is little variation between the three versions of the songs, but as the song has aged, so has the length of the song. 

Context: The informant sang this song to me when I asked her favorite nursery rhyme. This song is definitely more mature than Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, for instance, so I was not surprised that an older child chose it. She sang me this portion of the song and said that there was more, but she was uncertain of all the lyrics off the top of her head. I knew the words of the song up to this point, but my mom said that the version she knew stopped at “Pulling down their…Flies”. 

Thoughts: This is a folk song that has withstood the test of time and grown with age. I looked up the rest of the tune and there are many proceeding verses that are not appropriate for all ages. For example, some lyrics include: “I know I know my sister With the forty-acre bra.”, “I wish I had a boyfriend Who kissed me all the time!”, and “He made me wash his underwear So I kicked him out the door”. For the extended version of this song visit nurseryrhymes.org, Miss Susie Had a Steamboat (Hello Operator). I think this song is a testimony to how our music has become less censored than it was in prior generations. The kids have modified and added lyrics to the song that are more provocative and test the boundaries of childhood. 

Main Piece: Tennis Court Lines

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: Family CEO
Residence: CO
Performance Date: 04/01/2021
Primary Language: English

Background: The informant grew up playing tennis every single day after school. She and her family members were professional players, and there was an expectation that everyone becomes an expert at the game through endless hours of training and tournaments. She played tennis in college and once she graduated, she coached players on the tour. She is very well respected in the tennis world. The rituals she performed as she was playing competitively never faltered. One of which was the belief that she could never step on the lines of the tennis course. This is a custom that is practiced by many players today because stepping on the lines is a sign of disrespect and bad luck. Player’s go out of their way to ensure that they never touch the white tape in between points.

Context: “As a tennis player, all of my life, I never stepped on the lines of a tennis court. If you watch tennis on TV today, I am in the majority. It was always something- it was something superstitious for many tennis players. It started with John McEnroe and I know that Roger Federer also does not step on the lines. Certainly, Rafael Nadal- I mean would pull a hamstring to step over the alley so he didn’t have to step on the lines… he’s psycho. Do you know what it was…it was more that it made the moments when you weren’t in the point and when you weren’t in the mindset of competition-it made when you didn’t have a lot of control in the point more bearable because the time in between points seemed like they were controllable, right.”

Thoughts: I think that this folk ritual and superstition signals that you respect the game and know the sport intimately enough to practice this custom. Moreover, as the informant explained, became a strategic, calming tactic as well. Having the power to deliberately step over the line and make a decision on the outcome of your movements gives the player a sense of control and is grounding when in such a high-intensity state. The folk tradition has many beneficial implications and has become more popular as more and more players step over the lines. It is interesting to watch how careful some players are never to touch the white lines, and now that I understand this ritual, it is so obvious when watching a game. 

Main Piece: Tape-note game

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: Family CEO
Residence: CO
Performance Date: 04/01/2021
Primary Language: English

Background: The informant is very fond of the games she played with her family as a child. In the early 70s, they did not have the digital resources we do today to keep us entertained. Board games were a hit in her house, as were cards and chess, but her favorite game is what she calls the ‘tape-not game’. This game is similar to the popularized smartphone game Headsup. 

Context: the informant explained that every Sunday night, her family would choose a game to play together. She was one of 5 children, plus her parents, so games were especially fun because of the size of the group. She said her favorite game was the ‘tape-note game’ and described the premise. Each player writes the name of a person of notoriety on a sheet of paper and tapes it to the person’s forehead next to them, without that person seeing the name on the card. Once all the players are assigned names, each player takes turns asking a yes or no question about the person on their head. The first player to guess who is written on their note wins. The informant loved this game in particular because it was interactive and required a lot of thought to succeed in the game. She also liked that depending on who was seated next to her, she could choose a celebrity that she thought would be funny or challenge the player. The game was more personal than cards, and the informant appreciated all the laughs that accompanied playing. This game was termed by her family and the rules are flexible depending on the night. 

Thoughts: This is a folk game that is specialized to the informant’s family. It became a Sunday night custom and an opportunity for the family to gather together and connect. The informant is reminded of a different version of this game that fits into a more contemporary digital era when she sees people playing Headsup. Another similar popularized game is the board game Headbands. These commercialized games, however, come with a handbook on how to play, whereas this family folk game is less formal and more personalized. 

“Four-Square” Rules and Children’s Social Space

Nationality: Vietnamese-American
Age: 10
Occupation: Elementary School Student
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: 5/1/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

B: So basically, there’s four squares. So each square has a name. So the first square is “baby,” the second one is, “jack,” the third is, “queen,” and the last one is “king.” So basically, the king, serves the ball to the other square, and the ball can only hit your square once. If it hits your square two times then you’re out. And then if it bounces in your square and you hit it to the other square, and if you get that person out, then you move up a square until you’re King. and then all the lines are out, and if the ball hits the line then you’re out. 

Background: 

My informant is my cousin’s 10-year-old son, who is in the fourth grade. He lives in a suburban neighborhood near Des Moines, which is the capital of Iowa. He goes to a public elementary school in his district, where he learned how to play this game from his friend in the third grade. He tells me that he likes this game mostly because of its social aspect; he plays with his friends and converses with them, telling each other stories while they wait for their turns.

Context:

This is a transcript of our conversation over the phone. Lately, he has been telling me stories about what goes on during school, though this conversation was prompted specifically for this collection project. I was curious about what kind of games he plays during school with other kids, and four-square was unsurprisingly brought up.

Thoughts:

Growing up also going to a public elementary school, four-square was a popular recess activity. I was curious about what kind of different rules his school might have for their version of the game and was surprised about how simple and similar it was to my school’s version ten years before him. The main difference was how his school named the squares, which seem to go along with the suits in a deck of cards, aside from “baby.” Our version simply numbered them from 1 to 4, with 1 being the top position (which would be their “king.”) The most fascinating aspect of his story is how four-square was not just a physical activity for kids to burn off the calories of lunch and antsy-ness built up from sitting in class all day, but how it was also a highly social activity. Within our larger conversation, he revealed to me that it was through playing four-square and waiting in line to play four-square that he learned about many other folk stories such as “bloody mary” and the phenomenon of killer clowns from 2016. Thus, children’s games such as this game of four-square can be much more than physical activities to burn off energy. They can represent social spaces where children test each other’s fears and courage.