Váczi Mária: Székelyvarsági játékvilág (A Szórakaténusz Játékmúzeum és Műhely gyűjteményei 1; Kecskemét, 2002)

Adatközlők

and the tradition of farming. Village children were shepherds first of all, so some of their games rooted in this form of living. All these games needed and developed skills. The "priest" is still played by boys. (To this game you need a pocket knife, two short "missionary" and one longer "priest" pegs. The game: the longer peg is stuck in the middle, the two shorter ones are at an equal distance to the left and to the right. The boys throw the knife in turns. If it stands straight in the earth, they measure the length of the knife towards the "priest", if it falls on its blade, they can measure only the width of the knife. The winner is the one, who first reaches the middle peg.) Games with sticks once were very popular with children tending flocks, but due to the changed circumstances they are less and less known. Such a typical sheperd game was the "nácázás". (The number of players may vary between two and five. Two sticks are needed, a 1 metre long and a 1.5 metre long piece. The shorter stick should be five metres from the thrower. The other one should be thrown "puffing" touching the first stick lying across. Then the shorter stick must be put to the point where the second stick landed.) "Pitykézés" was the name of another simple game that was also a favourite passtime of rural boys. ( Needed: one 20-25 cm long stick as thick as a thumb, both ends sharpened, called the "pityke", and a one and a half metre long stick. The game: The "pityke" is put slanting in a hole 15 cms in diameter. They hit it with the long stick and measure the distance it flies. One must be very skillful to make it fly upwards and to be able to hit it again in the air.) The most popular stick game in Varság is „kótyázás", its popularity is shown in the nickname „Kótya Pali" When the first snow has gone, „kótyázás" begins on Sáridomb, Forrás-köz, where the biggest field is. The young and the old from the Centre, the Clearing and Sólyomkő gather there for the sake of playing. If somebody remains a shepherd too long, the others sing: There are good 'kótya' players on the hill, there are staring shepherds among them, and the Missisipi takes their song far away." In the breaks schoolgirls often play hopscotch, skipping rope and skipping gum games. The Varság name of the latter is „kokakólázni" because when skipping they say: Co-ca Co-la, Pep-si Co-la. The amusement games were mostly mentioned by adults remembering the atmosphere of the old spinneries. The cat game (blind-