Hasan KARLITAŞ
Today I would like to take you to your childhood...
To the days that will make one say “where are the old children games we used to plat when we were kids...?”
This concept called time moves so fast...
How happy for us... Even though it was just for a little while, we got to experience the nostalgic childhood days in which innocent joys were dominant.
Even though it feels like it was ages ago, they were great days...
The generations before us saw and experienced the biggest humane treasures even though there was poverty and lack of things. What about the ones after us?
Now, it is the technological era.
Sincere feelings were replaced with communication networks that were set up with machines long ago.
Computers, the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, Iphone, Ipad take up a great amount of our time. The era of Play Stations...
From the old to the new; a great transformation..
We fall into the trap of an abstract way of communicating, even if we want it or not...
Such is our times...
However, the games the children used to play in Cyprus were innocent beauties that reflected the Cypriot culture and the imagination of children. Is it possible not to miss those beautiful days that are the mirrors of our past and childhood? Which computer can now provide the feeling of sharing, solidarity and happiness and the spiritual development that were provided by these old games?
This culture of the past was born out of life, social interaction, production and being an Islander; the values that makes us us. Therefore, each children’s game has a story. Exactly like individuals having stories.
The Cypriot children who were engaged with the nature, husbandry, farming, agriculture, production and animals were inventing their own games and toys under the influence of these engagements. A lot of details that could be observed through a child’s eye and excitement took their places within the games. For example:
Production of olive oil and honey in Cyprus created “I sell oil, I sell honey, my master died and it’s me who sell them”, keeping bunnies as pets in many homes including the ones in Nicosia created “the bunny lies on the ditch”, the effect of being an Islander and being at the Mediterranean created “boatman, shovel of the boatman…’, the fact that we are a country producing citrus products created “I peeled the orange and I put to it by my bedside”, effects of the Alevi created “tahta tahta ben var”, Ottoman palace tradition created “could be from the public, the letter is from the palace”, the fact that milk production has an important role in our lives created the “is the milk cooked?”, the significance of trade created the “leader of the merchants, open the door” game, interaction with the animals around created “Water the little donkey, was it warm, was it cold?”, “You rode the camel did you go to Haleb?”, “did you see the bird over there? Are you afraid it or not?”, “go and feed the cow”, and “flee bite go up”, and “neighbour” games were created about the sincerity of Cypriots. How many kids are now growing up with the words “gavrın gavrın gavrıncık...”
The emotions that are reflected in these games are very familiar and sincere...
Apart from these, there were games that did not require money and natural materials were used to play them. Kites made of canes, Lingiri played with different sizes of sticks, marbles that get out of soda’s mouths, and sometimes using pinecones instead of marbles are the ones that come to my mind first. We should not be forgetting and letting other forget about the games such as foot stone, three stones, five stones, dib game, jumping rope, teeterboard, leapfrogging, burning ball, blind man’s bluff , and of course hide and seek and catching that are essential games of summer nights that boys and girls played together.
Childhood games were so fine that even though our mothers were calling us back home repeatedly, we did not want to stop playing...
It is not possible to see this mosaic being defeated to technology and disappeargavr and not be affected by it. Let’s not forget about childhood games of Cyprus and not let other forget about them...
