Traditional games in the Region of Murcia

Index Introduction (p. 3) Churro Mediamanga-Mangotero (p. 4) Los Bolos Huertanos (p. 5) El Caliche (pp 6-7) Salto a la Mula (p. 8) La Rayuela (p. 9) End of presentation (p. 10)

Historical Introduction Sports in ancient cultures were related to daily jobs. Basically, they tried to demonstrate the popular professional and craft skills in that area. After a lot of practice, they turned into competitions, and were considered games. In Spain most traditional games entered through the Santiago Path, an ideal way to bring in French and Italian as well as European games to the Península.

Churro Mediamanga-Mangotero GAME EXPLANATION NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 10 NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 10 2 TEAMS OF 5 PLAYERS EACH 2 TEAMS OF 5 PLAYERS EACHTEAM1: They crouch down. While bending down, each player will place their head between the legs of the player in front of them. The first player will put their weight on one of their mates’ hands.This player will stand with their back leaning against a wall or a tree. They crouch down. While bending down, each player will place their head between the legs of the player in front of them. The first player will put their weight on one of their mates’ hands.This player will stand with their back leaning against a wall or a tree.TEAM2: All the players have to be placed on the other team’s backs,- the ones who are bent in a row. To do this, they must take a run-up, jump and land on the back of the others. All the players have to be placed on the other team’s backs,- the ones who are bent in a row. To do this, they must take a run-up, jump and land on the back of the others. GAME TARGET: The second team will try to ensure that the first person to jump is the strongest and most skilful since they must jump as far as possible to leave enough room for the rest of the team. In case the team bending down can’t stand the weight and fall down, all the players in the team have to start again in the same position. On the contrary, if one of the players who are jumping, falls off, the game stops and it is this team that bend down now. The second team will try to ensure that the first person to jump is the strongest and most skilful since they must jump as far as possible to leave enough room for the rest of the team. In case the team bending down can’t stand the weight and fall down, all the players in the team have to start again in the same position. On the contrary, if one of the players who are jumping, falls off, the game stops and it is this team that bend down now.

Los Bolos Huertanos The “bolos huertanos” must be played on an even rectangular area, 35 to 40 m long and 4 or 5 m wide. The The number of players is limited to three per team and to two when played in pairs. The game starts when a player throws the ball to pull the bolos down. the player or team who gets the highest score after a series of throws, wins the game.

El Caliche This game is to be played by less than 6 players; it is usually played by 2 couples. To play this game you only need two “caliche” stones made out of iron, either round or square. The “caliche” is a piece of wood made out of cane or any round piece of wood of about 20 m aproximately. The “caliche” is placed vertically on the ground and some coins belonging to all the players are placed on the ground or on top of the “caliche”; one must try to pull it down with two pieces of caliche. For a shot to be valid, the coin which falls from the caliche, must be closer to the piece you throw rather than the caliche. In that case, the shot is called “ganga”. SIGUE

El Caliche To consider valid a “ganga”, the players who are still to go have two options: the throwing of another caliche stone with the intention of getting closer to the coin instead of the shot down “caliche pole” or they can throw the caliche stone against the caliche pole so that it stays further away from the coin. Once the players have tried their luck, and in case no- one scores, the “caliche pole” as well as the coin go back to their original positions. The first team to start have up to four chances to pull the caliche pole down and get “ganga”. If the team achieves the target the following team must try hard to achieve a “valid ganga”in order to score a point.

Salto a la Mula It is played in groups of 6 or 7 people One of the players bends down and parallel to them there must be a line drawn on the ground. The rest of the players queue in order to jump without stepping on the line. They have to put their hands on the back of the person bending down to jump. Once all of them have jumped and providing everyone has done it properly, the player who is crouched down moves further away from the line on the ground to make the jump more difficult. This goes on until it is impossible to jump. The player who cannot jump or steps on the line is disqualified. The player who cannot jump or steps on the line is disqualified.

La Rayuela: Hopscotch GAME EXPLANATION: 5-6 PLAYERS PER TEAM 5-6 PLAYERS PER TEAM THE GAME: THE GAME: We need some pieces of chalk to draw the hopscotch which is formed by ten squares numbered from 1 to 10 and a stone to be thrown into each square. RULES: RULES: The first stone is thrown into nº 1. If it lands there, the player starts to hop to number ten, standing on 3-4 and 7-8 at the same time and then back to the start. When hopping back, the player has to stop on nº 2, (always on the square before the one with the stone) pick up the stone and you start again, this time throwing the stone to square nº 2 and so on. If you fail, it is the next player’s turn. The first stone is thrown into nº 1. If it lands there, the player starts to hop to number ten, standing on 3-4 and 7-8 at the same time and then back to the start. When hopping back, the player has to stop on nº 2, (always on the square before the one with the stone) pick up the stone and you start again, this time throwing the stone to square nº 2 and so on. If you fail, it is the next player’s turn. NOTES: NOTES: The stone cannot land on the line or be moved or touach when jumping. The stone cannot land on the line or be moved or touach when jumping. The player cannot step on the lines or move within the squares. The player has to hop over the square with the stone the first time and hop on it when coming back after having picked up the stone.

The end Mari Carmen Gracia Cuadrado Iván Gallego López