The Bontoc Igorot by Albert Ernest Jenks
page 82 of 483 (16%)
page 82 of 483 (16%)
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During the entire game, lasting a full half hour or until night settled on them or a mother came to take home one of the little, romping, wild things -- just as the American child is called from her games to an early bed -- peal after peal of the heartiest, sweetest laughter rang a constant chorus. The boys have at least two systematic games. One is fug-fug-to', in imitation of a ceremonial of the men after each annual rice harvest. The game is a combat with rocks, and is played sometimes by thirty or forty boys, sometimes by a much smaller number. The game is a contest -- usually between Bontoc and Samoki -- with the broad, gravelly river bed as the battle ground. There they charge and retreat as one side gains or loses ground; the rocks fly fast and straight, and are sometimes warded off by small basket-work shields shaped like the wooden ones of war. They sometimes play for an hour and a half at a time, and I have not yet seen them play when one side was not routed and driven home on the run amid the shouts of the victors. The other game is kag-kag-tin'. It is also a game of combat and of opposing sides, but it is not so dangerous as the other and there are no bruises resulting. Some half-dozen or a dozen boys play kag-kag-tin' charging and retreating, fighting with the bare feet. The naked foot necessitates a different kick than the one shod with a rigid leather shoe; the stroke from an unshod foot is more like a blow from the fist shot out from the shoulder. The foot lands flat and at the side of or behind the kicker, and the blow is aimed at the trunk or head -- it usually lands higher than the hips. This game in a combat between individuals of the opposing sides, though two often attack a single opponent until he is rescued by a companion. The game is over when the retreating side no longer advances to the combat. |
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