Games

ana bayyan tanyan shemmanet khakma talyate b-surutan kat tulekh gu-mavate. shemmane atkha bitayena.

I want to tell the names of some of the games that we played during our childhood in the villages. Their names are as follows.

e-kameta tayanna mutkherralukh kay banosha. banosha k-aviva tre daste, yale bnate, khvite ki-talakhva hammasha, kat kha dasta la-yba bet-kalya kha dasta khakma metre atkha … arrane bet-kali m-uydale. ita kha-menne palta oya rishet dasta e kametet dasta. bet-tanyale a jarga: banosha banden dosha. albatta turket khvitena gu-hemezmanan. banosha banden shosha mennan mennokhun may pesha? ita kha men-danne b-rakhet kha men-dani. ina bet-parshilun may bayye rakhet. ka-tusa, a-giba an khelane o khelana parshile zabbun men-do-yba kat-azel mayyile.

I shall talk about the first one—you have reminded me of it—, banoša. (In the game) banoša there were two teams—boys and girls, we used always to play mixed—one team of which stands to this side and one team—they stood several metres of ground from one another. Then one (girl) from among them comes out, who is the head of the team, the leader of the team. She says this line ‘the rosebud will drop from me.’ Of course Turkish has become mixed into our speech. ‘The rosebud will drop from me, who will remain from us and from you?’ Then one would run from among these ones and one from those. They would select who should run. For example on this side the strong ones would select the strongest one to go and fetch the weaker one from the other side.

ita aha b-rakhet pt-azel paremla idet dani, anne ida ida dvikena. gari rakhetazel makhe men-aralleghghet ide. ita e-dan kattila ide emnet bayye men-dani b-shakel mayyile, anne b-zedi, benyanet danne b-zayed. ayya iva khaa men-talyatan. halt e-get ani parki e-dasta ita vayela kramta bel da-giba men do-giba kremle.

Then this one would run and go and cut through the hands of the others—they have held their hands together. He must run and go and strike in between their hands. Then when he breaks through their hands, he takes and brings back whomsoever he wants from among them, and they would increase, their number would increase. This was one of our games. When they, that team, finish, there is a victory by this side—it has beaten the other side.

e-khita iva … Aztabyul dashen, medre turketile shemma, Aztabyul dashen. kut-kha khoru pareshvale yan khaverta, etvalan yale bnate merri khvite, b-dokiva ida ida kha zoga akhchi. bet-rakhtiva bar kulle dan-khine ina ani azad berkhatena, anne akhchi ida ida dvikena, kat dem khoret d-dveklun ki-makhiva gu-khasu, la raba kuya, ina ki-makhivale atkha halt khoru mativa EreleaseE avedvale yan ka-tusa parekvale men-mkheta ayya kha jurreva.

Another one was tabyuldašən, again the name is Turkish, tabyuldašən. Everyone would choose his male friend or female friend, as I said we had boys and girls mixed together. They would hold hands but only one pair. They would (then) run after all the others, but they were running freely, only these ones are holding hands, who would beat the back of any friend that they caught, not very hard, but they used to hit him like this until his friend would arrive and release him, or, I mean, he would rescue him from being hit. This was one type (of game).

etvalan dala dalpe b-danet EOktober, kat lakhkha vadena … Etrikk or treat, tama akhnan k-odakhvala. mabyune khina et-diyyan et-aturayela ayya, men-sabab … chiriyyavateva, kulle hasel verteva gu … batvate, chukhyate melyeva men-keshmishe, goze, shade, kulle mendi. ita, akhnan yale bnate sure yal-sure k-azakhva, al-garavayeva e-talta, men gare ki-pashtakhva khola, sirekhva kha EbasketE, salta kalta, b-de khola. men-kave ki-pashtakhvala. nashet beta kulle tivena khadervanet tanuyra. setvela khina karta shuritela tanuyra. ita ani e sotet beta b-kemava b-yavvava, mattava gu-de-salta en ku-mendit etva senjiyyeva, keshmisheva, gozeva, bet-matta gu-salta, akhnan garshakhle. kulle e-mata hada b-khadrakhvala, gare b-gare. lekhva har akhnan, dasyate raba prishe prisheva. ka-tusa dastet diyyan eshta ganaye pt-avakhva e-dasta khita esra ganaye atkha. kulle yal-suret mata o-lele bligekhva b-da. gu-chiriyyavate k-oyava. ita len bedda tlay kha b-EOktoberEiva akh danne vaduna ayya len beddayo anne k-odi trikk or treat ki-jammi mendi.

We had dala dalpe in October—here when they do ‘trick or treat,’ we used to do (it) there. It seems that this was ours, of the Assyrians—because (when) it was autumn, all the harvest was gathered into the houses, the storerooms were all full of raisins, walnuts, almonds, everything. So we boys and girls, the children, used to go—this game was on the roofs—from the roof we used to pass down a rope. We had tied a basket, a small basket, a small basket with a handle, onto that rope. We used to pass it through the window. The people of the house would all have been sitting around the oven. Well, it is winter and the cold has started, the oven (is lit). So they—the elderly woman of the house would get up, she would give and place in that basket whatever there was. These were jujube fruits, raisins, walnuts. She would place (them) in the small basket, and we would pull it (the rope). We would go around the entire village, roof by roof. It was not just us, there were many different groups. For example our group would have been six people, another group ten individuals, like this. All we children of the village that night were busy with this. It used to take place in autumn. Well I do not know whether it was the thirty-first of October, as they (here) do it, this I do not know. These (children here) do ‘trick or treat’ and gather things.

kha talta khita etvalan PkeP zakra bezzazeva. kullan ki-dokakhva ida ida. medre t-averva kha-menne gu pi-palga, kat kut bayyiva b-kariva baru, av b-rakhet men-danne bezzaze atkha pt-aver hal davekle, o-t-ile prishu baru berkhatel, hal davekle. ita noba ki-mativa ka-kulle. ka-khakma menne le mativa. ayya zakra bezzazeva shemmo.

There was another game which was Weaver of Holes. We would all hold hands. Again one of them would enter into the middle, who would call out to whomsoever he wanted. He would run and would go in through these holes until he catches him, the one whom he has selected to run after, until he catches him. Then everyone would have a turn. Some would not have a turn. The name of this was Weaver of Holes.

kha khita etvalan raba raba damyanteva al-da EbaseballE t-amrikaye engleznaye t-ina tavlo, al-Ebaseball. akhnan ki-tanakhvala yazan, yazan ki-tanakhvala, kat tre same vayena, gutta rappuyol kha-menne o-khina b-kesa mkhayole. e-get mkhayole rekhka at lakhkha kelyele berkhatele anne chennate, chen-naye muttena raba damyanta al-EbaseballEiva. ayyaze bekhshaven atyanet men-Baghdad etvalan men-engleznaye lipova, ka-diyyan mulpova peshteva men-de-ga, ana bekhshaven.

We had another one which was very similar to baseball, which the Americans and the English play, to baseball. We used to call it +yazan (‘circle’), +yazan we called it, in which there are two sides, one of them throws the ball and the other one hits it with a stick. When he hits it far, the one who is standing here, he would run. They have placed bases, bases. It was very similar to baseball. This one—I think those coming from Baghdad, whom we had (in Urmi), had learned it from the English and they had taught it to us, and it had remained since then, I think so.

etvalan shakka palla kat kha palla surteva atkha kesa kerya, kha kesa yarikha p-idan dokakhvale. avun b-rappakhvale kuya makhakhvale b-do kesa, b-kesa gura bet-makhakhva al-kesa sura. kmat rekhka azelva b-pasulyate ki-banakhvalun. akhnan kha-akhcha pasulyay vedlan, o khina pt-ativa o khina har-atkha. ita an pasulyate kma akhnan bush raba rekhka mekhyukh akhnan karmanekh. bas b-da pesla.

We had šak̭k̭apalla which consisted of a small stick like this, a short piece of wood, and we held a long piece of wood in our hands. We would throw it and strike it hard with the piece of wood, we would strike the small piece of wood with the big piece of wood. We would count how far it went with steps. We made so many steps, then the other one would come, and the other one (did) just the same. So we would be the winners when we hit it the furthest (as shown by) the (measurement by) steps. (We played) just in this way.

dekka dekki, al tanuyra khina, la-amsakhva paltakhva talga raba disheva, urkhate dvikeva yan khina garek beta talakhva chara letvalan. kelpatze tevtela kulle, kat mableggivalan mulpaniva kha-menne b-kapva dakht tivena al-tanuyra. an-khine makhi al-khasu. ki-taniva dekka dekket tana allaghe mardana, khabuysha lala banda, meshmeshsha khuda kanda idet mani khut-banda? adi idatan kulle mattuyekh atkha, hi, atkha mattuyekh. ot kipele gari yatte idet mayla e-t khuta. ita e-dan-la-dile, medre har bet-payesh tama, medre makhi gu-khasu hal-de-get yatte e-idet tevtela kamta, anne ide khine kulle khrizena allo, et-manila. ayya kha pesleva.

Dəcca dəcci—(this was played in the winter) on the oven, (when) we were not able to go out, a lot of snow had settled and the roads were blocked, so we had to play at home, we had no choice. The whole family would sit—they had taught us (this game) to keep us busy. One of them would bend down as they were sitting on the oven. The others would bang on his back. They would say: ‘Stamp, stamp of a weight, their hands are manly, red apple knot, apricot under the trunk, whose hand is under the knot?’ Now we we all put our hands like this, yes, we put them like this. The one who is bending down must know whose hand is the one that is below. Then when he does not know, he would again stay there, they would again bang on his back, until he knows whose is the hand that is put down first, on top of which all the other hands are crisscrossed. This was one type (of game).

chenna etvalan kat gullaye danet gullateva yale raba ki-talivala a talta. k-odiva kha-bezza sura khut-guyda ita gullate atkha ki-rappiva. kma b-napli gu-chenna, kma b-napli al-khadervane akhchi ant gu-chenna banivalun, ani krimevalun. ita pt-ate o-khina, ita o-khina, gullate atkha b-rappiva gu-chenna.

We had ‘base’ which was at the time of fruit kernels. The boys used to play this game a lot. They used to make a small hole beneath a wall then they would throw kernels like this. Some would fall into the base, some would fall around (the base). They would count only those in the base. These they have won for themselves. Then another one would come, then another one. They would throw kernels into the base like this.

darvaza darvaza adi, atkha tre yale bnate bedvakena ida ida an-khine varena men-khut ide, di o-khina baru, har-atkha pt-azi m-khut-ide, palti tammo. kulle anne darvaze dvikena. ka-tusa hal-idukh Yosep. atkha dvikekh, kullan. adi esra zoge, ka-tusa atkha dvikekh. aten men-khavertukh m-akhkha pt-oritun kalitun al-prakta. di o-khina pt-aver, di o-khina pt-aver. gu-da urkha kam urkhe ki-yasrile. nagestan adi ana Yosep idan dvikukh bitayet at men-khavertukh oret. ki-yattakh at spay zamaret, ka-tusa, a makkupukh lekh beshvaka oret. mara russu muile? mu gari aved kat shokakh ori azi. mara kha-zmarta. ita ki-zamerva. adi men-da-zoga kha-menne gari zamer kat aver m-akhkha. zmerre, prekle. aha bulgananiva. ita ta vur-khush.

‘Gate gate’—now it was like this, two boys and girls hold hands, the others pass under their hands, and quickly another (couple) after them, and likewise they pass under their hands, and come out over there. They have all made gates. For example, give me your hand Joseph. We all have held (hands) like this. Now, for example, ten couples, we have held hands. You and your girlfriend would go under here and stand at the end. Then the other one would pass under, then the other one would pass under. In this way they block their passage. Suddenly, now Joseph and I have held our hands, you are coming together with your girlfriend to pass. We know, for example, you are a good singer. We lower this (gate) and do not let you pass. They say ‘What is his fine? What must he do for us to allow them to pass and go?’ They say ‘A song.’ So he would sing. Now one of this couple must sing in order to pass from here. He sang and finished. This was our amusement. ‘So come, pass through and go!’

aha etva up gu-maret shenne nashe ki-talivala, la raba b-shenne, ina anne gvire, mare yale. masalan avahatan ana betkharen tulona aha. ita … o-shupro aheva gu-idavate ki-talivala, ida-gura ida-sura keslan raba ki-dokakhvale b-keshya yane raba khelana. kha shabta ki-gareshva balket, kut ida ida surada, ida gurada. adi mavate lena raba rekhka m-uydale. vitela dana men-da mata al-de b-darvaza khishena, har zmara zmara. khishena ita tiyyena medre berashe direna. a taltan iva.

There were also old people who played this, not very old, but those who were married with children. For example, I remember our parents played this. Now, its beauty was this, they used to play it at festivals. We used to observe Easter and Christmas in our community very strictly, that is very seriously. It used to last maybe a week, both Christmas and Easter. Now the villages are not very far from each other. There was a time when they would go from this village to that in the ‘gate’ game, singing all the time. They would go and then come back, again in the evening they would return. This was our game.