Games

1674

The book tells of games played in winter and at the fairs. A line is drawn in the snow. From a mark behind it each person runs and leaps for distance. Two men hold a rope or a pole, usually at the height of a man, and the leap is for height. A small mark is shot at with a bow. The prizes are seldom money, usually squirrel skins. The ball is leather stuffed with hay, about the size of a fist. Two sides strike it with a club. If it is caught before it touches the ground, the sides change. In another game two lines are drawn in the frozen snow, and the goal is taken with a bandy. Throwing by hand is foul. The men wrestle by the girdle. The book says the girdle goes six times round. Locks and deceit are forbidden. Cards are bought from the merchants. The dice are wood, with an X on one side only. Two dice win when each shows the X. The stake is a squirrel skin, or a bullet. The book has no picture of a game. We are asking Norsk Folkemuseum for a wooden die. (Schefferus 1674)