In Friesland the Sunday game for youths is 'Het slingeren met
Dimterkoek'--throwing Deventer cake. Four persons are required to play
this game. The players divide themselves into opposite parties, and play
against each other. First they toss up to see which of the parties and
which of the boys shall begin. He on whom the lot falls is allowed to
give his turn to his opponent, which he often does if, on feeling the
cake, he notices that it is soft and liable to break easily. If, on the
contrary, it is hard, he keeps the first throw for himself. Holding the
cake firmly in his right hand, he takes a little run, bends backward, and
with a sudden swing throws the cake forward (as one throws a stone) so
that it flies away a good distance, breaking off just at the grip. This
piece, called 'hanslik,' or handpiece, he must keep in his hand, for if
he drops it he must let his turn pass by once, and his throw is not
counted. The distance of the throw is now measured and noted down,
whereupon one of the opposing party takes the piece of cake and throws
it, and so it goes on alternately till each has had a turn. The distances
of the throws of every two boys are counted together, and the side which
has the most points wins.
There are also games played only at certain seasons of the year, as the
'Eiergaren' at Easter-time. This was very popular even in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. On Easter Monday all the village people betake
themselves to the principal street of the 'dorp' to watch the
'eiergaarder.' At about two o'clock in the afternoon the innkeeper who
provides the eggs appears upon the scene with a basket containing
twenty-five. These he places on the road at equal distances of twelve feet
from each other. In the middle of the road is then placed a tub of water,
on which floats a very large apple, the largest he has been able to
procure. Two men are chosen from the ranks of the villagers. The one is
led to the tub, his hands are tied behind his back, and he is told to eat
the floating apple; the other has to take the basket in his hand and pick
up while running all the eggs and arrange them in the basket before the
apple is eaten. He who finishes his task first is the winner, and carries
off the basket of eggs as a prize. It provokes great fun to see the man
trying to get hold of the floating-apple, which escapes so easily from the
grasp of his teeth, but some men are wise enough to push the apple against
the side of the tub, and of course as soon as they have taken one bite the
rest is easily eaten. When the game is over, the greater number of the
villagers go and drink to the good health of the winner at the
public-house, and so the innkeeper makes a good thing out of this custom
also, and for a game like this it is certainly wise to refresh one's self
_after_ the event. Skittles and billiards are very popular with the
peasant and working classes on Sunday afternoons, the only free time a
labourer has for recreation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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