MUNICIPALITY OF MARIKINA, RIZAL, Historical Data of Part 3

2. The Origin of the Coconut pp. 253-254
3. The Origin of the Butterflies pp. 211-212

1. Alamat ng Uwak at ng Kalapati pahina 17-19
2. Alamat ng Makahiya pahina 22-24
3. Ang Alamat ng Unggoy pahina 44-45
4. Ang Alamat ng Pinya pahina 54-55

A leader with a small pebble in his hand walks to and from behind a line of players whose right hands are held at salute position and whose left hands are held behind them at the height of waist, palms cupped and turned upward. He drops the pebble in the hand of a player who pretends nothing has happened. The leader continues on his journey and, on reaching the end of the line, says, "Run with the gold!" The one who has the "gold" runs, and the others in line give chase for the purpose of tagging him. If the runner safely reaches an opposite line which has previously been drawn on the ground, he calls on any two of the players to carry him back to the line from which he has come, seated on their joined arms. The game is continued until almost every one of the players has had the opportunity to run away with the gold.

A variation of this game is played by two teams which have an equal number of participants. The players take places in the same line with their captains facing a goalline about twelve meters away. Captain A goes back and forth behind his players, pretending to drop the gold in the hands of different players. Finally, he does drop the gold in one of the players' hand. He then invites Captain B to come and guess the player whose hand is holding the gold. If Captain B fails in his guess, the player who has the gold takes a standing broad jump forward. The teammates of the jumper

advances to a positions even with him, thus forming a new line. The procedure is repeated until Captain B guesses correctly the hand in which the gold is held. His team then takes the gold and proceeds in the same manner. This procedure is followed until one team or the other wins by reaching the goalline first.

A group of children play this game, and the oldest one of them acts as the mother. The mother sits on a corner of the playground and holds out one of her hands, palm upward. As the children plunge their fingers into the open hand, the mother suddenly closes her palm to catch the finger of someone of them. The player whose finger is this caught becomes "It." He is blindfolded, and the other players scatter and hide. When they are ready, one of them gives the signal, "It." It starts looking for the players. In the meantime, some of the players run back to the mother for safety. Any player tagged by "It" becomes "It" for the next game.

A big circle is drawn on the playground. "It" is blindfolded, and the rest of the players distribute themselves inside the circle. The players clap their hands or say "I am here" in order to dare "It," who tries to catch any of them.

Rules:

1. Any player caught by "It" takes his place.

2. Any player who steps outside the

circle while running away from "It" takes his place.

The oldest players, who acts as parent, either mother of father, stays in the middle of a circle formed by the joined hands of the players. The parent goes around the circle, and every time he utters a word of the rhyme "Pempen Serapin agua-peconda San Miguel-Arcangel," he touches the head of a player. The player touched by the parent as the last word of the rhyme is pronounced leaves the circle. This procedure is repeated until every player but one has gone out of the circle. The remaining player becomes the chaser.

"It," who is blindfolded, stays in one place while the players are hiding. At a signal, "It" takes off his blindfold and searches for the players until he finds them all.

When played by teams, captains and sides are chosen. The captain and players of Team A stay in one place and close their eyes while the players of Team B go into hiding. When the latter players are ready, they give the signal, and when a player of Team B is found he comes out of hiding, and the finder yells to advise his teammates and opponents. The search is continued until all the players of Team B are found.

In the next game, Team A hides and Team B searches. If Team B fails to locate any of the Team A players, the captain of Team B says, "We give up" and the game is played over again with the same side going into hiding.

This is a game most effectively played with only two players. The materisl for playing are stones, sigay or tamarind seeds, the number to depend upon whatever agreement the players may make. There may, for example, be 10 stones for two players, 15 stones for three players, etc.

The player who starts the game puts all his stones on the back of his hand. In this movement or part of the game, some of the stones may fall. If one stone falls, the player must pick it up after tossing the stones in the second movement. He tosses the stones over from the back of his hand and catches them in his palm. The players should permit no stones to fall while executing the second movement. If he doesn't, he is replaced by another player. In case none falls, he continues the game with stones dropped in the first movement above indicated. Without picking these stones up, he, with the thumb and a finger, flicks one of the stones so that it strikes another. When a stone is thus struck, the two of them are removed.

In case there is an odd number of stones which dropped in the first movement above indicated, then an exception to the procedure in the removal of the stones struck by flicking may be made with the last three: namely, the first of the three may be used to knock the second closer to the third. The first must strike the second, however. The player should not miss. The first of the three is then removed, and the second is used to strike the third.

Should the player be successful without error or interruption due to error in the flicking and removal of all the fallen stones, he may keep one as a prize. If a player is successful in executing the first and second movements without dropping any stone, he may keep one as a prize. Failure to catch a stone tossed in the first movement above indicated, from palm to the back of the hand, or failure to properly make a strike as above described, gives the opposing players the opportunity to continue the game. This procedure is followed until all the stones have been won as prizes, and there are no more to play with.

If, in the first round, one player wins seven stones and the other player wins three, another round is started. In this round, each player puts in three stones. After the round is finished, the player who gets all the ten stones wins the game. But as long as the players have even a single stone each to put in the game, the play continues.

The winner has the right to punish the loser, the type of punishment being agreed upon before the game is started. The following form of punishment is sometimes used.

The players provide themselves with one small, flat, circular, or oblong stone each and draw the playing court on the ground as follows:

1. Draw a rectangle.

2. Draw two diagonal lines which connect the corners and intersect at the center of the rectangle.

3. Draw two semi-circles, one on each end of the rectangle.

Standing on the corners of the playing court, the players pitch their stones at the intersection of the diagonals. The player whose stone is nearest the intersection begins the game, the second follows in order, and so forth.

Each player chooses the end of the playing court where he desires to begin and calls the compartment nearest him his box or house. The first player then pitches his stone inside the first compartment at the end of the playing court where he starts. He then hops inside and, with his toes, drives his stones outside of the compartment. He may have only one trial or kick, must not touch a line with either foot, and must not permit the stone to come to rest upon a line. He next pitches his stone into compartment No. 2, and drives it outside as before. He does this consecutively up to the compartment opposite the end of the playing court where he started.

If he is not blindfolded by his opponent, he is required to look upward. With a stone in hand, he hops throughout the playing court, being careful not to step on any of the lines. As he reaches the intersection of the diagonals, he deposits his stones

and proceeds to the other end of the court, then retraces his course, stopping momentarily to recover his stone from where he deposited it. If he succeeds, he wins the game.

Rules:

A small rope several meters long and about half an inch in diameter is needed in this game.

A player holds one end of the rope and another player the other hand. They swing the rope clockwise in a circle. A third player watches the rope and, from one side, enters the circle described by the swinging of it. He then jumps with both feet or skips alternately on the right and left foot, moving forward, backward, or turning, always jumping or skipping the rope about the time it hits the ground. Even two or three players may enter and jump at the same time. When a player begins to tire, he runs out of the circle made by the rope.

Rules:

1. A player who is hit by the rope while jumping relieves one of the players who is swinging the rope.

2. If the game is played by pairs or teams and one of the players is hit by the rope while jumping, his team relieves the other team at swinging the rope.

Sides are taken, and the players choose their leaders. The team which is to jump first is determined by the drawing of lots. Two members, A and B, of the team not jumping sit on the ground opposite each other, their legs half bent at the knees, and the soles of their right feet touching. The opponents, from a starting line, step over the half-extended legs and return the same way.

A plants his heel on the toes of the right foot of B. B's fingers and thumb are extended above A's toes, one finger touching them. The opponents step over and back again as before. A takes his left heel off the toes of B. B places his left heel over A's toes, and A extends his fingers above the feet, as B has done. The opponents go again over the resulting barrier. A's open fingers are added to the barrier, and then B's are added. At each addition to the barrier, the opponents jump clear over any height without touching the barrier. The teams change positions. If all the members jump clear over the barrier of different heights, they repeat the game until they get tired or are willing to give their opponents a chance.

Two leaders who have taken the names of favorite flowers face one another and join outstretched hands. They swing their arms shoulder high from side

to side while they sing the following words: "A la viva, ala viva del amor, por aqui podies pasar." The children pass under the arms of the leaders in single file. The leaders close their arms around the last girl and ask her which fruit or flower she likes best. She makes her choice and takes her place behind the chosen leaders. The procedure is repeated many times until the group of children is divided between the two captains.

A number of parallel lines are drawn fifteen feet apart. (They may be the same in number as the players.) A perpendicular line is then drawn so as to cross the middle of each parallel line. One team then takes the field, and the players are assigned to their positions. The captain defends the first line. (He also "covers" the perpendicular line, and may pass up and down it to tag any opponent who crosses it in an attempt to penetrate the defense.) Each of the remaining lines is guarded by one or more players for the defense. Each defensive player guards only the line to which he is previously assigned.

The game is begun with all the players of the opposing team starting in front of the captain's line, their object to pass through all the lines of the defense and back again to the starting place without being tagged by an opponent.

1. If a player for the offensive team is tagged before any of his teammates score, the teams change sides.

2. If a member of the offensive team is tagged before any of his teammates score, the teams change sides.

3. The team which scores the most number of points at the agreed period of time wins.

4. A foul is committed by an offensive player if he goes outside the sidelines in an attempt to avoid being tagged. The penalty is a change of sides.

One player serves as the "back" and another as the leader. A line is drawn on the ground where the "back" stands bent forward with his hands grasping his knees or ankles, and with his side parallel to the line. The other players form a single file with the leaders at the head on the side of the line opposite the "back."

The leader gives a command and then himself executes it first, while jumping over the stooped figure of the "back." Each of the players executes the same movement. The "back" moves one step farther away from the line. Different commands of the lead-

er are then executed by the other players until one of them inadvertently touches some of the "back's" body. The player doing this then becomes the "back." The game continues until almost everyone has become "back" or leader.

The players choose their leader, and then sit in a circle or rectangle facing him. The leader lights a candle, match, or a stick which he passes to the player on his right, who in turn passes it to the next, and so on. The player holding the candle or stick when it burns out forfeits some article to the leader. The leader relights the candle or stick and hands it to the player next to the one who last gave him an object. Once again, the candle is handed from one to another until the light goes out. The game is continued until five or more players have forfeited articles. The leader then stops the game and, one at a time, exhibits the articles gathered. The owner of any article shown

must sing a song, recite a poem, or perform some other such activity to recover it. When all the articles are reclaimed, the game is started anew.

Sungka is played by two or more players on a boat-shaped piece of wood called "sungkahan." Fourteen rounded holes (houses), about 1½ inches in diameter and one each deep are arranged in two rows on the deck of the sungkahan. On either side of the sungkahan is a bigger hole, then "Ina," about three inches in diameter and 1½ inches deep.

The players sit on opposite sides of the sungkahan and put several pebbles in each of the seven holes (houses) nearest them. The "Ina" on the left side of each player belongs to him.

The players begin the game at the same time. Each takes all the pebbles from the last house at his right and works them toward his left, depositing one at a time and in order in each of his six "houses" and the "Ina." He next takes the pebbles from any of the houses belonging to him and, going clockwise, drops one in each of the houses and Inas, both his own and those of his opponent. A player who unthoughtfully [absent-mindedly] drops a pebble into the Ina of his opponent loses the pebble. In case a player drops his last pebble into an empty house not belonging to him, he stops playing and does not get any pebble; but if he happens to drop the last pebble in one empty house which is opposite and opponent's house, that is full

Historical Data of the Municipality of Marikina, Province of Rizal, online at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections.