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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

“Fiesta Engrande” na Zamboanga, revisiting the games of the past


By: Jocelyn P. Alvarez

ZAMBOANGA CITY, May 22, (PIA) - - Old folks think that Gen Y (the youth), and even children of today seemed to find fascination and entertainment in the world of internet, computer games and gadgets that most of the “new” generation failed to get the chance to experience the once popular “larong Pinoy” or the games of the past that most Filipino youth and children used to play way back then.

To revisit old-time favorite children’s games and promote and popularize once more the “larong Pinboy” the Department of Tourism (DOT) here in partnership with the city government, initiated “Fiesta Engrande” on May 19, at the favorite public “tambayan” (hangout)- the  Paseo del Mar grounds.

The Fiesta Engrande conducted over the weekend, was a whole day fiesta in Zamboanga showcasing some “popular but forgotten” games of the past as a cultural tourism product to be enjoyed by visitors of the city.

The activity kicked off 2:45 in the afternoon with a grand parade with starting point at the Plaza Pershing down to Paseo del Mar, an estimated 30-45minutes’ walk to the activity area.

The parade was participated in by some government officials, game participants, government and private offices, schools and people’s organization.

Juego de Antes

Sporting Events

Immediately after the parade, the “Juego de antes” commenced with Mayor Celso Lobregat and DOT Acting Regional Director Mary June Bugante doing the opening throw for “Tumba Lata” (knock off the can) game, using a sleeper to knock off the can as a signal that “juego de antes” has officially begun.
catch the dragons tail

The “Juego de Antes” started with sporting events like “catch the dragon’s tail” which was participated in by some 60 players (children, youth and adults) broken down into 6 teams with 10 members each team.

Other sporting events like “Siatong, Sungka, Jack Stone, Pick up the stick was also played by the participants including some part of the cheering crowd.

Juego de Antes (games of the past)

Pinoy Amazing Race

The scorching heat did not stop the 75 players (15 teams w/ 5 players each team) to join in the Pinoy Amazing Race, all aiming to get the grand prize of p10,000, 7,500 for the 1st runner up and 5,000 for 2nd runner up.

Tumba lata

Each team race to the finish, starting off with “tumba lata” where each team member was required to knock off the can/tin (once) before the team can finally proceed to the next race task.

tumba lata
Tumba lata is a popular Filipino street game and is commonly seen in most Filipino movies and TV series.

Like other Filipino traditional games, members take the following rules: one as the “taya”, someone who takes the rule of a-player-at-stake and holds the responsibility of the Lata(tin can), and; the others as the players striking. The game is performed by having the players a “pamato” (which is ones own slipper) used for striking the tin that is held beside the taya.

After accomplishing the “tumba lata” the teams had their “race cards” signed by a DOT race official assigned, to verify that the team/s accomplished the task “fair and square.”

Each team was asked to have their race cards signed after completion of every race task for easy identification of race winners.

Buscahan goma

buscahan goma

Next Task was the “buscahan goma” where the team race to “scoop” some 20 tiny rubber bands using barbeque sticks only. The rubber bands were hidden/slightly buried under the cone-shaped, beach sand.

Sipan race

Another once popular children’s game was the “Sipan race”, this was the third task that Pinoy amazing race participants need to complete.
Sipan race

The participants and crowd laughed their hearts out when game players sport out a barefoot race, using only a pair of coconut husk as their “flip flop” (sleeper), cramming their way to be the first to complete this specific task.

Sipa

Sipa
Another “once upon a time” game –an innovative game of Pinoys was the Sipa of which the material is made of tingga (iron), it is shaped and sized like a P1 peso coin with close to a hundred strips of straws inserted in the middle of the tingga.

In the Sipa task, each player of the team was required to bounce the
“tingga” or sipa 5 times using any one of the body parts- the arm, the leg or the foot.The team that completes the task first, proceeds to the next race level.


Bagol (tsinelas relay)

bagol
After completing the sipa task, Pinoy amazing racers proceeded to do the “Bagol” or tsinelas (sleeper) relay, where all of the 5 team members raced the sleeper in a 100-meter dash relay using the foot, the arm and the head.

Chinese garter

Chinese garter
Who said that only the ladies or girls know how to play the Chinese garter? Well, males do too jump the garter, like what they did in the race, and they had fun jumping over the garter.

In the Chinese garter game, two people hold both ends of a stretched garter horizontally while the others attempt to cross over it. The goal is to cross without having tripped on the garter. With each round, the garter's height is made higher than the previous round (the game starts with the garter at ankle-level, followed by knee-level, until the garter is positioned at the shoulder length). The higher rounds demand dexterity, and the players generally leap with their feet first in the air, so their feet cross over the garter, and they end up landing on the other side.

eating competition
tuba drinking contest
tire race
After fairly playing all the “larong Pinoy” in the Pinoy Amazing race, bonus tasks include eating competition where the participants had to completely finish all the food served in the bilao which include 5 pcs ballot, 5 pcs banan, mango and puto seco, then raced to proceed to tuba drinking and finally tire race. 

After having fun under the sun, team winners in the race took home cash prizes worth P10,000 , P7,000 and P5,000 for the Grand prize , 1st runner up and 2nd runner up respectively.


Grand prize P10,000

1st runner up: P7,000
Traditional Filipino Games or larong Pinoy are games commonly played by children, usually using native materials or instruments.

In the Philippines, due to limited resources of toys of Filipino children, they usually come up on inventing games without the need of anything but the players themselves. With the flexibility of a real human to think and act makes the game more interesting and challenging.

A few decades ago, kids used to gather in the streets or in their neighborhood playground to play their favorite Larong Pinoy. These has been their regular and popular pastimes, as well as the favorite games of their parents and grandparents until new and modern forms of entertainment has taken over the interests of young kids.

2nd runner up: P5,000
DOT 9 Director Bugante said the “Fiesta Engrande” activities particularly the events under the ‘Juego de antes” is the department’s way of advocating interpersonal relationship among the young generation as modern technology slowly deteriorates personal interaction among people specifically the youth of today. (JPA/ PIA  9-ZBST)