Larong Lahi: A healthier lifestyle for Filipino children

Philippines is rich in traditional games that mark in the heart of the 90's Filipino Children, back when electronic devices weren't common. As kids we had made bounds and leaps to make past time - fun time. I remember when I was a kid; I used to play lot of the Larong Lahi with my cousins and neighbors. These Larong Lahi usually played using the native materials or instruments. And due to limited resources of the toys, young Filipinos used their creativity of creating and inventing games without the need of anything but the players themselves and make the game more interesting and challenging.

 

Image Source: http://palarongpinoy.blogspot.com/

“IT'S MORE THAN JUST A GAME; IT IS A VEHICLE

TO INSTILL PATRIOTISM AMONG THE NEW GENERATION.”

What is a Larong Lahi?

Laro ng Lahi is a cultural treasure ( yaman ng lahi ) cherished by generations of Filipinos. It favorite past-time that is close to the hearts of Filipinos, encompassing generations --- from our grandparents, to our parents, and among the youth & toddlers of today.  

Considering that almost 60% of the mass population in the Philippines don't have computers and still can't afford the high-tech game gadgets, the Filipino Traditional Street Games are still a favorite past-time among children in heavy urban areas and provinces.  

            

The Filipino games bring good memories of friendship and fun among those who have played it.  It brings a smile among our elders whenever they remember the days when they used to play it.  It brings out the child among our parents when they mention it, and vividly remembering their childhood playmates and the neighborhood where they use to play it.  It actually every adult's wish for the new generation of Filipino to experience the fun of the Traditional Street Games.   

Larong Pinoy is all about giving kids fun in the communities where they live, at the same time, promote healthy outdoor activities through play.

What can we get in playing Larong Lahi?

When we are playing traditional Filipino games we are doing many things.

1) Heart and circulatory system: Regular exercise or playing healthy games makes the heart muscles stronger and more efficient. The heart-beats of an athlete do not increase appreciably even when doing something requiring physical exertion, and revert very soon to the normal rate afterwards. In contrast, even a little exertion sends the pulse rate of a sedentary individual rocketing up, and it takes time for the heart to settle down to its normal rate of beating. The blood vessels dilate during exercise, and so more blood reaches the muscles. It has been found that during vigorous or rapid exercise, the blood circulation in certain muscles and organs increases 25 to 30 times, thus supplying the muscles and organs with more oxygen and a larger number of red blood corpuscles. 

2) The respiratory system: Breathing becomes not only more rapid, but also deeper, thus making increased quantities of oxygen available.

3) The musculature: Healthy Games strengthens the muscles, promotes their development and increases their efficiency. Stronger muscles lend better support to the joints.

4) The skin: The pores of the skin open up during exercise. The result is a healthier skin, because of more efficient disposal of impurities and dirt.

5) Temperature of the body: The temperature of the body rises during playing. This promotes the burning up of the toxic substances in the body.

In short, all the systems of the body derive invaluable benefits from playing healthy games or exercise.

Larung Lahi are games which usually involve physical interaction with fellow players. Here are some examples of Larung Lahi:

Luksong-Tinik

- jump over the thorns –

Image Source: https://diannaralucinario.deviantart.com/art/Luksong-Tinik-360878215

Two players serve as the base of the tinik (thorn) by putting their right or left feet together (soles touching gradually building the tinik). A starting point is set by all the players, giving enough runways for the players to achieve a higher jump, so as not to hit the tinik. Players of the other team start jumping over the tinik, followed by the other team members.

Taguan

-  hide and seek-

 What is unique in Tagu-Taguan compared to its counterpart, hide and seek, is that this game is usually played at sunset or at night as a challenge for the it to locate those who are hiding

Tsato

- stick game, better be good at it –

Tsato is played by digging a small hole on the ground and using 2 sticks - a short and a long one (but in our case, we usually use the coconut husk in replacement of the short stick, for safety purposes). Put the short stick on the hole with one end protruding out; hit that end with the long stick and while the short stick is in the air, try and hit it again as far as it can go. Then measure the distance using the long stick as the yardstick. The winner then gets to hit the short stick, starting from the hole, as many times as his winnings. The loser has to run from that distance back to the hole, all the while shouting "TSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATO"! If he/she loses his breath while running, the winner hits the small stick again from that point, and the loser has to run and shout again.

Bato Lata

This game utilizes an empty can confined inside a circle. The players will try to knock the can out and as much as possible knock it out of the circle from a designated distance using a slipper. There will be someone to guard the can and make sure that if ever the can gets knocked out, it should be placed back inside the circle in an upright position. The players must get their slippers back once they try to knock the can out and run back to their base. The guard will try to catch them once they are able to get hold of their slipper and as long as the can is in upright position so the farther the distance that the can gets knocked out the bigger chance that the players will be able to get back to base. If the can was hit, went out of the circle but is still in the upright position, the can will stay outside the circle and the players will have to hit it to knock it down that way the guard will have to put it back inside the circle. Once a player gets caught trying to get their slipper back or if the slipper landed inside the circle the guard will have to tap on the slipper twice and he or she will become the next guard.

Chinese Garter

Image Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/70556379

Players are divided into two or more teams, with a minimum number of two members per team. During the game, two members of the “it” team shall serve as “game posts” as they stand opposite each other and hold each end of the garter. The objective of the game then is to be able to successfully jump over the garter as it is gradually held higher by the game posts. Just like in the game 10-20, each team also has its own team leader, more commonly known as the “Mother”. Once a team member either touches the garter or fails to jump at a certain level, the Mother can still save her team by taking her team member’s turn. Failure to do so will lead to the team’s elimination by making them the new game posts and will bring the game back to the first level.

The Chinese Garter game is usually subdivided into ten levels. Most of the time, however, the players may decide for their desired number of levels for their game. Here is an example of the levels being used to give you an idea of the game:

Level 1 – The garter is being held by the posts closer to the ground.

Level 2 – Knee high

Level 3 – Around the height of their hips

Level 4 – Waist high

Level 5 – Chest high

Level 6 – Shoulder high

Level 7 – Head high

Level 8 – At the tip of the head

Level 9 – A few inches above the head

Level 10 – Also known as the Father / Mother Jump, as high as a kid raising his arms high on tip toes

PATINTERO

(Tubigan or Harangang Taga)

Composed of 6 to 8 or more players. The players are divided into two teams of equal number. The ground is marked off in a rectangle about five to six meters, divided into four equal parts. Diagram A is for 6 players, B for 8 or more players. Winning the toss entitles the players on that team to be runners. The taggers stand on lines 1, 2, and 3. Number 1 can go anywhere to tag the runners. The objective of the runners is to get through all the lines (1, 2 and 3) back and forth without being tagged. Taggers 1 and 2 tag the runners as they cross their lines or as they get near them. As soon as one of the runners crosses line 3, he returns to line 1 and calls out, "Tubig!" This means a night (a point) is scored in favor of his team. The team which scores three consecutive "nights" (or three points) is the winner, and will be the runners of the next game. If a runner is tagged while crossing a line or while trying to cross, the teams exchange places.

Bahay-Bahayan

A role-playing game where children act as members of an imaginary family, sometimes to the extent that one of them becomes the family "pet." They then act out various household situations such as dinner, going to mass, and the like.

Luksong-Baka

- jump over the cow –

A popular variation of Luksong Tinik, one player crouches while the other players jump over him/her. The crouching player gradually stands up as the game progresses, making it harder for the other players to jump over him/her.
Let's play Luksong baka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cic4ILX07hg

            There are a lot of Pinoy games like "takyan", "bagul", "piis-piis", “dampa”, "batu slipper", "terabol", and "doctor quack quack" just to name a few more. They are called in different names since the Filipino language is actually composed of 90 languages; they are also played differently depending on which part of the Philippines you are located. I am using the Cebuano language and played Visayan Pinoy Games.

Sources:

http://palarongpinoy.blogspot.com/2012/04/magna-kulturas-revives-traditional.html

https://sharedreviews.com/article/pinoy-games-an-endangered-filipino-culture

http://larong-pinoy.weebly.com/all-traditional-filipino-gamescompilation.html

http://larong-pinoy.weebly.com/index.html

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Chinese_Garter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cic4ILX07hg