Shirokov V. М., Tirranen A. Y.

A Branch of the St. Petersburg State University of Economics in Veliky Novgorod

PHYSICAL CULTURE IN THE ANCIENT NOVGORODIAN LAND

Games historically created by people are a prominent feature of every nation’s culture. The games accompany daily life of children and adults through the ages, and so they form people’s mentality and personal peculiarities, indicate social structure of a nation and its mindset. Sports games came from native ones created in different countries and in different centuries.

Traditional games were not just games. They were designed in such a way that one can develop lot of skills like stamina, agility, strength, logical thinking, building strategy, concentration, basic mathematics, aiming, and lot more. 

Russian folk games are very various and diversified. There are children’s games, board games, roundelay games for adults implying folk songs, funs and dancing. A distinctive feature of Russian traditional games is a variety of required movements such as running, jumping, throwing, catching and passing a ball, withstanding and so on. All of them are defined by a certain game’s plot, by its story. Naturally, special physical training is not a mandatory requirement for players, but strong and fit ones have an advantage playing a game. Their successful game gives them a better position and their team’s respect.

A big role of Novgorod in Russia’s history and uniqueness of its archeological exploring let us follow the millennial development of certain native games and holidays, understand their meaning in people’s life.

Of course, in ancient Novgorod there wasn’t sport in its modern meaning. But its prototype arose in the 10th century. That sport is achieving a certain result, a record. In other words it is detecting of the bravest one, the strongest one, the adroitest one.

There are descriptions of the most common games in ancient Novgorod and its surroundings listed below.

1) Hide-and-seek or 'pryatki’ (Russian: ‘прятки’) is one of the easiest games, almost a part of human nature. An external form of the game has common things with animal’s play behavior. And so it arose in high antiquity. However, originally easy pryatki became a base of many difficult team games, a part of traditional rites.

In ancient Novgorod there were a lot of similar games based on pryatki. Some of them used various objects such as balls or sticks and had an interesting plot.

2) ‘Touch and run’ or ‘salki’ (Russian: ‘салки’) is a playground game that involves one or more players chasing other players in an attempt to touch them, usually with their hand. There are many variations; most forms have no teams, scores, or equipment. Many nations have traditional games like salki. The most unusual forms of the game that were popular in Novgorod are ‘shalyga’ (Russian: ‘шалыга’) and ‘water salki’. Shalyga players need to touch each other with a special ball made of hay dribbling it with their feet. Water salki was popular in summers when people could play it in rivers and lakes.

3) Games with ‘kubar’ (Russian: ‘кубарь’). Novgorod’s archaeological finds provide evidences that tell us about kubar’s thousand years of history. A kubar is a kind of spinning top usually made of wood with a string.

Playing with a kubar consists of throwing the kubar and having it spin on the floor. Because of its shape, a kubar spins on its axis and swirls around its conic tip. A kubar uses a string wrapped around it to get the necessary spin needed. The player can direct a kubar by a cane. There were different team games with a kubar. For example, two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a kubar into the opponent's goal using a cane or a stick.

4) Caldron or ‘kotyol’ (Russian: ‘котёл’) is a game with a ball appeared in Novgorod in the 10th century supposedly. There are 7-10 players with a stick approximately 1 m long. The game is played on a field with a hole 30-40 cm in diameter called ‘kotyol’ in the middle and small holes within the limits of 2 m from the kotyol. The number of small holes should be one less than the number of players. Every player uses a special stick or club. One player tries to deliver the ball into the kotyol while other players try to defend it.

5) Walking stilts or ‘khoduli’ (Russian: ‘ходули’) are hand-held pole stilts consist of two long poles made of wood, each with a foot support. The stilt walker holds onto the upper end of the pole, rests his feet on the foot plates and pulls upward on the pole while taking a step. It is easy to make them, that is the why khoduli were really popular and common in and around ancient Novgorod. Adults and children tried to walk as far as they can and as fast as they can in order to reveal the winner.

6) Townlets or ‘gorodki’ (Russian: ‘городки’) is an ancient Russian traditional game. This game has been mentioned in fairy tales, ancient legends, and the records of the time of ancient Russia. This game became a part of the Russian culture. Similar in concept to bowling and also somewhat to horseshoes, the aim of the game is to knock out groups of skittles arranged in various patterns by throwing a bat at them. The skittles, or pins, are called gorodki (literallylittle cities or townlets), and the square zone in which they are arranged is called the gorod (city).

Living in a forest area caused gorodki’s popularity in Novgorod. Similar games were in every village. As an outdoor activity that demanded the players to have some athletic strength, be dexterous, well-aimed, and have good coordination, Gorodki game had gained popularity as a game for all ages, because of its simple rules, that is easy to understand for adult and children. The popularity of this game had spread to Karelia, Finland, Sweden, Ingria, Lithuania and Estonia.

7) Lapta (Russian: ‘лапта’) is a Russian bat and ball game first known to be played in the 14th century. Mentions of lapta have been found in medieval manuscripts, and balls and bats were found in the 14th-century layers during excavations in Novgorod.

The game is played outside on a field. There are 2 teams. The goal of the game is to hit the ball, served by a player of the opposite team, with the bat and send the ball as far as possible, then run across the field to the kon line, and if possible to run back to the gorod line.

The running player should try to avoid being hit with the ball, which is thrown by the opposing team members. For successful runs, the team earns points. A team wins by either getting more points during the scheduled time or by having all its players complete runs.

This folk game is one of the most interesting and useful games. Lapta requires resourcefulness, deep breathing, faithfulness to your group, attention, dexterity, fast running, good aiming and marksmanship, strong striking hands, and firm eternal confidence that you cannot be defeated. The lazy and cowardly have no place in this game.

8) Ball games. A plenty of various balls come in different size and made of different materials was found during archaeological excavations in and around Novgorod. Unfortunately the chronological period can’t be determined precisely.

Most of them were made of rags. Some ones were made of felt cow fur. Pieces of material were sewn or tied together.

Evidence suggests that different types of ball games existed in ancient the Novgorodian land. Kinds of the games were similar in some aspects to modern games such as football, hockey, bowling and other. Every area had its own type of ball games called, for example, ‘lunki’ (Staraya Russa), ‘Podlunki’ (Poozerie), ‘Vybivaly’ or dodgeball (Shimsk) and so on.

9) Games with bast shoes or ‘lapti’ (Russian: ‘лапти’). Bast shoes are shoes made primarily from bast - fiber from the bark of the linden tree or birch tree: they are a kind of basket woven and fitted to the shape of a foot. They were easy to manufacture, but not very durable.

Bast shoes have been worn since prehistoric times: wooden foot-shaped blocks (lasts) for shaping them have been found in Neolithic excavations. In Novgorod discovered a bast sandal found in the 15th-century layers. Today bast shoes are sold as souvenirs and sometimes worn by ethnographic music or dance troupes as part of their costumes.

Games with lapti had not definite rules or a certain plot. It could be a team game, or a bast sandal could be used like a ball for ‘touch and run’.

10) Chess. Novgorod was one of the major centers of Russian culture and spirituality. As an outstanding cultural centre, birthplace of the national style of stone architecture, and one of the oldest national schools of painting, the town of Novgorod influenced the development of Russian art and education.

Archaeological excavations in Novgorod and its surroundings let the scientists establish another interesting fact. As it turned out, playing chess was a part of leisure time in Novgorod. Moreover it was pretty common. Remains of ten medieval manors were in the 15th-century layers during the excavations. Chess pieces were found in eight manors. The total number of chess pieces found is more than 150.

The chess pieces such as kings, queens, rooks, bishops and pawns were made of wood. A bone knight is an exception. The height of the biggest pieces is 30 mm, the smallest ones – 12 mm.

11) Strength-based sports. The tradition of fist fighting existed in Russia from times immemorial till the early 20th century. Apart from being a sort of sportive folk entertainment it was a peculiar fighting school that developed skills necessary for defense of the native land.

Russia had its own martial arts traditions. The Slavs were known all over Europe as valiant warriors. Since wars were not infrequent in Russia every man had to possess fighting skills. Starting from early age children learnt through various games, wrestling and throwing how to stand up for oneself and one’s family and defend the motherland. When kids grew up games turned into real combats known as fist fights.

The fights most often took place in holiday times and in crowded places. In winter it took place on ice. First the young children fought, then every pair was more grown up than the previous, the last were the most notable fist fighters.

Every region in Russia incorporated different rules unlike the sport of boxing. In some places they fought with bare arms, while in other they stretched the sleeves over the fists. There were cases where participants would cheat by putting iron under their sleeves.

There are three types of Russian fist fighting: the first is the singles type, a one-on-one fight; the second type is a team fight also known as ‘wall on wall’. The third one, ‘catch drop’, was the least practiced.

There were several versions of the singles fight. One version was like modern boxing, where one fighter hits the other wherever he wants or can. The other version is when the fighters take turns hitting each other. Escaping from a punch, answering it not on turn, and moving aside were not allowed; all that could be done was to use the hands to try to protect one's own body. Victory could come in few cases: when one of the fighters falls, till first blood, or till one of the fighters gives up.

The ‘wall-on-wall’ fight (with anywhere from dozen to several hundreds participants) was performed strictly by rules and could go on for hours. Both ‘walls’ had a chief fighter, who served as a tactician and a commanding officer. ‘Walls’ themselves were tight straight formations 3-4 ranks deep. Repeated attacks were performed, aiming to push the opposing ‘wall’ out of the game area. Basic tactics were used, such as breaching using heavy fighters (who were usually held in reserve), encircling, false retreat and others; but as a rule, tight wall formation never broke. Tactics also included battle planning. The ‘wall-on-wall’ fights, while performed for entertainment, were in fact close to military training.

A famous phrase in Russian, ‘Do not hit a man when he's down’, has roots in that sport.

According to the Novgorodian land’s history the first records of such fights were made by Nestor the chronicler in 1048. Fist fights were often held on the ‘Veliki’ or Great Bridge in Novgorod.

As for centuries fist fighting was so popular and was such a part of Russian folk life, it occurred frequently in Russian literature and art.

The development of public manufacturing and the modification of social relationships change our perception of games, new meanings and new functions come out.

But only traditional sports and games can form the backbone of a community, bring people together and install a sense of pride in a society’s cultural roots. Traditional sports and games are part of intangible heritage and a symbol of the cultural diversity of our societies. They are also an efficient means to convey values of solidarity, diversity, inclusiveness and cultural awareness. Traditional games present children with opportunities for fun and physical fitness as well. The said games and funs of ancient Novgorod improved players’ physical skills and abilities, trained their dexterity and stamina, formed traits of character, created healthy social environment. A lot of these skills came useful subsequently in battles and military conflicts.

So nowadays it is vital to save and promote our native traditions and games arisen ages ago in ancient Novgorod and the Novgorodian land.