THE TUG-OF-WAR

Allusion was made, when noticing the medieval towntops, to the fact that village recreations often have a significance which is not apparent at first sight. We will see what lies at the back of such an apparently simple sport as the tug-of-war.

At the present time the tug-of-war is merely one event in school or other "sports"; but we find that it has had a history worth recording. In former days at Ludlow the inhabitants of Broad Street and Corve Street wards had an annual tug-of-war, employing a rope three inches thick and thirty-six yards long, with a large knob at each end. The rope, which was paid for by the corporation, was given out at the window of the Market Hall by the mayor at four o'clock on the appointed day, when all business was suspended and the shops shut. One man stood on another's shoulders, and the chimney-sweep's wife on his shoulders. These represented the Red Knob; three others, mounted in the same way, representing the Blue Knob. If, during the contest, the rope was pulled down Mill Street, the Red Knob won, and the knobs were dipped in the River Teme in token of victory; but if the Blue Knobs dragged it through the Bull Ring, the dipping took place in the River Corve. After the rope was won it was taken back to the Market Hall and given out again, and if the same side won, the contest was ended; but if the opposite side conquered, then the rope was given out a third time, and the victory remained with the side that won twice.

The rope was then sold, and the money got for it was spent in beer, and then fighting and quarrelling commenced. These disorderly scenes, and the dangerous accidents resulting, caused this custom to be discontinued in 1851.

There are many other examples of contests between two wards or two parts of villages or towns, which often take

the form of a football contest; nominally it is a football match, but in reality it is a faction fight. Mr. Gomme, from whom I have largely borrowed, has collected several instances of such feuds in his Village Community,' and points out their significance; for example, the Seneca Indians of North America played a ball game by phratries (or clans) the one against the other; and the Greek phratries developed the same custom.

In the North-West Provinces of India a very thick grass rope is pulled by the villagers among themselves. The party in whose quarter the rope is broken, or by whom the rope is pulled out of the hands of their antagonists, are the victors, and retain the rope for a year. It is well known that the quarters of an Indian village are clan quarters. Now, there is reason to believe that some at least of the contests in a British village or township are the remnants of a really hostile feeling which existed between the inhabitants of those districts.

The reason for this hostility is probably the same both in India and in Britain; it is not so much local rivalry as racial or tribal animosity. In two parts of the same manor, as at Eling, in Hampshire, or even in the same town, as at Nottingham, the modes of descent of property may vary; on one side of a boundary junior right or borough English is the custom, while on the other side of the boundary the rule of primogeniture is followed. The custom of inheritance by the youngest son is a very ancient one, and in this country dates from long before the practice of making the eldest son the heir. In Indian villages we have side by side the Dravidian aborigines, who are low castes, and the various higher castes, with their increasing purity of Aryan blood; and it may be that in our British villages there is an 1 G. L. Gomme, The Village Community: with Special Reference to the Origin and Form of its Survivals in Britain, 1890, pp. 240-246.

analogous racial or tribal mixture; thus these parish contests, which are recognised and sanctioned by the municipal authorities, are the vestigial expression of a very real jealousy which had its origin in the very roots of the history of our country.

Side or faction fights are common all over the world. The city of Seoul, in Korea, is divided into five districts, north, south, east, west, and middle, and every person is officially enrolled under one of these directions. This distribution of space enters into the whole philosophy of existence in this part of the world.

Immediately after kite-flying time, that is, after the 15th of the first month, these side or faction fights take place. They are commenced by little boys, who make ropes of straw and fight with them. Sides are formed which advance and retreat. Bigger boys join, and at last the men are drawn into the fray. Stones are then the principal weapons employed, and many injuries, and even deaths, result.

In Japan faction fights, called "Gempei," occur, which take their name, like the well-known Guelphs and Ghibellines, from the famous rival families, Genji and Heiké, "Gempei" being a portmanteau" word combined from Gen and Hei. The side that represents the Genji wear their colour, white; and the other, which represents the Heiké, take red. The rival families were located east and west, and the sides in these sports may be regarded as associated with these directions.'

Dr. F. Boas informs us that among the Eskimo the boys born in summer fight those born in winter.

In the first month of the year in South China, village fights occur on the open plains; sometimes they are very serious affairs."

1 Culin, Korean Games, p. 63.

2 Gray, China, i., London, 1878, p. 256.

Professor Culin, in his valuable Korean Games,' to which I have had to refer so often, gives a suggestive clue to the origin of the straw-rope contest to which allusion has just been made. This is played by any number of boys about the 15th of the first month. In the country the entire population of districts and villages engage against other districts or villages at this season. It is believed that the

village that wins will have a good harvest. The rope is of straw, two feet in diameter, with its ends divided into branches. The men take the main stem, and the women the branches. The latter frequently do more than the men, as it is customary for them to load their skirts with stone on these occasions. The Dictionnaire Coréen Français defines the rope as a "rope which they pull by the two ends to secure abundance."

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The tug-of-war is a common amusement among schoolboys in Japan under the name of " rope-pulling." According to The Japanese Months, on the 15th day of the eighth month in the old calendar, people turned out to admire the full moon, and made offerings to it of dango, a kind of cake made of rice, beans, and sugar. The sport known as tugof-war" afforded amusement on the same evening to the boys of rival villages, or to contending parties belonging to the same place, grown-up persons sometimes joining in the fun. Each side has its own rope, which is of large size, and made of rice-straw. There is a loop at each end, and a stick is passed through the loop at one end of each rope, so that both are pulled at the same time. The contest is concluded when one party is pulled over the dividing-line, or till the ropes break. This practice is now a thing of the past. It is significant that the period from the middle of July to the middle of August is an anxious period for the farmers,

1 Stewart Culin, Korean Games: with Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan, Philadelphia, 1895, p. 35.

whose rice-plants are in danger of perishing from lack of water should no rain fall for several consecutive days.

The tug-of-war thus resolves itself in Korea and Japan into a magic ceremony to ensure a good harvest. Probably the straw rope typifies the harvest, and the pulling it over a boundary would ensure a fruitful harvest for the winning side. This is quite in accordance with the working of the savage mind, as innumerable examples from what is known as sympathetic magic will testify. It is interesting to note that in Korea itself the ceremony has broken down, and is degraded in Seoul into faction fights; but, true to their origin, they begin with straw ropes; and, further, it is noteworthy that the small boys retain the older fashion-they are more true to the traditional custom. Further research will show whether the contests in our villages and towns are merely racial or tribal in origin, or whether there may not be some harvest ritual behind them.