Children's Folklore Today

An illustration of the game of hopscotch

Illustration of the game of hopscotch in a copy book

Copyright of the National Folklore Collection

An illustration of the game of hopscotch
Copyright of the National Folklore Collection

An illustration of the game of hopscotch

Illustration of the game of hopscotch in a copy book

Copyright of the National Folklore Collection

Enlarge image

But that was 1975. What of today? In 2010, UCD’s Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive Research published a paper by Áine Furey which documented contemporary accounts from Dublin children of games they play in the streets, in the playground, or at home. Seven primary schools took part in the project, with children handwriting the information in their school copybooks – a conscious replication of the method used when children gathered folklore for the enormously successful Schools Scheme (1937-38) – with 174 copybooks collected.

Children’s folk beliefs around good and bad luck were gathered, and they included what children do when they see one or more magpies (“One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told...”), how they celebrated Halloween and Christmas, and ghost or scary stories.

Furey collected a number of games from the children, including dodgeball, “Crocodile, Crocodile, May I Cross the Golden River”, Red Rover, Sardines, Tip-the-Can, Rounders, and catching games. Furey observed that many of the games children played in 2010 were the same games she had played as a child in the 1970s, including “Blind Man's Buff,” “British Bulldog,” and “Truth or Dare”

Some of Furey’s research took place in schools with pupils of different nationalities, and some Traveller children, and she noted how their games were now being integrated into schools by word of mouth. One game, recorded from a Somalian schoolboy in Ballyroan National School, described a game called “Devil in a Cell”, which references slavery, while a girl in a Gardiner Street school described a traditional Polish game.

Children's sack race

Children having fun participating in a sack race. Many schools in Ireland have an annual sport's day during which a variety of races and games are arranged for the pupils.

Copyright Irish Times

Children's sack race
Copyright Irish Times

Children's sack race

Children having fun participating in a sack race. Many schools in Ireland have an annual sport's day during which a variety of races and games are arranged for the pupils.

Copyright Irish Times

Enlarge image

Children are amongst the biggest spreaders of folklore, and their games of interest to all sorts of specialists. Furey’s work hints at the probability that the rich and vibrant culture of children is still relevant today, and that further research would paint a bigger, richer, and more fulfilling map of the way children in modern Ireland see their world.