Of Beach Games and Coastal Clean-ups with the Kids

Friends Nestor, Rudy and myself decided to laze the day away in a fisherman's kubo, hut as the overcast skies seemed to confirm there was nothing much to do when the year was about to end. Then a group of 17 children aged 4-10 taking a break from school and apparently finding the beach the right place for their shrieks and laughter startled us with their noise - the elderly having siesta at this hour couldn't hurl invectives from a distance, the kids thought of ways to while away the lazy afternoon perfectly for themselves.

What kind of games could they play on the beach? Rudy, who overheard the kids' conversation, suggested "Lungkot-Manok", a parlor game he remembered playing as a growing boy in Tanza. Only a few among the children were familiar with the game so Rudy explained how it was done:

Boys together, girls together, they sit on a straight line like chicken laying eggs. Both groups assign a leader, 'mother hen' ('father rooster' in the case of the boys), who'd give a magic stone to one among their group. The leaders would then exchange places and make a guess, by the behavior of the chicken, who among them is hiding the magic stone. This involves touching the ear of the sitting chicken, as it is believed that the one hiding the stone who must be feeling guilty and nervous, had the coldest ear.




A correct guess entitled the group to a single jump forward to a finish line. The game is repeated until one of the two groups reached finish. The boys won here but it was a close fight.

Next was the 'magdala dini', bring me, game. With boys and girls competing as a group, they had only one minute to search around and bring to me any object I'd ask for that are found on the beach - red stone, white stone, bottle caps, cigarette butts, and finally, rubber sandals or whatever footwear washed ashore. Grass grows about 15 meters from the highest tide here. In just one minute the kids were able to find 40 rubber slippers and shoes altogether hidden under the grass and debris. The girls found 16 pieces, the boys found 24. Could they have been owned by passengers of capsized vessels, you wonder.


Nestor treated them to Coke and biscuits, and for the fun of it everyone was declared winner with each happily receiving a crisp twenty peso bill (equivalent to just about fifty cents).

We ended the surprise interaction with an agreement that next year we'd invite more participants to the same venue, on Ninos Inocentes Day, for the holding of the same games, with additional ones added, to this evolving "Traditional Parlor Games with Coastal Clean-Up Twist", who knows.

Soon, the sun set on the Mindoro horizon and the windy day was over.