1. Erasmus +KA229 ‘’Playing Europe’’
ANCIENT TRADITIONAL
SICILIAN GAMES
IIS “MARIO ORSO CORBINO” PARTINICO ITALIA
2020-2023

2. Traditional Sicilian games:
a journey through time to rediscover the imagination!
The games of the past: where tradition is
fantasy.
The games that our parents or grand
parents played when they were little,
were beautiful.
They didn't have smartphones or tablets,
but they never got bored.
In the past children loved playing
“stickers”, or the "Acchiana 'u patri cu
tutti ì so’ figghi “, or “Mazza scanneddu”,
or finally the “Strummula” , the symbol
of Sicilian games.

3. The game of “strummula”
The game of strummula, played on the street,
was quite widespread among boys. The girls
much preferred to jump rope or play at the four
corners, or the construction of a doll.
The game was pretty simple. It was enough to
find an open space, draw two parallel lines with
a piece of chalk or a stick to outline the field,
and bring the handcrafted strummula.
The aim was to keep a strummula running for
as long as possible. There was also a
punishment for the last classified. At the
beginning of the game, a number of hits was
established.

4. The “strummula”
Until about forty years ago, one of the
most common games for boys was
certainly that of the "strummula".
The "strummula" consisted of a
wooden sphere in which a pointed
piece of iron was inserted around
which a cord was twisted.
The game consisted in pulling the
wooden sphere with force in order to
impart a rotational motion to it by
means of the cord and making sure
that it remained balanced on its metal
tip.
Whoever managed to keep it in
rotational equilibrium for the longest
time, won the race.

5. “Acchiana 'u patri cu tutti ì so' figghi”
“Acchiana u patri cu tutti i so 'figghi” is the
ancestor of the horse. Divided into two teams,
one child was leaning against the wall and
another had to jump on his shoulders. So until
the first was no longer able to support the
weight of the other companions and fell to the
ground.
The first to jump had to shout: "acchiana 'u
patri cu tutti ì so' figghi." The other children had
to respond with: "lu figghiu."
The last member of the team, at the moment of
the jump, had to recite this rhyme, anticipating
the possibility of victory:“Quattru e quattru ottu,
sotto lu bottu; l’aceddu cu li pinni scarica e
vattinni: unu, dui and tri fannu vintitrì, unu dui
and tri fannu vintitrì, ti dugnu un pizzicuni e mi
nni vaju”.
A game that combined outdoor fun with
tradition for the Sicilian dialect which today is
less and less popular among young people.

6. “Mazza scanneddu”
“A Mazza”, the Baseball made in Sicily
is a very simple game. Two pieces of
wood were needed, one of about 50
cm and a smaller one where they tried
to create two points.
With the longest stick - 'a club - one
had to hit one of the two points of the
smaller stick in order to make it rise
from the ground and then be hit by
the club.
Whoever managed to throw the
smallest stick farther, was the
winner. This game was played
outdoors, in close contact with the
town, with the street, with one's
neighbourhood, with the colours and
smells of an ancient tradition.
https://youtu.be/LjoBacTgk2E

7. The Sicilian puppet Theater
The Sicilian puppet theater known
as the Opera dei Pupi was born
in Sicily in the early nineteenth
century.
The puppeteers told stories
based on medieval literature
such as the stories of French
Paladins and other sources, such
as Italian Renaissance poems, the
lives of saints, and the stories of
well-known bandits.
The dialogues in these plays were
largely created by the puppeteers
themselves.

8. The Sicilian puppet Theater
The two Sicilian schools of
Palermo and Catania are
distinguished mainly by the size
and shape of the puppets, the
operating techniques and the
variety of colored stage
backgrounds.
These theaters were often family
businesses: the sculpture,
painting and construction of the
puppets, renowned for their
intense expressions were
performed by artisans using
traditional methods.

9. The Sicilian puppet Theater
In the past, these performances
took place on several evenings and
offered opportunities for social
gatherings.
The survival of the Opera dei pupi
was guaranteed by an effective oral
transmission of the precious
traditional heritage.
https://youtu.be/ijeNiWr0SzE
Sicilian puppetry in Ortigia
https://youtu.be/0zlpSCUUK_4
Construction of a puppet
https://youtu.be/RR1TKpasLwY
Pupi Salamanca at Sicily Fest - London
https://youtu.be/sZta1r1WJbg
Teatro dell'Opera dei Pupi Mimmo Cuticchio

10. Erasmus +KA229 ‘’Playing Europe’’