Cat's Cradle Game History

Cats Cradle String Games by Camilla Gryski 1983.

Cat's cradle game history. It is a type of string figure. Some sources say that children played Cats Cradle in England as early as 1782. Variations of the game have been found in cultures across the world including Eastern Asia Africa the Americas and even the Arctic giving the game a significant amount of interest among anthropologists and ethnologists.

Our Cats Cradle and Other String Games uses the Haddon and Rivers terminology for defining the strings on the fingers and features jumbo yarn. Its origin is unknown and it has been found in wildly diverse indigenous cultures from the Arctic to Europe to Indonesia. Though it is most commonly seen as a childrens game in contemporary society cats cradle is one of the oldest and most widespread games found in recorded human history.

In the mid-80s David and the Penleys passed the torch to Frank HeathAs we all realized during two weekends of anniversary shows in December and January the rest is history. The question of who first played cats cradle the childrens game in which two players alternately take from each others fingers an intertwined cord so as always to produce a symmetrical figure is almost as contentious as the origin of its name. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the origin as fancifull and notes the.

Hoenikker reportedly played it on the day the atomic bomb was droppedas opposed to expressing emotion about all of the people his invention had just killed. The cats cradle string game has been played since ancient times all over the world. Cats Cradle is one of the oldest games in human history.

String figures are a storytelling tradition in many cultures around the world including among Arctic Indigenous Peoples Aboriginal. Haddon has pointed out the familiar game of cats-cradle probably had its origin in Asia whence it was introduced into Europe. Is a chamber orchestra that takes its name from one of the oldest games in recorded human history - the cats cradle.

Known as fan sheng in China and Jack in the Pulpit in the UK its a simple game that requires teamwork and offers a great sense of satisfaction when mastered. Cats Cradle has moved a few times in its 50 years including to locations on Franklin and Rosemary streets in Chapel Hill. String games such as Cats Cradle have been played around the world for thousands if not millions of years.