Ba'Game

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The ba game (also Baa ) is an on pagan returning tradition game which on Orkney in Kirkwall (the main town) and Stromness has been played for centuries for Christmas and New Year. A “Men's Ba” and a “Boy's Ba” will take place on both dates. In the Scottish border region ( Selkirk , Duns , Jedburgh, Melrose , Roxburgh ) and Scone in Perthshire this game is played according to similar "rules". Since 2005, a Stromness- inspired Ba'Game has been held every year on New Year's Eve in Achiltibuie .

There are hardly any fixed rules and no limit to the number of players. Usually around 300 residents take part . In Kirkwall the teams of the South City (Uppies) play against those of the North City (Doonies); both teams are now reinforced by players from all over Orkney who sympathize with one or the other team. The men's game begins at 1:00 p.m. (for boys at 10:30 a.m.) in front of St. Magnus Cathedral , when the ba '- that's the name of the cue ball, a basketball-sized leather ball weighing three pounds - into the crowd is thrown. The playing field is the whole city (for several years, however, with the exception of the cathedral). The aim of the game is to transport the ba 'across the city to one of the two gates. These are more than a mile apart; the Uppie gate is a house wall, the Doonie gate the harbor basin. The team that plays the Ba in their own "goal" wins; However, only one player in the winning team receives the Baa as the winner's trophy, on whom the “captain / spokesman” of the winning team has agreed as “particularly important player for the course of the game”.

Attempts to establish a “Women's Ba” for women after the Second World War failed after a few attempts.

In recent years there have been attempts to ban the game because of its ferocity and the risk of injury. In 2001 the Orkney Island Council took up the initiative from the Edinburgh central administration. The subject was off the table within days when it became clear how much the people were attached to tradition.

It is conceivable that the event, which is relatively bloodless today, was originally a Celtic ritual that, instead of a ball, etc. U. was played with stone balls (found on Orkney) and u. U. ended fatally for one of the players. Similar games are known from other parts of the world.

Myths of a Game

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sh. also talk page , Kirkwall eg does not refer to Norwegians, but to Romans - AnnaS. ( DISK ) 11:51, Feb. 8, 2019 (CET)

The Norwegians of the saga era loved wild ball games described in the Gisli and other sagas. The parallels between Icelandic knattleikr and Ba'Game are striking, especially when it comes to bloodshed.

The best-known tradition from the Viking Age relates to the death of the Scottish tyrant Tusker (rabbit tooth (named after his protruding front teeth)). He was defeated by a young orcadier who took the tyrant's head as a trophy to the islands. On the way he injured his teeth. Blood poisoning occurred. Before his death he reached Kirkwall , whose angry people drove their heads furiously through the city. This version has striking parallels with the story of the death of the Orkney Duke, Earl Sigurd Eysteinsson. The Orkneyinga saga says that Sigurd moved to the mainland to fight his rival, Earl Maelbrigte Tusk. Sigurd injured himself on Maelbrige's tooth, died of blood poisoning, and was buried on the spot.

There is also a certain parallel between the Tusker story and the Celtic mythology motif of the Beheading Game - as it is passed down as part of the Arthurian saga in the story of " Gawain and the Green Knight".

Gawain beheads the Green Knight and celebrates his triumph as the New Year's victory. But the Green Knight is not dead; he lifts his head and announces his revenge within a year. Gawain takes his head and hurls it into the crowd: the game with the trophy begins.

Comparable to the story of Gawain, there is the orcadian legend of the Sea Mither and her nemis Teran . Twice a year, at the spring and autumn solstice, two sea creatures fight for supremacy. Representing summer and winter, sometimes one wins, sometimes the other. The Ba'Game was associated with this competition early on in such a way that one team represented one of the two characters.

The church contrasted these legends with those of the unfortunate merchant Jeremiah Tulloch, who is now generally referred to as the origin of the Ba '. About 500 years ago he tried to settle a dispute between the bishop's men and those of the count and lost his head in the process - more by accident. At that time the tax limit ran through Kirkwall: The residents of Up-the-Gates (Uppies) had to pay their taxes to the bishop, those Down-the-Gates (Doonies) to the count. Now the death of Tulloch was so embarrassing for both parties that they tried to bring their heads to the other party's territory. During this first of all Ba'Games, however, the head is said to have disappeared. There was the tax limit, as well as the quarrels, perhaps also the merchant with his "unhappy" end. The rest is an invention from the 19th century. There is no historical evidence for this variant. Today's rules, on the other hand, have been proven to come from the middle of the 19th century.

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