The Games

Traditional games communities

The festival focuses attention on the game and on the communities which usually play it. It is about traditional games related to the country, activities which are often passed down through the centuries.

The games are usually played by adults who have dedicated much of their personal leisure time to the games. Their dedication to these traditions can often be seen as an affront to widespread conformism which want to preserve the game for their children.

The Ancient Games Association (A.G.A.), the organizer of this festival, supports the preservation of traditional games communities, which use games as a way to preserve the historical memory, the environmental peculiarities and the social creativity of a country.

The following elements are the basis of the A.G.A thinking:

The true life of the game are the players.
The game is related to the territory where it is played.
The preservation of the game also means preservation of the territory.
Playing could help to keep the traditions of a territory alive.
The choice to participate could be more about cultural awareness than simply a way to escape.
The aims of the game are the game itself, in a commercial and consumerist world.
The game action could be repeated endless times, in different matches, which keep on giving delight and amusement.
The game implies social interaction and it gives power and cohesion to a community.

A.G.A has developed these considerations over the course of many years. Some months ago it, together with its national network, wrote up a first manifesto in Italy which defines and gives value to the traditional games communities.

Manifesto

Territorial Bond
The games communities are particular because they are related to the history and the conditions of a territory or country. This bond is a social, historical and environmental basis.

The handmade games
The traditional games preserve knowledge and unwritten handcrafts heredity of the country and they could be repeated in any time and place. The ground of the games is a place of daily and shared social exchanges.

The field-of-play
The games must be played frequently in their native territories. It is not necessarily related to a particular event. It does not have to be a sport action but a game of tradition that repeats itself in contemporary contexts. So that those who brings back historical folk or didactics or animation activities, even though they are considered as a legitimate instrument of emerging of the traditional game.

A threat of extinction
The traditional game must be protected because it is threatened of being forgotten

Membership of a game community
The traditional game works on the concept of territory, not of ethnic group. It is possible to include games communities of migrants, carriers of different cultures.

Non-Commercial bond
The games communities have to be non-profit organizations. The relations with companies and private enterprise should not prevail over the initiatives of the community. It is not possible to use the game, players and place to spread commercial projects and activities.

Players
The game community has to be made up of practicing players.

The quality of the game
It is an intellectual challenge which requires all the senses to play. Players must have the   intelligence to evaluate the complexity, the typicalness, the history.

Verona, 17th February 2008- Ancient Games Association

Games and Players

This festival is dedicated to the traditional games, which have been unconsciously passed down until today. Throughout many generations ancient activities have been repeated in many places and different persons are the bearers of an ancient knowledge, the protagonists of games activities which offer games procedure bound to territories and cultures.

The players, rather the games communities, groups of people who carry on traditions of that place and they bring them to the future maintaining an identity bound to their history and territory; are in the middle of the games activity, which requires juggling, quickness of movement and thought and concentration skill. The traditional game has been recognized as an intangible heritage of humanity. (Unesco 2003)

At the festival there are a variety of ways of playing. Besides the Greek and Italian traditions offered by the local games communities, there are some didactics labs led by experienced educators.

The games of 2009 edition