Cat's Cradle Game History

The use of cats in the cradle to describe something dangerous appears to come from an old wives tale that if allowed into its crib a cat would kill an infant by sucking out its breath.

Cat's cradle game history. It is well known in China Korea Japan the Philippines and Borneo. Back when I was in middle school I went through a phase where I was really into cats cradle. Rather it was developed independently by many cultures around the same time.

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. According to Edward Tregear in The Maori race 1904 the Cats Cradle whai huhi or maui was known to the Maoris as to almost all the inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago and South SeasIt was played with the two hands and a piece of string assuming very complicated forms. It is thought that this particular game traveled to Europe in the early seventeenth century with the tea trade from Asia.

Cats Cradlegets its name from the childrens game. String figures are a storytelling tradition in many cultures around the world including among Arctic Indigenous Peoples Aboriginal. The best guess of most historians is that Cats Cradle got its start in a rudimentary form somewhere in Southeast Asia near China and Korea where the game is still played today.

And it may be known in Java Celebes and Australia. Using simply one string - alone in pairs or in groups - across times and cultures humans have created figures invented stories and let their imagination soar. Im one of those people who like to have something to fiddle with in their hands and it was easy to carry a loop of string in my pocket.

Cup and Saucer The Witchs Broom Cats Cradle and Jacobs Ladder as well as a brief history of string games. CATS CRADLE is one of the worlds simplest string games. String games like this one have a rich and varied history.

Is a chamber orchestra that takes its name from one of the oldest games in recorded human history - the cats cradle. In a literal sense a cats cradle is a game played with string in which each player must maneuver their fingers to create different images one of which is the cats cradle. It does not appear that this game has a particular origin.