“Pao Xiuqiu”

“Xiuqiu” (a ball made of strips of silk) Tossing is a kind of traditional entertaining sport and a unique manner of expressing the emotions to the object of one's affection among the Zhuang youth. The embroidered balls can be made in the shape of a ball, square, diamond or an animal of various shapes with some color band and a hank of colorful silk tassel attached. Stuffed with chaff or cottonseeds, the ball will generally be less than 0.5kg in weight. When playing the game, all the males and females are divided into two competitive teams facing each other, with one judge stationed on each side. One side tosses the ball into the other team's court, and the opponents try to catch the ball before it hits the ground. If they fail to do so, they have to sing a song or give a performance. Then they toss the ball back to the first and so on. When the embroidered ball is used as a love token, the tossing strategy is different. In this case, the girl secretly tries to throw the ball to the object of her affection, and, if he his successful in catching the ball, the man will present a handkerchief or a towel back to the young lady. They continue in this fashion, singing antiphonally to gain further understanding of each other. Another way is when the girlfriends the man she likes, she will toss the ball to him. If the man who gets the ball has the same feeling, he will tie a present on the ball and toss it back.

Publishes at : 07-11-11 20:44

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