d. The players
represent various objects--animals, villages and people. The singing
game is therefore not a game in the usual sense of the word. There is no
element of "gambling" or playing "to win" in it--no one is richer or
poorer for it; it also requires a number of children to play together.
It is really a "play," and has survived because it has handed down some
instances of custom and belief which were deeply rooted and which made a
strong appeal to the imagination of our ancestors. The singing games
represent in dramatic form the survival of those ceremonial dances
common to people in early stages of development. These dances celebrated
events which served to bind the people together and to give them a
common interest in matters affecting their welfare. They were dramatic
in character, singing and action forming a part of them, and their
performers were connected by ties of place or kindred. They are probably
survivals of what we might call folk drama. In these times it was held
imperative to perform religious ceremonies periodically; at sowing and
harvesting to ensure good crops; in the care of cattle and on occasions
of marriage, birth and death. These were matters affecting the welfare
of the whole community. Events were celebrated with dance, song and
feasting, and no event was too trivial to be unconnected with some
belief which rendered ceremony necessary.

At first these ceremonial dances had deep religious feeling for their
basis, but in process of time they became purely secular and were
performed at certain seasons only, because it was the custom to do so.
They then became recognized as beautiful or pleasing things in the life
of the people, and so continued, altering somewhat in ideas but
retaining their old dramatic forms. They were danced by old and young at
festivals and holidays, these being held about the same time of year as
that at which the previous religious ceremonies had been held.

Singing games are danced principally in one of two methods, "line" and
"circle." These represent two of the early forms of dramatic action. The
"line" form (two lines of players standing opposite each other having a
space of ground between them, advancing and retiring in turn) represents
two different and opposing parties engaged in a struggle or contest.
This method is used in all cases where contest is involved. The "circle"
form, on the other hand, where all players join hands, represents those
occasions when