Dada boyu

A ball game of Azerbaijani children.

About

Dada boyu is a ball game of Azerbaijani children. The folklorist Maleyka Mammadova classes it with Papag atdi, Gachdi-tutdu and the Anatolian game Istop: these games are played in a like way, Papag atdi with a cap and the others with a ball. The game is recorded in M. Özhan and M. Muradoğlu's book Türk Cumhuriyetlerinde Çocuk Oyunları (Ankara, 1997). A list of game names based on M. Özhan's book Türk Cumhuriyetlerinde Oynanan Çocuk Oyunları gives Dedeboy as the Azerbaijani name of Istop; in Turkey the game is also called Hava stobu, and in Northern Cyprus Memleket. The word dadaboyu has another meaning too: in the board game galagapi it is the name of the advantage a stronger player gives a weaker one.

Dadaboyu is also named among the national sports games of Azerbaijan: in the Presidential Library collection "Azerbaijan–UNESCO relations" it stands in one row with zorkhana, pahlavan wrestling, diradoyma, chovgan and nard.

Rules in brief

No written description of the Azerbaijani rules of Dada boyu was found. Below the game is given in its Turkish form, Istop, as Konyapedia, the encyclopaedia of Konya, describes it.

The ebe — the one who is "it" — is chosen by a counting-out rhyme. He throws the ball up and calls out a player's name. If the player named catches the ball, he too throws it up and calls another name. If he fails to catch it, he shouts "Istop!" and the players who were running away stop where they are. Then the ebe calls out a colour: the players must touch something of that colour. The ebe tries to hit with the ball anyone who cannot; if he hits him, the player hit becomes the ebe. At the start each player is given a set number of lives; whoever runs out of lives leaves the game.

Peoples

• Azerbaijanis

Research: Vasif Namazov, Turan Games Concept

Sources

1. Məleykə Məmmədova. Azərbaycan və Anadolu folklorunda oyun və tamaşalar (dissertasiya). AMEA Folklor İnstitutu, s. 34
2. Orxan Maşayev. Azərbaycan xalq oyunları və adətləri. Bakı, 2019, s. 89
3. Pəhləvanlıq, ənənəvi zorxana oyunları və idman növləri — Prezident Kitabxanası, «Azərbaycan–UNESCO əlaqələri»
4. İllüstrasiya: süni intellektlə hazırlanıb, Komitə təqdim edib
5. Türk dünyasında çocuk oyun adları (M. Özhan, «Türk Cumhuriyetlerinde Oynanan Çocuk Oyunları», s. 459–461 əsasında) — Yeniden Ergenekon, 25.01.2009
6. Çocuk oyunları: İstop — Konyapedia, Konya Büyükşehir Belediyesi