With over 80 different games being played in “Children’s Games,” Pieter Bruegel the Elder gives us quite the formidable bout of "I spy."
The Web Gallery of Art tells us “Children's Games” is a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1551). The painting is referred to as the "encyclopedia of Flemish children's games.” It represents about 84 games. Some of them are practiced until present days.
Bruegel depicted more than 250 children in the painting. Such a catalog of games – such an enumeration of children's methods for exercising the body and preparing for the adult world through imitation – is without parallel in the history of art.
Commentary by the Web Gallery …
“The subject of childhood had hitherto been virtually ignored in western painting and thought. Childhood was not viewed as a phase of life with any requirements of its own, but merely as the preliminary stage to adulthood. Children were treated as little adults, as the clothing portrayed in Bruegel's picture indicates: the girls' aprons and bonnets resembled those of their mothers, while the boys' trousers, jerkins and jackets echoed those worn by their fathers.
“Moreover, there were hardly any toys: only tops, hobby-horses, dolls, and windmills on long sticks. Most of Bruegel's children are managing without toys or making do with pigs' bladders, knucklebones, caps, barrels, hoops - such things, in other words, as could be found simply lying about.”
Bruegel’s intention for this work was not just to compile an illustrated collection of children’s games. His moral message was that for God, children’s games have as much significance as the activities of their parents.
Miniature adults playing games? What about school games? We all remember recess and physical education classes. Games and exercises were part of growing up. They were fun. What significance did that fun have in our upbringing? Have you ever even considered their purpose other than just simple recreation?
One state takes this very seriously. The story follows.
Alabama's State Motto: “Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere" or "We Dare Defend Our Rights"
I saw a reference to this story on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” and I really thought the news was just a joke. I pursued the subject online and discovered it was true. This one is too good not to share. It's about yoga, Alabama school kids, and, I guess, religion.
First, let's review some Alabama school history.
The Alabama Board of Education prohibited yoga in the state's public schools beginning in 1993 – one of many fronts in the culture wars in the United States – because they deemed it a “Hindu philosophy and method of religious training.” Conservative representatives voted to prohibit school personnel from “using any techniques that involve the induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, meditation or yoga.”
Jimi Lee, who leads Yoga & Love, a nonprofit in Alabama, said that in 1993, the yoga ban was one of several controversial policy shifts involving religion, including a school prayer bill. Alabama's prayer law was later struck down, he said, but the ban on yoga and other practices remained.
Note: Al.com Alabama reports culture wars were heavily waged in Alabama’s 2021 legislative session with dozens of these bills, ranging from banning transgender youth from participating in public school sports on teams under the gender they identify with to reiterating support for the Second Amendment, were considered by the Alabama Legislature in 2021.
For example, Alabama is only one of two states – Mississippi being the other – that celebrate civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. And Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the same day. State holidays for both King and Lee fall on the third Monday in January. Legislation moving Lee’s celebration to the second Monday in October or the fourth Monday in April were introduced.
The 1993 Alabama yoga ban got new attention in 2018 when an old document circulated listing yoga – along with games like tag and kickball – among inappropriate activities in gym class. Proponents believed the activities have a “high likelihood of injury,” “focus on eliminating students from participation,” and “over-emphasize fun with no purpose or objective.”
Later on in the debate over revoking the yoga ban, Christians and atheists became "strange bedfellows" in opposing yoga, Lee said, noting that atheists "don't want anything even remotely religious to be taught in schools."
But now, after three years of sponsoring a bill to allow public schools to offer yoga, Rep. Jeremy Gray, D-Opelika, who discovered yoga through his athletic career while playing football at North Carolina State, got results.
Gray's own practice has never stopped him from going to his Baptist church, he said. He also noted that in sports-loving Alabama, the state's elite football programs have long embraced yoga.
”This whole notion that if you do yoga, you’ll become Hindu — I’ve been doing yoga for 10 years and I go to church and I’m very much a Christian,” Jeremy Gray explained.
(Kim Chandler. “Alabama yoga bill stalls after conservative groups object.” Associated Press. March 31, 2021.)
Yoga Ban In Alabama Ends
The House of Representatives approved Gray’s bill on a 73-25 vote. And, this May, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill ending the ban that stood for nearly 30 years.
The new law allows yoga to be offered as an elective for grades K-12. While it erases a ban that, over the years, some schools had not realized existed, it also imposes restrictions on how yoga should be taught. Students won't be allowed to say, "Namaste," for instance. Meditation is not allowed.
Note: Namaste is a Sanskrit phrase that means "I bow to you." Is is used as a conventional Hindu expression on meeting or parting – the speaker usually says this while holding the palms together vertically in front of the bosom.
"Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited," the bill states. It also requires English names be used for all poses and exercises. The bill says local school systems can allow or disallow yoga. And before any students try a tree pose, they'll need a parent's permission slip saying that they understand yoga is part of the Hindu religion.
Gray said he would prefer that the permission slip said yoga is associated with Eastern culture but is practiced all over the world.
The pro-yoga legislation was opposed by conservative groups, including former state Chief Justice Roy Moore's Foundation for Moral Law, and the Alabama chapter of the Eagle Forum, a conservative group that was founded by activist Phyllis Schlafly in 1972.
"Yoga is a practice of Hindu religion," the Eagle Forum of Alabama said in an email that urged maintaining the ban. It added, "Religious practice in the school's constitutes a violation of the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment as public schools cannot promote the practice or ideology of religion."
The group also alleges that each yoga pose was designed not as an exercise but to "be an offering of worship" to Hindu gods.
(Bill Chappell. “Alabama Will Now Allow Yoga In Its Public Schools (But Students Can't Say 'Namaste').” NPR. May 21, 20211
The Universal Society of Hinduism disagrees. It calls yoga part of the world's heritage, in a statement applauding Alabama lawmakers for voting to lift the yoga ban.
"Alabamans should not to be scared of yoga at all," said Rajan Zed, the society's leader, promising yoga will benefit the state's students. Saying many yoga practitioners are not Hindu, he added that "traditionally Hinduism was not into proselytizing."
And, So?
To me, this extended argument over yoga promoting religion is comical. Maybe the moral law folks should look into the time-honored practice of doing push-ups in school classes and sports.
The modern-day push-up originated from Hindu push-ups also known as “Dand” or “Namaskar” in India. The Hindu push-ups go thousand years back when these exercises were used by the warriors to shape their bodies. The most basic form of Hindu push-up starts from the downward dog yoga position (hands and feet on the floor with the posterior raised) and transitions to a cobra pose position (hands and feet on the floor with the torso arched forwards and the legs close to the floor). It is common in Indian physical culture and Indian martial arts, particularly Pehlwani.
Indian wrestler the Great Gama (Jerick Revilla) – credited with inventing the modern day push-up in 1905 – is said to have never lost a match in his life with a career of over 5000 victories. He was also thought to perform 4000 Hindi push-ups and Hindu squats every day.
(Conor Hefferman. “Push-Ups – Their history, Beneficial Effects, Types and Potential Risks.” Physical Culture Study. January 19, 2018.)
Who knew? All of those PE instructors and coaches in my past were promoting Hinduism! And, by the way, both namaskar and namaste have the same root word in Sanskrit: namas, which means “bowing or homage.” I and my classmates were actually bowing to the religion as we sweat and strained under the watchful eye of school teachers and coaches. No wonder I hated push-ups so much. I was fully engaged in a meaningful Christian culture war, and I didn't ever know it. It's all so clear now. Thanks, Alabama and thanks especially, Mr. Roy Moore. No more namaste. Free at last!
Old Miss Lucy's dead and gone
Left me here to weep and moan
Green Sally up and
green Sally down
Lift and squat, gotta tear the ground
Green Sally up and
green Sally down
Lift and squat, gotta tear the ground
Green Sally up and
green Sally down
Lift and squat, gotta tear the ground
Green Sally up and
green Sally down
Lift and squat, gotta tear the ground
Green Sally up and
green Sally down
Lift and squat, gotta tear the ground
– From “Flower” by Moby, a workout song rooted historically in the slave culture of the American South
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