Traditional irish games

One child stands in the middle, and the rest take the corners, which may be marked with a chalk "X," a paper plate or just a party-room corner under a balloon. The center player calls, "Change corners! The player left without a corner is out loses and must then take over the center.

Prizes go to all four "winners" with consolation prizes to those who failed to grab a corner. For younger children, tossing games are simple variations of classic games that build skills. Older children use more sophisticated game equipment to refine their hand-eye coordination, and they play the same versions of traditional games as adults.

Rings is a pub game, an Irish variation of Skittles a game similar to bowling , playable anywhere but usually indoors. A wallboard with numbered hooks is securely mounted, and children stand behind a line and toss rubber rings at the hooks, trying to score by snagging rings on the hooks.

Quoits, for children, has a cross-piece base with four corner posts and a center post. Each post is worth a different number of points.

Kids toss stiff rope rings at the posts to score points each time a ring lands over a post. Summer days felt never-ending when you stood with your back to the pillar. It was only longer for the last person, crouching in the bushes, waiting for freedom.

Your tongue would stay firmly in your mouth while being subjected to the washing machine effect from the not-so-desirable. The human chain where you hurtled your body against your classmates in a bid to break the arm links. In the words of Anne Robinson, we were cruel in our ability to hunt out the chink in the chain. It was like Tip The Can on steroids. A witch hunt, followed by punches. After you played once or twice with the cool kids, you usually came up with any excuse not to play.

Ran as fast as your legs could carry you. The smoke kept evil spirits from finding the deceased. Usually, a pipe and tobacco were placed on a table next to the body.

On some occasions, a pipe was also laid on the deceased's chest. Clocks were stopped at the time of death and the mirrors in the house were turned around or covered. All of the curtains in the house were also to be drawn but for the one window closest to the body which would be left open.

Still, to this day, the wake is a sign of the strength of community in Ireland with neighbors and friends supporting the family with pot loads of tea and trays of sandwiches to feed the hoards arriving at their home to offer their condolences. It was also common to have a drink for the deceased and so bringing a drop along with you would not be refused. It was common and is still relatively thought of as a good way to pay respect in Ireland that friends of the family who did not know the deceased would still attend the wake, with close male friends and neighbors traditionally arriving late in the night to volunteer to sit with the body and letting the immediate family get some rest before the burial.

This assured that the body was never unattended, as was required by tradition. The majority of mourners would leave by midnight after enjoying some food and drink but close friends and neighbors would stay through until the morning.

The rosary would be said twice with mourners in attendance; once at midnight and a second time when drawing close to morning. Earlier on in the evening, if the weather was good, the male mourners would gather outside but would always congregate in the kitchen if not. While wakes are still held in the more rural parts of the west of Ireland, funeral parlors have sprung up across the country in the past few decades and the wake tradition has become in some ways a part of historical Ireland.

Nowadays, the act of laying out the body at the home has been replaced by the "viewing," a more subdued affair that takes place in a funeral home.

Both will typically take place for one night to allow all those who wish to visit the body to attend. Love Irish history? Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group.

Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Traditional Irish wakes called for drinks, pranks, games, and songs The Irish have historically put their own spin on the practice of wakes and grieving the dead.