Blowing bubbles on the road to anthropology...

One day, not so long ago, my husband and I were talking about our childhood and I was really surprised to find that, notwithstanding the fact that I grew up amidst the rice fields of the Philippine countryside and he grew up in urban Ireland, we had played, or at least been aware of, the exact same games when we were kids!

One example was “blowing bubbles”. Back when I was a kid we would do this by gathering Gumamela flowers and pounding them with a stone until they turned into a slimy and sticky mush. We would then throw the ‘slime’ into a bucket and add some water until the bubbles came out; we would then make a loop from the bristles of a broomstick (made from coconut leaves) and stir the loop in the bucket and blow into it to make bubbles, and that was our version of “blowing bubbles”.

My husband’s version was far simpler (if you had the money); just go to the local shop and buy a ready-made “blowing bubbles kit”, in a nice, fancy plastic bottle, and away you go!

It struck me as incredible that kids from all over the world are fascinated with the same games, regardless of the colour of their skin, shape of their eyes, language or religion. And this led me to think: how is it that children from all over the world, who have had no contact with each other, tend to play the same (or at least very similar) games?

This question started my interest in anthropology and I have been digging into the subject ever since, but I must say that I have only barely scratched the surface as it is a vast and seemingly endless subject. There’s a lot to learn, but as long as it continues to prick my interest and surprise me with interesting explanations and theories, there will never be enough books for me to read!