Popular Games among Elementary School Children as Child Culture and Tradition Games in West Sumatera

Abstract

There are few researches on forms of popular games among elementary school children because the commonly accepted concept in society is the preservation of old arts and traditional cultures. In fact, both of these concepts can conflict with one another. This study investigates popular games among children of elementary schools in West Sumatra as one of the elements of child culture as stated by Mars (2010) and Mintz (2009) and whether the traditional games in West Sumatra are still popular among children or already replaced with new types of games. By using a descriptive qualitative approach, it is found that there are at least 288 popular games among children in West Sumatera, of which only 25% come from traditional culture. However, what is called ‘traditional’ culture is indeed no longer purely local, but a game influenced by external elements. In other words, there has been a shift in the type of children's popular games. Thus, the concept of cultural preservation proclaimed by many parties is actually very loose because what is called traditional games is not independent of external influences. A number of cultures considered traditional are actually the result of enculturation or a mixture of local and external culture which later become a tradition.