Here are the rules for the game of Raven Tag.
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1. You must be a raven, with a raven friend.
2. You must stand exactly 6 meters apart
3. If you raven friend approaches you, you must move away.
4. If your raven friend gets within 4 meters of you they win outright. This is called a Rimple, and will earn you three Kaws.
5. If you are moving away but your raven friend remains in the zone between 4 and 6 meters from you for more than 7 seconds then you must also concede the encounter. This is known as Fringe Matting. A successful Fringe Matt manoeuvre will receive two Kaws.
6. Escaping from a Fringe Matting move by virtue of speed and outdistancing your raven friend is known as Binging and will earn you two Kaws.
7. Fringe Matting is more dangerous then it first seems for at any time you may launch a counter attack on your raven friend, formally referred to as the Upwalk Sally.
8. To signal an Upwalk Sally you must turn to face you raven friend who is pursuing you and utter a cry. At this point the tables are turned and you raven friend has but seven seconds to retire to a safe 6 meter distance from you or to issue a Downwalk Sally. Should your friend not retreat in time, you will prevail, but earning a lowly single Kaw. Likewise a retreating bird has only a single Kaw to chase.
9. In the event of a Downwalk Sally the retreating bird, your raven friend, will issue a call and immediately you must both jump into the air, wings flapping and whoever leaps the highest takes the day. A single Kaw is the prize.
10. Statues. If you remain motionless for 20 seconds you win the game by Statues. The Statue is a very subtle move as it can be initiated towards your raven friend without them at first realising. The only options available to your raven friend if you have served Statues on him is to directly attack your central 4m zone (the Jumpsicle), or to linger threateningly in the outer 4m to 6m zone (the Prodding) hoping that time is on their side, often causing an opponent to panic and move when remaining stationary would have seen them lifting the laurel. This tactic is referred to as the Gaulish Hop.
Statues is the reason for the periodic shuffling motions characteristic of an averagely experienced player, who seeks to make constant incursions into his raven friend's territory in order to prevent the onset of Statues. However, seeing two ravens motionless can mean you are witnessing the silent clash of two masters, each seeking to outwit the other.
ORIGINS AND COMMENTARY
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Raven Tag's ultimate origins are lost in the mists of time where echoes of folklore can be heard but not understood. It's entanglement with our own culture is a deep-rooted one. References to the game can be found in otherwise hard to interpret lyrics from the folk music of rural England such as the line, "When he went from the prodding to the jumpsicle" in "The Tale of the Miller's Wife", attributed to the Victorian, Arthur Hunt, but known to have been arranged by him from timelessly old songs of the Worcester area public houses.
Mentions occur in Literature, Shakespeare himself gives an account of a childhood game of Blacke Bird involving the young Henry V.
Showreman's "Invetory Falconis"of 1159 lists "2 Ravins for the entertainment of Byrd Hopping" as belonging to King Henry II.
To delve back into the oral and written tradition is to receive only oblique messages from the past. A single line in a medieval parish registers a judgement admonishing a man for "counting crows on a sabbath" - perhaps a reference to gambling on the outcome of a game during that holy day? Hogarth's diary refers one spring morning to the sight of "jumping, standing crows" in Regent's Park. Further evidence can be found in the detail of carvings and daubs in ancient caves. Some believe that the raven was credited with the power of prophesy, and soothsayers would watch their play and counter-play for portents.
Despite it's interactions with human culture, the true play and best conduct of the game can be found where it always was, in the hedgerows, fields and parks of our native land. Questions remain unanswered - Why do they play, and what is at stake? Is it a spiritual, material or intellectual prize which is struggled over? Mayhap, we shall never know, but raven friends will never grow old.
