"When competition is kept in the realm of play, then it is fun, completely pointless and enjoyed for its own sake. Who, for example, would want to give up playing darts, snooker and croquet? Games are ancient and they are fun. Thirteenth-century Catalan courts, for example, loved games and would throw oranges at each other for days on end. There is a wonderful description quoted by Linda M. Paterson in her study
The World of the Troubadours:
"...[The admiral's] sailors had two armed boats prepared, the flat-bottomed kind that go up river. On these you could see orange battles taking place; they had a good fifty tree-loads sent from the kingdom of Valencia ... The celebrations lasted more than a fortnight, during which time no man in Saragossa did anything but sing and make merry and play games and enjoy himself."
How to be free p86-7
Big thanks to
Fun Fever for the photos
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