The Study and Analysis of Children Games of Sixth Century AH According to Poems of Khāqaāni Shirvāni

Children’s understanding of their surrounding environment is demonstrated in the form of their games. The games help the children to adapt themselves to the social systems and the cultural norms. Thus, the games reflect the mental, cultural, and social features of their time and are one of the ways of culture transmission. These features are even more highlighted in children’s traditional games because of their transcendental quality and simple structure. Therefore, this research studies the children’s games of the sixth century AH as a means of understanding the social, intellectual, and cultural structures of that time. For this matter, the poems of Khāqaāni Shirvāni, the sixth-century detailed poet, are used as a reference. The results of the study indicate clichéd, imitative, and non-creative structures of children’s games, and individualism and selfhood in their group games. The closed and tyrannical structure of the sixth century AH and intellectual and cultural stagnation of the people of that time is also recognized through games’ analysis according to poetical text.