Recreation

Kites.  Filipino children make their own kites during kite season, January to March.  Little boys fly a boca-boca, a small square piece of paper on a short string.  Older boys try the chapi-chapi, the
familiar diamond-shaped kite flown all over the world.  Grown men fly the gurion, a huge kite with a strong bamboo frame.  These can be fighting kites if the string is dipped in glue and ground glass.  Opponents try to cut one another's strings as they fly the kites high in the air.

Luksong Tinik (Jumping the Spine).  This is a jumping contest where sometimes one person jumps over a stick that is raised higher and higher by others holding it.  Sometimes several children create a barrier by stacking first their feet and then their hands one on top of the other. 

Taguan (Hide and Seek). 

Piko (Hopscotch).

Patintero (Team Tag).  Players draw a court on the ground.  They make three long parallel lines and crosscut them with three other lines. The point is to run from one side of the court to the other and back again without getting tagged by the other team.  The intersecting lines make bases that are safe. 

Palo Sebo (Greased Pole).  It is a contest in fiestas.  A tall, strong bamboo pole slickly greased with coconut oil is set up in the town plaze.  At the top is a prize, maybe a bag of money or a small bag of candy.  Whoever climbs the top first wins it. 

Sipa (Kicking A Shuttlecock).  It is a game where boys and girls keep the shuttlecock in the air.  Kicks can be executed with the inside, outside, or top of the foot, the heel, the toe, the knee, the shoulder, even the top of the head.  But, the shuttle may not be touched with the hands after the starting toss.  Each kick scores one.  The secret is to maintain a steady rhythm.  This can be played in teams, either passing the shuttle around a circle from player to player or back and forth over a net like a volleyball.  Sipa is played all over Southeast Asia, and sipa competitions are held throughout the region.

Sungka.  It is a game of skill in calculation played on a block of wood or game-board called
sungkahan.  The game-board is shaped like a boat with the surface artfully rounded at the ends.  The surface of sungkahan is hollowed at regular intervals with sixteen circular holes, with one large hole at the end of each side, called mother or ulo (head).  The fourteen small holes are called bahays (houses) with a capacity of a handful of tokens.  They are hollowed out alongside at equal distances, seven holes at each row.  Shells, pebbles, or seeds are used as tokens.  The game revolves around the contest between two people each aiming to outdo the other by trying to accumulate as many
tokens as he can into the mother hole according to certain rules of distributions and moves. 

Tops.  Few Filipino boys make their own wooden tops anymore, although some people still do.  Tops are a favorite toy and top-spinning contests are a popular pasttime.  The simplest game is to see which top spins the longest.  By spinning them cleverly, boys get their tops to hit others out of a
circle or even split an opponent's top in two.

Sports.  Filipinos are becoming interested in competitive sports, especially basketball.  The game is played everywhere.  Because most Filipinos are short and agile, their playing technique comes from speed and shooting skills.  Every year, Filipinos hold amateur and professional tournaments.  Other common sports include swimming, tennis, boxing, jai alai, volleyball, bowling, shooting pool, and baseball. 

Tupada or Sabong (Cockfighting).  Another important event is called tupada or sabong, also known as cockfighting.  In each town, owners take their fighting cocks to a galleria and pit the birds against one another.  Onlookers place bets to see which bird will win and cheer their favorite on to victory.