Games and traditional sports in europe: between tradition and modernity

Playful activities are a basic element of socialization: they are cultural creations in the context of a society. The contextual vision of traditional games must consider the properties of their internal logic, as well as the social-cultural conditions and the symbolic meanings attributed by their players (external logic). In this research, an inventory and analyses of internal logic and external logic of adult traditional games from 11 European regions is done. Among the most important conclusions, it must highlight that there are a long sample of psychomotor and sociomotor games. Traditional games are mainly competitive activities, which differentiate winners and losers. The groups of players are mostly masculine and mixed, and without a leader or captain, except in sportive regions in which this role appears very often. Many of these traditional games are becoming regional sports, mainly when they are played by masculine people. The research shows important data to understand better the nature of European traditional playful culture.