Secret game.
http://ec-dejavu.ru/s-2/Sekretiki.html
The link above contains a text in Russian which I will elaborate on.
Text is in Russian , So I will shortly Explain what it is about.
This text is about a game that I and a lot of other girls used to play when they were children.
In this article this game is analyzed by a psychologist, through a series of interviews with people who played this game as children.
Mostly girls.
The idea of this game was to create a secret burred in the ground.
How is it made:
A small hole needs to be dug in the ground.
Small objects are placed in to the hole and organized in to a composition that the creator likes.
The composition then gets covered with a piece of glass to protect it from mixing with soil.
Then it gets buried.
The objects that have been most often used were flowers,leaves,tin foil,small toys.
Anything that looked nice basically .
From the interviews it is clear that the intrigue of the action is defined by 4 issues.
TIME
PLACE/SPACE
VALUE
STATUS
«что сделала сырая земля с цветочками» — время;
«надо что-то закапывать в землю, а потом смотреть на дело рук своих» — место, пространство;
«для нас это были маленькие сокровищницы» — ценность;
«хочется иметь что-то свое, как-то утвердить себя» — статус.
This idea of planting something that you value most that is yours.
You put it in the ground – almost like planting something, so it has a life of it’s own without you .
The treasure that has been buried may be found and robbed by somebody else, destroyed, unappreciated by somebody.
With so many risks it still has been done.
Then this process could be seen as some sort of time preservation. Like a time machine. (The way i would have said it,unlike the author.)
It is also interesting how the main purpose of this action is to look at the object, not touch, not smell .
It is about this preservation of beautiful.
The author compares it to a message in a bottle.
I definitely agree with all mentioned above.
I think it’s all about the idea that you know something that others do not. You are the only person that knows the location of this buried treasure and you keep it a secret. Like a mini world that has been created by you.
Possibly a place to escape and have this little moment with something beautiful.
This made me think how important are beautiful things?
How important are aesthetics?
What is beauty?
From my personal experience this game was also a risk because it involved playing with glass.
The dangers of cutting yourself in the process.
Some parents did i with their children to monitor the process, yet I learned about it from other children and the process itself was already a secret.
Making sure my parent would not find out about what I do when I play in the neighborhood .