Coronisma, Lachnisma, Lottery, Pointing, Excluding

To play a team game, it was necessary that the children would be divided into teams equal in number and strength as much as possible. To avoid fights and misunderstandings the players have invented short and pleasant ways to give solution to this kind of problems; they were the, so called, coronismata, lachnismata, etc.. By these they were appointing who would start the game or be the leader, etc. The coronisma was played usually between the leaders of the two teams and the one who would be lucky had the priority. This could be also done when the players were two. Although they were both leaders, the coronisma would give someone priority.

Coronisma (usually used in plural : coronismata)
The word comes from “corona” meaning the crown, which shows on the one side of the coin, usually picturing the face of the king. The coins of old times used to show the king wearing a crown. This was shown on the one side. On the other side the value of the coin was called “letters”. In English the procedure was called’’ heads or tails”.

Lachnismata
The word comes from “lachnos” or “lachano” meaning the lottery.
Lachnismata were children’s songs sung before the team games started, so that the first player would be appointed [or the last one]. Usually the last syllable of the song was pointing the starter of the game. These songs might have included questions and answers, so it would be more difficult to guess ahead, who would be the winner.
The first question was “shall we do it?” or “shall we show?”. The child asking the questions was the “mother”, the director somehow of the game. The other children (more than two) accepted the challenge, formed a circle and the “mother” started the song, the “lachnisma”. The characteristic of these songs, most of the times, was the first word : “bouf”.
The “lachnismata” were very popular, not only in towns, but in villages as well and they were said all over Greece. Most of them are inconceivable, but heard admirably by children and learned easily by younger ones. The “lachnismata” are recited by syllables, so each syllable appoints one child, in a correspondence one by one.
It should be said that the “lachnismata” themselves, are part of the oral tradition. Nevertheless these words, like ‘’lacnisma’’, are unknown to children.
Most of dictionaries/encyclopedias refer to the verb “lachano” but not its derivatives “lachanisma” or “lachnisma”. According to research the word “lachanisma” does not appear, not even once on the internet even with the help of the best known media of research. Nevertheless the word “lachnisma” is found in a limited use (almost 300 times).

So it is possible that these terms are new, made by scholars, during the second half of the twentieth century. Similar little poems, usually with meaning, but incomprehensible as well, exist not only in the Greek language, but in many other European languages. Is it may-be an indication of the universal language of the games that unites children?

You can find here some most usual “lachnismata”, “caronismata”.