BUWAN-BUWAN or BAKUNAWA

Number of Players: At least 8 - 6 for the circle & 1 to play the buwan (moon) & 1 to play the bakunawa (eclipse).

All the players except the buwan and the bakunawa stand in a circle facing in and holding each other's hands. The buwan stands inside the circle while the bakunawa stands outside. The object of the game is for the bakunawa to tag the buwan. The rest of the players try to prevent the bakunawa from doing so by holding on to each other & running around the circle as fast as they & not letting go.

For the bakunawa to get into the circle, the bakunawa asks one of the players, "What chain is this?" to which the player replies, "An iron chain!" An iron chain is supposed to be unbreakable so the bakunawa tries another player. A player who would like to let the bakunawa in could say, "This is an abaca chain" and lets go. This is done when the bakunawa is feeling tired from running around. Sometimes the bakunawa also tries to get in by going under the linked hands - if the player chosen as the bakunawa is fast & small enough, this can be easily accomplished. As soon as the bakunawa succeeds in getting in, the circle players will let the buwan out of the circle. The bakunawa then tries to break out of the linked hands again to try & get out to catch the buwan. When the bakunawa succeeds in catching the buwan, they exchange places or if both of them are too tired, another pair from the circle of players are chosen as the new bakunawa and buwan.