BANOG-BANOG (The Hawk & The Chicken)

This game is a favorite among children aged 6 to 12. It is an imitation game, imitating the antics of the hawk who preys on chicken to feed their young. Before the game starts, the group selects a boy to play the banog and a girl to play the mother hen whose duty is to protect the chicks from the hawk's attack. The rest play the chicks. When the game starts, the hawk and the mother hen face each other. The chicks stay in one line behind the mother hen, each holding on to the waist of the person in front of him/her. This line is not supposed to be broken. The chick who breaks out of the line opens him/herself up to the danger of being caught by the hawk. The game starts after an agreed count, then the hawk begins to crack down on the mother hen's defense to get to the chicks. He runs hither & thither, generally trying to confuse the hen and the chicks as to his area of attack. When he cannot catch any chick this way, he suddenly swoops down at the very end of the line to get to the last chick who is usually unprotected. The mother hen dashes down the line to save her chick but this results in making the chicks behind her break the line and fall, thus making them easy prey for the hawk. The game continues until the majority of the chicks are caught by the hawk.

A variation of the game would be to allow the mother hen to get back her chicks. While the hawk is busy catching the other chicks, the mother hen will go to the hawk's camp & try to steal back her chicks. This makes the game take longer to finish & usually, the way it's ended is when everybody (especially the hawk & the mother hen) is too exhausted & everybody agrees to stop.

Participants:a. Banog or hawk, usually played by the biggest boy or girl in group; b. Mother hen, usually played by a girl; c. Chicks, played by any number of girls and boys