Wer hat Angst vorm Schwarzen Mann?

The children's game "Who's Afraid of the Black Man" is known at least in Germany, Finland and Slovenia. Depending on the region and time, it was understood to mean different beings: a dark shadowy figure or a man with black clothing.

The game starts with one "Black Man" standing on one side of the playground, and the other players stand on the other side. The Black man asks: "Who’s afraid of the Black man?", replied with "Nobody!", "And what if he comes?", "Then we’ll run away!". Then all runs to the other side of the playground, and the Black man runs to the opposite direction, and while he runs, he tries to catch others. Whoever is caught becomes his assistant and helps him to catch others on the next round.

All the players, including the Black man, can run only towards the other side of the playground. They’re not allowed to return to the start line. If they do, they have to join the Black man and become his assistants. The person, who is caught last, becomes the Black man in the next game.

Name of the game has nothing to do with ethnic background or skin color. Franz Magnus Böhme (1897) claimed the term can be traced back to the "Black Death" (the plague around 1348). This would also explain the playing principle logically: Everyone who is attacked by the plague (touched in the game) becomes the bearer of the "Black Death" and belongs to the army of the "Black Man" who spreads the plague. But to avoid racist connotations, today the game is sometimes called differently, e.g. "Who is afraid of the evil/wild/dumb/ice man/creature/being?" (e.g. bogeyman; Big Bad Wolf).

Based on German Wer hat Angst vorm Schwarzen Mann? and Finnish Kuka pelkää mustaa miestä Wikipedia articles, and ABCWellBeing Who's Afraid of the Black Man? school project blog post.

Franz Magnus Böhme (1897), Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel, available at Internet Archive: archive.org/details/DeutschesKinderliedUndKinderspiel

goandgo, Diane Putnam, Au Cœur... diagonalhorizon, Martine and 15 other people have particularly liked this photo

Latest comments - All (26)

▲ Previous comments ▲

Coco ^club

Wow. Fascinating story and the photo is great. I never heard of this but can see where it might originate from the Black Plague. Thanks for the information.

5 years ago.

Gillian Everett ^club

Fascinating history, fairly macabre, well researched Sami.

5 years ago.

Diane Putnam ^club

I thought this only meant "Corpse Buried Here."

5 years ago.

Sami Serola (inactiv… ^club has replied

(see the discussion)

Ha! =D You are the first one who got that! Or at least mentioned it =)

Second idea was: "Who's afraid of maintenance?" ♩ ♪ ♫

5 years ago.

Diane Putnam ^club has replied

(see the discussion)

I am!

Forgot to mention that your processing on this is excellent.

5 years ago.

Sign-in to write a comment.

		Page color
		Comments Panel
		Screen Margins
▼▲
		Widescreen

← Among Sami Serola (inactive)'s photos

See also...

Year of the Dog Year of the Dog

Bilderdomino - Photo Domino Bilderdomino - Photo Domino

WAYS of seeing / MANIERES DE VOIR WAYS of seeing / MANIERES DE VOIR

Authorizations, license

Wer hat Angst vorm Schwarzen Mann?

Ξ	Frame Options
3 - +