ON BOCCE AS A FORM OF SOCIAL INTERACTION
“After a man has toiled long and hard for the whole week, it’s only right that he rests a little, because one cannot just work and work all the time. That is why he can’t wait for a Sunday or a holiday so that he can rest a little and enjoy himself in a decent, God-pleasing, manner (…).”
This quote from Andrija Bortulin, describing life in Beli on the island of Cres in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, can serve as an indication of the broader context in which this exhibition is set. It reflects the essence of a balanced way of life, harmonious and fulfilled, the life we long and hope for – the way of life that is being irreversibly lost in today’s fast-paced world. Free time, spent engaging in pleasant leisurely activities, once represented a welcome contrast to hard and demanding physical work. Playing bocce was one of the ways to achieve this balance.
Describing a harmonious life lived in multigenerational households in the Croatian Littoral, Dragutin Hirc says in his nineteen-century book: “If you pass through Draga on a holiday, you will see how its inhabitants spend the afternoon. Young adult males gather in the street playing bocce; children have fun bowling at pins that they have made from wood, and young women also play this game to pass the time unless they have already sat down in the courtyard or on the front steps to play tombola [a bingo-style game]. Old men and women sit in front of the houses looking at the youth having fun.”
Another image of a weekend spent in relaxation, this one in Opatija, is presented by Ludwig Salvator von Habsburg: “Opposite the palace, in the shade of laurels and vines, is a bocce lane, ubiquitous in this typically Italian region. On Sundays, it is visited by Italian workers employed by the Railway. There is no noise or quarrel here; one can only hear friendly laughter and joyful singing when the players gather at the nearby Osteria all’Ancora.” Such, almost pastoral, descriptions indicate the significance of bocce. A recent newspaper announcement for a Robert Knjaz’s TV show titled I to je Hrvatska (This Too Is Croatia) summed up the appeal of bocce in a similarly vivid way: “What comes to mind when someone mentions carefree days spent in Dalmatia? The sun at its zenith, a giant pine tree nearby, casting its thick shade over dozens of people with round objects in their hands. Ring a bell? Yes, it’s bocce, the most widespread pastime in Dalmatia, but inland as well.”
Records of the traditional, “old-fashioned” way of playing bocce, also called free style as well as folk style, can be found in many monographs. This traditional form, before it was institutionalised in a way, is the primary focus of this exhibition, which we have sought to illustrate with our selection of photographs. It should be emphasised that it is often not possible to separate this aspect from the sport of bocce, played by members of sport clubs. The two forms of the game, despite many differences, are linked by physical activity and, first and foremost, social interaction with other people; in order to understand one of them, it is necessary to take into account the other. The (primarily amateur) sport of bocce in Croatia, with achievements that are among the best in the world, is the topic of a great number of valuable works of different lengths. As luck would have it, this exhibition is held in the year marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Croatian crown bocce organisation, the Croatian Bocce Federation. At the moment, there are around 70 clubs active in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, including 9 women’s clubs. The number of bocce courts in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County is a clear indication of the importance of the game in this area, as well as in, perhaps unexpectedly, Gorski Kotar, where they can be found in almost every town.
Bocce is an exceptionally important identity and cultural marker in these areas, placing Croatia in the Mediterranean cultural circle, which is where this activity originated. In his monograph on the Kastav area, Ivo Jardas gives a detailed account of bocce playing in the first half of the 20th century, the length of which reveals the importance of bocce for the area. Here we quote a part of it: “Bocce is the only and the jolliest game that the people of Kastav have. The young and the old play it. Small children, too young to go to school, play bocce. They take bocce balls when putting out animals to pasture, and play the game. If they don’t have bocce balls, they play with stones.”
Playing bocce as an important identity category was also mentioned in the book titled Etnologija naše svakodnevice (Ethnology of Our Everyday Life), in which the ethnologist Dunja Rihtman-Auguštin, writing about a neighbourhood in Novi Zagreb, calls the construction of a bocce court “alternative urbanisation”, the shaping of space that is not part of the town planning scheme, but a living reflection of everyday life. She points out the vibrancy and the modification of tradition in new, modern, urban environments, the power dynamics between the homogenising “big system” and the heterogeneity of “ordinary people”, the creative relationship between people and the living environment, from which the symbolic attitude towards “new homelands” will develop.
In this context it is possible to look at the information obtained in an informal conversation that took place on the island of Krk. Our expatriates, when they come on summer holidays, also play this game, or, as the speaker said, “the Americans come and bring their own bocce balls”. The importance of bocce for our diaspora is shown in an article by Srećko Budiselić, which demonstrates expatriates’ financial support in the construction of the bocce court in Praputnjak in 1978, when, along with a community hall, a two-lane bocce court was also opened.
Bocce – and by that we primarily mean the traditional way of playing the game – is certainly one of the forms of social life and leisure that is categorised as gender-specific. In this context, bocce was an exclusively male activity. This gender distinction is clearly shown in the book by Đurđica Ivančić Dusper, in the part in which the author writes about the free time and games that the inhabitants of Crikvenica played: “There was a difference between male and female games. Men usually played wooden bocce balls and kept scores on bocce courts, called jogi. (…) Among women’s games, along with tombola, the most popular game was a type of outdoor bowling, na čunji, which was played on the streets, in front of houses.”
Today, women achieve great results in the sport of bocce. In recent times, however, the number of women bocce players who do not belong to bocce clubs has increased. For instance, female members of pensioners’ associations have become more active, and their annual meetings include spending time with each other playing bocce.
Researching bocce lately, I cannot but notice the “healing” effect that this activity has, especially on older generations. One middle-aged informant, describing his “opponent”, said: “He’s had two heart operations, is 87 years old, and plays against me. He comes, plays a game, has a glass of bevanda [wine with water] and leaves.” Regardless of numerous health issues, the need to spend time in the company of others and to engage in physical activity is a great motivator for bocce players today, primarily for older generations, which is indicated in the account of an interviewee from Opatija: “My grandpa was a passionate bocce player; he would meet his friends in Rabac every afternoon at 5, and we couldn’t go with him or be there at all, not even to watch – because it was very serious.” The dynamic and “passionate” nature of this form of social interaction that included playing bocce is also illustrated by the words of a person from Kostrena talking about the time before the bocce court was enclosed: “My grandma lived right below the Kostrena Reading Room, and then the old men, who always shouted very loudly in the heat of the game – something I will never forget – would manage to throw a ball over the wall, also in in the heat of the game, and it would then come to a stop on the grass in front of my grandma’s house.”