Music, rhythm, song and dance are a significant part of growing up in many cultures. Many of us remember playing games that revolve around a rhyme.
The UAE has its own traditional games too, in which girls play to amuse themselves. One of the most popular games is Khosa- Bosa , that was recently recreated at the Heritage Village during the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) that ends tomorrow.
“As a little girl, I played Khosa-Bosa several times, in school, during family get-togethers and watching it today has brought back all those happy memories,” says a young national woman.
In this game, four or five girls stand around in a circle, sing the rhyme Khosa-Bosa yen Nabusa, and play it on their fingers. When the four-line rhyme ends, the finger on which it stops is closed and the game continues until all the fingers are closed. The girl whose finger is the last one to close gets to conduct the game.
Hakam Al Hashemi, Deputy Chairman of the DSF Heritage Committee, says, “ Khosa-Bosa is popular among girls. They sing a song titled Khosa-Bosa from where the game gets its title. The game has been passed down from generation to generation. It is good to revive a popular tradition and we have recreated that ambience by enacting the game sequence here.”
