Squid game talk is everywhere, in case you haven’t noticed, and it begs one question. So, what’s the big deal with Squid games? As long as you’ve been on the internet, you’ve probably seen Squid games memes and sketches. Squid Games is a popular Korean drama series on Netflix that has gone viral in recent months owing to its cinematographic quality. It is unparalleled and a classic in its own right. For those who haven’t seen it yet, I won’t provide any details about the series other than the fact that it was based on early Korean childhood games.
A Korean childhood game is being developed into a multimillion-dollar series, but our own Ghanaian childhood games are being overlooked. We’re all aware of how it’s being washed out and unwilling to do something about it, but we’re quick to learn that of a distant continent. What are we doing about squid games like ‘ampe’ and ‘pilolo’ when we’re learning about squid games?
Decades ago, these local games were a serious thing, and both children and adults cherished every minute of it, but in today’s society, it may surprise you to find youngsters playing these games because it appears so uncommon. What triggered this? Most of us believe that these games are only seen in rural regions and that they are not seen in metropolitan areas, but this is not the case. Even while you could find youngsters playing these local games every now and again, it is not as common as it used to be. These games have been around for over a century, and it is unfortunate that they are being phased out so quickly as we approach the twenty-first century.
Asian nations have kept their cultures intact, but our Ghanaian civilizations, who are recognized for being extremely adept at conserving cultures, are progressively losing the culture that has made our lives worthwhile and gifted us with a wealth of memories to last a lifetime. Ampe, pilolo, nkuro, antokyire, and many other games have all faded away because we were unable to maintain them despite their beauty and lessons learned. Pure Akan, a Ghanaian rapper who also serves as a son of tradition, recently released an album titled ‘Nyame MMa’ in which he dedicated some songs to questioning why we are ignoring our rich culture, such as these childhood games, and it was painful. Our forefathers must be shaking with contempt as they see us.
They gave it to us just for us to ignore it. That is equivalent to rejecting a valuable gift bestowed to us. We liked it but let it fade away without passing it on to the next generation. Please, if we truly love ourselves, we should appreciate and value whatever we have since these games are as valuable as our lives itself.
