A pre-cursor to Paint Ball? - Lee Hawkers – a 1960s Cape Breton Teenager Hide-'n-Seek Game

There are segments of sociology, found perhaps only on Cape Breton Island, that need to be recorded, if not studied. The game of “Lee Hawkers” is such a segment; a common summer night cry of “1-2-3 Lee Hawkers” heard from the woods surrounding the New Waterford neighbourhood of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. This game of modified hide-and-seek involving two teams was part of teen years in the mid-1960s. Lee Hawkers was a creative hide-and-seek game played in the specific suburban area of New Waterford called River Ryan/Scotchtown.

The River Ryan/Scotchtown area was, and still is today, a residential community. Unlike today back then the neighbourhoods were more widely interlaced with forests and fields. Throughout the 1960s, summer days would see teenaged boys playing baseball, pitching horseshoes, building forts in the woods, shooting practice rounds with BB guns , or biking out of town to Kilkenny Lake for a swim. But what would these typically testosterone-driven males do for night-time fun? What mischief could they find cloaked in the darkness of sultry summer nights?

The mischief arose when the child's game of Hide-and-Seek morphed into a more adult oriented game involving two teams, a 'jail' and few, but specific, rules of engagement around being captured and being freed from jail.

The best recollection is that this after dark game was originally a male only sport. Two teams of male teens would take turns being the captured (Hiders) or the captors (Seekers). To begin, in a clearing, a field or in someone's dirt driveway, using a tree branch or the heel of a player's boot or sneaker, a large circle (6-8 feet in diameter) would be roughly marked in the sun-baked ground. This would become the jail into which the captured Hiders would be thrown by the Seekers.

To capture or catch a hiding member of the opposing team, the Seekers would start their hunt in the dark wooded areas for any Hiders. It's dark. It's the forest. Seekers could jump out at a Hider... so usually the hunt was carried out in pairs of Seekers. But why the name Lee Hawkers? Read on... once a Hider was isolated, according to the original rules of seek and capture, a Seeker would be required to spit (yes a hawker!) on the Hider, pound them on the back while yelling “1-2-3 Lee Hawkers”. This marked the Hider as a “catch” or “captured”. The Seekers would lead the captured Hider back to jail (the circle) for safe keeping. The “Lee” (short for leeward) in “Lee Hawkers” was a obvious warning that you should spit, or hawk, in the direction of the wind to avoid getting hit with your own spit (ugh!). And so this spitting, or hawking - the “1-2-3 Lee Hawkers” capture sequence - would be repeated until all the Hiders were caught and in jail. Once all the Hiders were captured, the teams would switch roles – Seekers would become Hiders and Hiders would become Seekers. Hide. Catch. Jail. Switch. Were that the game was so simplistic. The game was a more complicated and a whole lot more dynamic because jailed Hiders could be freed from “jail”. Say what!

The jail was guarded by a couple Seekers. These Guard Seekers remained on high alert to prevent Hider teammates from freeing their jailed buddies. If an uncaptured Hider ran through the jail then all jailed Hiders were now technically freed from jail, free to run back into the forest and hide once again. How could the Seekers stop these repeated breakouts?
The trick was to catch these rogue Hider breakout experts before they ran through the jail. By using the same capture 1-2-3 sequence (hawking, back pounding, yelling ”1-2-3 Lee Hawkers”) it would not only stop a breakout attempt but also result in a fresh Hider capture. “Off to jail with ya!” At this point in the evolution of Lee Hawkers you have a teen male-dominated, hawkin' 'n hittin', after dark, hide 'n seek game. A bit messy, somewhat primitive, but relatively harmless.

Enter the teen girls. They want to play. Co-ed Lee Hawkers. This had new possibilities, new promise. Hmmm, a thought. A thought that met an age-old goal – have some fun while you find a mate.Just like the Stag Line (see Wikipedia or My BLOG), Lee Hawkers seems to have evolved from an excuse for a dating game wrapped in the guise of team sports.Or was Lee Hawkers a primative form of the game now called Paint Ball? Could Paint Ball splats of color have replaced the spit, or hawker, in the culturally historical Cape Breton game of Lee Hawkers? Or was this game called Lee Hawkers simply a ruse by teenage boys to play with the girls? Surely these are questions requiring further discussion.

The girls were in the game. But first the spitin' and hawkin' had to go! And so it did. Lee Hawkers became a more gentile sport for the combined sexes. Catching a Hider now involved only “rapping” (lightly pounding) a girl Hider on the back while yelling “1-2-3 Lee Hawkers”. Since the new rules eliminated hawking, Hiders about to be captured, would no longer run to avoid the 'guber'. Instead Hiders would resist capture by the Seeker by lying on their back to prevent from being rapped. Based on the size/strength ratio of Seeker-to-Hider, the attempt(s) to flip and “back rap” could turn out to be quite an extended tussle. Sometimes it would require the efforts of 2 or more Seekers to flip and rap a potential captured Hider.

Now let your imaginations fill in the blanks here. Imagine what happened when the Hider was a female, the Seeker was a male. Hider – female. Seeker – male. Tussle. If the Seeker was a male, and he discovered a female Hider, he would never call for help from his Seeker teammates. This is the part where subtle changes in the 'unwritten' rules came into effect when the girls joined the game. The effort was always different in these female-to-male capture encounters. There was an unspoken adjustment in the game rules and a somewhat neutralizing of male brute force. The male Seeker would tussle gently with the female Hider until she could be flipped or rolled off her back, and the male Seeker's was able to tap her back combined with the cry “1-2-3 Lee Hawkers”. It was amazing the length of time it took for one strong teen male to perform a simple 45 to 90 degree roll of a female to gain access to her back. It must that unexplainable physics of females!

Like the game of Lee Hawkers so goes dating, and so goes love. The brute strength in hormone-driven games is neutralized. It becomes gentler. It emotes the chemistry of sexual attraction. And so goes life.

Lee Hawkers was one of those 1960s Cape Breton (or at least a Scotchtown – River Ryan) phenomena that, perhaps just like the Stag Line, was a dating game ritual wrapped in the guise of team sports. Or maybe it was the pre-cursor to today's Paint Ball. Whatever it was, it sure was memorable!

A pre-cursor to Paint Ball? - Lee Hawkers – a 1960s Cape Breton Teenager Hide-'n-Seek Game

The “Stag Line”: A Cape Breton Dance Hall phenomenon (part of our Cape Breton Social Heritage)

The “Stag Line”, a male high school dance practice, was certainly indigenous to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia Canada.

Remember those Cape Breton school dances in the 1960s?

The community hall or gymnasium would be dimly lighted by a few flood lights. Whether the music was delivered by a jukebox, a DJ or live band, the use of a color organ and strobe light was prevalent – you had to have colored lights pulsing to the beat of the music. Waiting in anticipation of being asked to dance, the teenage ladies were seated along the walls of the dance floor while some of the young girls started things off by dancing with each other.

In Cape Breton this familiar 1960s dance scene now took a radical depart from the norm. The young gents, dressed in typical macho denim jeans 'n jacket, entered the dance hall 'struttin' their stuff'. Then, like "the March of the Penguins", these young males, 2 or 3 abreast, began a deliberate saunter (always in counter clockwise direction) around the dance floor.

This procession of "eligible male dance partners" (hence the name '''stag line''') expanded with more guys joining their buddies in the "dance floor walk about". In short order, this stag line grew to a solid moving procession (2 to 4 wide) of guys. For the entire evening, this organized stag line circled the dance floor, positioned between the dancing masses and the eligible ladies sitting along the edge of the gymnasium.

What was the purpose of this Cape Breton dance-matching ritual?

Being in the stag line, provided each male ample opportunity (multiple loops of the dance floor) to scope out the females, both dancing and sitting. He would spot his next potential dance partner. With both the encouragement and jabs from his immediate “stag line” buddies, once he worked up the nerve, (usually after 4-10 passes) the male would simply step out of the stag line in front of the chosen sitting lady and request a dance.

Now here is the shear brilliance of the stag line. It really was a simple male support system for those almost always shy and awkward teenage guys working up the courage to ask a girl to dance. If the female response was affirmative, the gentlemen simply escorted her to the dance floor then danced to as many tunes as was enjoyable for both. When the dancing was ended by either party, the guy escorted her back to her seat and then (this is perfect) rejoined his comrades in the stag line parade.

Now, should a female's response to a dance request be 'negatory' or even a little hesitant, the "stag line extracted" male need simply to step back into the line right next to the comfort and support ( or jabs) of his buddies. And likely only a few people even noticed the rejection let alone the valiant attempt. Everyone kept face. And the recovering male, once re-composed, would start the hunt for the next dance partner.

How did the stag line practice get started?

One plausible theory about the origin of the “stag line” is that at a dance enters the local 'fonzie”,tough guy with his entourage of tough guys. Being the “top catch for any lady”, these tough guys started to strut in front of the ladies seated around the dance floor. Low and behold, the 'regular', 'not so tough', 'but wanting to be part of the tough guy club' guys started following behind these tough guys. And so the 'stag line' was born. The stage line phenomenon appears to have only survived the 1960's teenage generation. Not sure if any photographs have captured this social dance practice.

So the stag line really brought a kind social order to Cape Breton teenage dances. No one got hurt and males learned to deal with rejection and ridicule in a more supportive (sometimes not) team environment.

Maybe stag lines should re-introduced for those over 50 dances. If for no other reason, seniors would get our walking exercise. Picture that.....

The “Stag Line”: A Cape Breton Dance Hall phenomenon (part of our Cape Breton Social Heritage)

Canada Day is Every Day in Ottawa Canada - A Family Entertainment Destination

A must do trip for you and your family would be soaking up the party atmosphere of the July 1st Canada Day Celebrations in Ottawa, Canada - The Nation's Capital!

Ottawa (population approximately 1 million), typically a proud, safe, conservative government and high tech city, pulls all the stops for the Canada Day Celebrations. A full throttle party with street buskers, renowned entertainers, local musicians and new musicians and bands from across Canada. Every park and band shell is a mecca for all afternoon, all evening entertainment, right up to the spectacular 10 pm fireworks display, seemingly synchronized at dozens of locations in and around Ottawa-Gatineau and the National Capital Region.

Ottawa on Canada Day truly is a opportunity for new musical groups to express their music to new and large crowds eager to hear, move and applaud new talent. So not only is Ottawa a must as your vacation destination, but Ottawa is a must for any musical band wishing to break into a broader audience than their local city or town!

The 2006 Canada Day Celebration was just this type of 'breaking out' event for a new Toronto based band, The Apollo Effect. TAE, an independent rock-alternative group, 'thrilled and was thrilled by' the crowd that gathered at Andrew Haydon Park. This 2000+ audience danced and moved to the sounds from TAE's debut CD.

The night was perfect - an 8:30 play slot, with perfect light, both on stage and in the late evening sky, and the crowd pumped in anticipation of experiencing The Apollo Effect. Perfect for listening, perfect for performing and perfect for photography too. It doesn't get any more magical than this.

Ottawa rocks on Canada Day - The July 1st Canadian Birthday Party is a must do destination in planning your next year's vacation. Come to the Nation's Capital to share and experience a redefined 'Happy', as only can be delivered in the Capital of Canada. Home to the country's largest number of history, art and technology museums, Ottawa, celebrates every season:
Spring - Tulip Festival, marathons, so many parks, walking and bike paths;
Summer - end-to-end concerts (Jazz & Folk Festivals), farmer markets and July 1st Birthday;
Autumn - community fairs, markets and the turning trees (Oh, the colors);
Winter - the Christmas lights on Parliament Hill, Winterlude, world's longest skating rink;
and every sport and recreation activity - swimming, boating, sailing, hiking, biking, skiing, skating, ATV'ing, snowmobiling .....or just walking.... you name it!

Ottawa is the definitive family vacation destination! And an incredible place to live and raise a family.

Canada Day is Every Day in Ottawa Canada - A Family Entertainment Destination