西瓜はかわいそう! Poor Watermelon!

August 29, 2010: 日米関係Culture Shock

Watermelon Smashing

隣のOさんが顔を出してくれて、「でかい西瓜をもらった。皆で西瓜割りやろう!」と。西瓜割り?何それ?と思って、私も見に行きました。目を隠して、グルグル回って、バットで西瓜を当たってみるゲームなんだ。西瓜はかわいそうけど、楽しそうなゲーム。子供達も喜んでいました。日本で夏にこういう習慣があるんだね。アメリカで、夏と西瓜とゲームで言えば、種を飛ばすコンテストは良くあります。誰が一番の距離で西瓜の種を飛ばせるかと言うゲームです。世界中、色んな西瓜ゲームがありますね。

Our neighbor, O-san, popped in and said, "Someone gave us a huge watermelon. Come on over and let's do 'Suika-Wari'!" Roughly translated, suika-wari means "watermelon smashing". And that's just what the game entails. You put a blindfold on, get spun around a few times, walk in the direction of the watermelon, and attempt to smack it with a bat. Kind of like a piniata, but with a watermelon on the ground instead.

It seemed to me a little violent on the poor watermelon, but the kids enjoyed the game and we all enjoyed eating the watermelon afterwards. Back in the States, summer and watermelon and game means watermelon seed spitting contests. I guess every country in the world has their own summer watermelon traditions.



smash prep


Now the yummy part


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