Gàidhlig / English
Puidseadh

Puidseadh

Posted by Shona on Thursday 12th May 2016
This week’s word is ‘puidseadh’, a game from Uist.

‘Puidseadh’ is described as a game played by any number of people, usually up to ten, and each had at least two pennies. The object of the game was to get the pennies as close as possible to a stake in the ground - ‘spideag.’ Whoever landed closest gathered up all the pennies, shook them in their hand and threw them all up in the air. They kept all the coins that landed on their heads. Then the second closest person picked up the coins that were left (tails) and threw them up in the air and so on until all the coins had been won.

There is a note with this entry in the Fieldwork Archive suggesting that there may have been a link between the word ‘puidseadh’ and ‘padhdseadh’ possibly derived from the word ‘pitch.’

‘Puidseadh na sgillin’ was also collected from the same informant, meaning ‘throwing the penny.’

‘Puidseadh’ was collected in Garrynamonie, South Uist, between 1987 and 1988.

Have you heard of the game ‘puidseadh’? Or have you ever played it? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.
Your comment has been submitted for moderation
There are no comments for this post