#string figures

[useless-prophet]

I'm reading about string figures (like in Cat's Cradle) right now for worldbuilding purposes and it's wild how universal it is around the world. Like, each culture basically has its own set of string figures reflecting their lifestyle/myths/animals around them. Ancient humans really all decided independently that hey, you know what would be really cool? Twisting this piece of string into pretty patterns. And everybody just did that.

Inuit string figure. How cool is that? This site also has a great collection and tutorials for string figures from around the world.

[picard-schreckensberger]

String figures 

Inuit 

[sun-inanemptyroom]

[thisexistsnow]

[picard-schreckensberger]

Inuit

string figures

[thejaymo]

A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation

Abstract

Few cultural practices beyond language are as widespread as string figure games. Their global distribution and potential to yield insights into cultural transmission and cognition have long been noted. Yet, it remains unknown how or when this behaviour originated and to what extent shared motifs are signals of repeated innovations or deep cultural transmission. Here, we combined a global cross-cultural inventory of string figures with a novel methodology based on knot theory, which enables the unequivocal numerical coding of string figures. We performed a computational analysis of a sample of 826 figures from 92 societies around the world. Across these societies, we found 83 recurring string figure designs, some of which are regionally restricted while others display a global distribution. The cognitively opaque nature of string figure designs and their clear geographic distribution reveal processes of cultural transmission, innovation, and convergent evolution. Most strikingly, the global distribution of some figures raises the possibility of shared ancient origins.

A global cross-cultural analysis of string figures reveals evidence of deep transmission and innovation

[lamppostisposting]

Ok hear me out, wizards that use string figures to cast spells. Imagine it, a multitude of spells with infinite repeatability and incredibly concealable. Witches broom for transport, jacobs ladder for shield, the possibilities are endless

[shorvkiez]

here is it, nowaday nearing halloween​ month​!