Transylvanian Village Bowling

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Part four in the Transylvania series.

Ever since I started visiting the Homorod Szentpeter in 2001, I remember hearing bits of conversation about bowling...yes, bowling. This always sounded bizarre since the village of 120 people has no businesses but a tiny pub and an even tinier grocery story...as in 10' X 10', and a small boiler factory. The conversations were always about a particular part of a building that also housed the "culture house," or dance hall.

I knew the room existed and that it was long and narrow but I thought it was a joke when they talked about it as having been a bowling alley. Much to my surprise, this time, I found it had been a bowling alley and indeed it had been rehabbed since I was last there.

The village had its own single lane bowling alley with concrete floor, 9 pin set-up and stone balls about the size of an American softball....with no finger holes. Pin setting duties were not automated but were in fact, a shared duty of the players.

The second night we were there the bowling alley became the focus of attention. Villagers and travelers were grouped into 12 person teams and the games began. Amazing how different the two bowling games are...the American 10 pin style and the European 9 pin style. The pins and balls are different but also the rules are different...the scoring is different, and the fun is different. It is truly a team game unlike the American version which carries its individuality throughout the game...ie..scores, sets, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the company.

The last evening in the village was one in which we each had dinner with our host families. One of my hosts, Ildiko, spoke fairly good English. The other host, the husband, spoke little but understood some. We were sitting at the dinner table, having finished dinner, and I mentioned that we should go bowling. His eyes lit up and he said "YES"...then proceeded to call his brother to see if he and his guests wanted to bowl. He failed to stoke up any interest there but we went off to the alley anyway.

I had gone to my room to get suitably dressed on the way and when I approached the bowling alley my host came out of the local pub. I wondered what he was up to. We each bowled a couple of balls and I turned to find the alley filling up with young men. They had been "recruited" at the bar and carried with them a case of the local beer. Bottles were passed, teams where picked....I humorously being one of the team captains....and the game began.

I was the only one who spoke English. It was quite a humorous situation.....but language was quite unnecessary I found. We bowled for hours.

I have already mentioned that the pin setting was manually done by the players. After each ball was thrown the downed pins were cleared and the ball was returned to the far end by the use of a track that was raised at the pin end.

This meant the ball rolled back quite swiftly and usually smacked up against the other balls waiting to be thrown. Well, about half way thru the evening the Pilgrim's turn comes up again. He throws his first ball and knocks down a few pins. He is happy with himself and goes to pick up another ball. Just as he does so the first ball returns to its resting place.....fast and hard. Crack, his finger being between those colliding balls. He grimaced in pain....looked up, and saw terror in the eyes of all his fellow bowlers.

They knew all too well about this failure to follow proper bowling etiquette. They waited to see how I had fared. I must say I played on as if it was nothing much. By the time the game was finished my middle finger was very rigid, throbbing, and twice its normal size . By the next morning it was a variety of muted colors. I bet I never make that mistake again.

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