Main Gasing - spinning tops in Malaysia

Montague Blister, in his playful weblog "Strange Games," recently wrote about "Main Gasing," the game/sport/ritual of top-spinning as practiced in Malaysia. In his article, he writes that "Teams, consisting of up to 40 people (throwers, makers, catchers), set their tops spinning at the same time and it is the longest spin that wins. A good length spin is a staggering one and a half hours. An excellent spin lasts an almost unbelievable 2 hours long."

Two hours long!? A single spin of a single top?! This immediately set me Googling. It seemed to me that any body of people, watching a top spin for two hours, has got to achieve a state of significantly deep fun.

I eventually clicked my way to this video showing a top of proportions significant enough to redefine my entire understanding of tops and the spinning thereof.

I also found an excellent article, of almost anthropological clarity, in which Eric Hansen describes a Main Gasing event. The article, called "White Bean vs Tiger Cub," notes the rituals, the socializing, the trade, and the celebration of community surrounding the event. I was especially moved by the Hansen's description of the players themselves. "The art of top-spinning," he explains, (is) "part dance, part discus throw, requires physical strength as well as finesse. With a reasonable amount of practice, most people can get one of these tops to spin, but real skill comes only after years of experience. Thus, though competitors vary in age, a tukang gasing, or 'master of the top,' is usually middle-aged, and when one of them prepares to throw, people fall silent to watch the performance."

To read about a thing we know as a toy, elevated to a work of art and display of mastery, is to find oneself on the border of understanding the mystery of deep fun.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith