Capita Corno

“Capita corno” is an old folk game, which has been recorded in books since 1966. However, the game is much older than that date and the oldest people from Barban remember that their ancestors knew how to play it.

The book of winners and competitors is kept by Elio Bastijanić, whose family has a tradition of this game, so he passed it on to his children. It used to be reserved exclusively for the locals of Barban, while today it has a more open character.

For those who don’t know, the game consists of two parts. The first is breaking a clay pot with a stake while blindfolded, and the second is throwing wooden sticks towards a ram’s horn, somewhat similar to bottles. Once upon a time, a certain amount of money was placed under a clay pot, the one from Rakalj, and the winner would be the one who broke the pot. The winner of the first part of the game would then end the game with a horn.

The first player would throw the horn and say “Capita corno.” The others would follow suit, saying humorous but also offensive nicknames for the next player.

The person being called out that day was not allowed to be angry or resentful of the nicknames given. In this way, the general public was often told about some misdeed or some sin committed that had occurred in Barban that year.

In the horn game, the most important thing is to throw the wooden stick as close as possible to the horn, and at the beginning of the game it was decided how much money each competitor must give, if his stick does not end up near the horn.

Only three competitors in one round, who would throw the stick closest to the horn, were exempt from paying. All the others had a small sign drawn on their sticks, so that at the end of all the rounds it would be known how much each person had to pay.

The first Lenten dinner was organized with the money collected. Sometimes, the games would last from two in the afternoon until evening.

The pot was broken because it was a symbol of Lent, in which the meat for that day was cooked. This would herald Lent and the 40 days without meat.