Editing String figure (section)

==History==
According to Camilla Gryski, a Canadian librarian and author of numerous string figure books, "We don't know when people first started playing with string, or which primitive people invented this ancient art. We do know that all primitive societies had and used string—for hunting, fishing, and weaving—and that string figures have been collected from native peoples all over the world."<ref name="Gryski"/>

"Of the games people play, string figures enjoy the reputation of being the most widespread form of amusement in the world: more cultures are familiar with string figures than with any other game. Over 2,000 individual patterns have been recorded worldwide since the 19th century. It was long believed that anthropologist [[Franz Boas]] was the first to describe the construction of string figures (a pair of Inuit string figures) in 1888 (Boas 1888a, 1888b, Abraham 1988:12).",<ref>Averkieva, Julia P. and [[Mark Sherman (collector)|Sherman, Mark A.]] (1992) "Introduction by Mark A. Sherman", ''[http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=1622 Kwakiutl String Figures]'', p.xiii. University of British Columbia. {{ISBN|978-0-7748-0432-5}}.</ref> but actually string figure instructions already feature in several 19th century European books on children's games prior to that.<ref>Celnart, Mme (1827) Manuel Complet des Jeux de Société. Paris: Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret. p. 339-340.</ref> 

String figures are probably one of humanity's oldest games,{{citation needed|date=August 2011}} and are spread among an astonishing variety of cultures, even ones as unrelated as [[European ethnic groups|European]]s and the [[Dayak people|Dayaks]] of Indonesia; [[Alfred Wallace]] who, while traveling in [[Borneo]] in the 1800s, thought of amusing the Dayak youths with a novel game with string, was in turn very surprised when they proved to be familiar with it, and showed him some figures and transitions that he hadn't previously seen.<ref name="B&P">Buchanan, Andrea J. and Peskowitz, Miriam (2007). ''The Daring Book for Girls'', p.277. {{ISBN|978-0-06-147257-2}}.</ref><ref>Wallace, Alfred (1872). ''The Malay Archipelago'', Volume 1, p.89. Macmillan.</ref> The [[anthropologist]] [[Louis Leakey]] has also attributed string figure knowledge with saving his life<ref name="Morell">Morell, Virginia (1996). ''Ancestral Passions'', p.33. {{ISBN|978-0-684-82470-3}}.</ref> and described his use of this game in the early 1900s to obtain the cooperation of [[Sub-Saharan]] [[Ethnic groups of Africa|African]] [[tribe]]s otherwise unfamiliar with, and suspicious of, Europeans,<ref name="B&P"/> having been told by his teacher [[Alfred Cort Haddon|A.C. Haddon]], "You can travel anywhere with a smile and a piece of string."<ref name="Morell"/>

The [[Ancient Greek medicine|Greek physician]] [[Heraklas]] produced the earliest known written description of a string figure in his first century [[monograph]] on surgical knots and slings.<ref name="miller1945">{{cite journal  | last = Miller | first = Lawrence G.   | title = The Earliest (?) Description of a String Figure  | journal = American Anthropologist |series=New Series  | volume = 47  | issue = 3  | pages = 461–462  | year = 1945  | doi = 10.1525/aa.1945.47.3.02a00190}}</ref><ref name="BISFA4">{{Citation|title=Bulletin of the International String Figure Association |volume=4 |year=1997 |issn=1076-7886 |first=Joseph |last=D'Antoni |pages=90–94}}</ref><ref name="ISFA-mag">{{cite journal  | url=http://www.isfa.org/sfmv6n2.htm | last = ISFA  | title = Plinthios Brokhos  | journal = String Figure Magazine  | volume = 6  | issue = 2  | pages = 3–4  | publisher = International String Figure Association  | date = June 2001 | accessdate = 2008-08-13}}</ref>  This work was preserved by republication in [[Oribasius]]' fourth century ''Medical Collections''.   The figure is described as a sling to set and bind a [[broken jaw]], with the [[chin]] being placed in the center of the figure and the four loops tied near the top of the head.  Called the "''Plinthios Brokhos''", the resulting figure has been identified by multiple sources as the figure known to [[Aboriginal Australians]] as "The Sun Clouded Over".<ref name="cldquipu">{{cite book  | last = Day  | first = Cyrus L.  | title = Quipus and Witches' Knots  | url = https://archive.org/details/quipuswitcheskno0000dayc  | url-access = registration  | publisher = University of Kansas Press  | year = 1967  | location = Lawrence, Kansas  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/quipuswitcheskno0000dayc/page/86 86]–89, 124–126 }}</ref> The [[Inuit]] are purported to possess a string figure representing the extinct [[woolly mammoth]].<ref>T. T. Paterson (1949), "Eskimo String Figures and Their Origin," Acta Arctica 3:1-98.</ref>

[[File:String figure.tiff|thumb|Women's string-figure depicting "menstrual blood of three women", illustrating the [[Yolngu people]]'s tribal [[Culture and menstruation#Menstrual synchrony|mythology of menstrual synchrony]].<ref>{{cite book |first=C. |last=Knight |year=1995 |title=Blood Relations: Menstruation and the Origins of Culture |location=New Haven and London |publisher=Yale University Press |page=445}} Figure re-drawn after {{cite book |first=F. D. |last=McCarthy |year=1960 |chapter=The string figures of Yirrkalla |editor1-first=C. P. |editor1-last=Mountford |title=Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition in Arnhem Land |volume=2 |pages=415–513 [466] |series=Anthropology and Nutrition |publisher=Melbourne University Press}}</ref>]]

[[File:Eishosai Choki - Cat's Cradle.jpg|thumb|upright|''The lovers Okiku and Yosuke play cat's cradle'', by [[Eishōsai Chōki]].]]
String figures were widely studied by [[anthropologist]]s like [[James Hornell]]<ref name="BotISFA-2000.7">{{Cite news|title=Abstract A Tribute to James Hornell (1865-1949)|periodical=Bulletin of the International String Figure Association|number=7|year=2000|last1=Heppell|first1=David|last2=Sherman|first2=Mark|pages = 1–56|url=http://www.isfa.org/bisfa.htm#Volume7}}</ref> from the 1880s through around 1900, as they were used in attempts to trace the origin and developments of cultures. String figures, once thought to have proven [[monogenism|monogenesis]], appear to have arisen independently as an [[entertainment]] pastime in many societies. Many figures were collected and described from south-east Asia, Japan, South America, West Indies, [[Pacific Islander]]s, [[Inuit]] and other [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]].<ref name="Gryski">Gryski, Camilla (1983). ''Cat's Cradle, Owl's Eyes: A Book of String Games'', p.4. {{ISBN|0-688-03941-3}}.</ref> Figures have also been collected in Europe and Africa. One of the major works on the subject is ''[[:Image:String Figures and How to Make Them.djvu|String Figures and How to Make Them]]'' ({{DjVulink}}), by [[Caroline Furness Jayne]].

The [[International String Figure Association]] (ISFA) was formed in 1978 with the primary goal of gathering, preserving, and distributing string figure knowledge so that future generations will continue to enjoy this ancient pastime.<ref name="isfa-about">{{cite web | url=http://www.isfa.org/isfa2.htm|date=1999-06-26|accessdate=2008-12-09|title=About ISFA}}</ref>