Recreation

Recreation in the Premodern Age

In the preindustrial, predominantly rural age, recreations were juxtaposed to pastimes. The latter (a game of cards, for example) simply passed (and possibly wasted) time. Pastimes could be useful but only in limited ways. They enabled people to relax and refresh. They could amuse and divert minds from worry, sadness, and solemnity. Pastimes safeguarded against boredom. Recreations did more than this. They did not simply restore minds and bodies to their former condition. Recreations were improving. In medieval Europe, jousting and archery were useful: they improved skills that would be valuable in warfare. Hunting developed skills of horsemanship. Arts and crafts honed skills that could be used in industry, trade, and commerce.

Recreations are games at which people play. Games have rules that define the field and other limits of play—the tactics that can be used and any time limits. The rules set games apart from the rest of life. Games can be challenging, and simultaneously, they can be fun. When playing games, people can take risks. Defeat in an archery contest may be disappointing, but the costs are minor compared with defeat in a real military battle.

In premodern times, people could engage in recreation when their work was done. Holy days (holidays), fair days, and feast days were occasions that could be devoted to recreation. Improving forms of play were encouraged by monarchs and their representatives. Success in recreation earned status and prizes. Recreation was considered preferable to the [Page 1207]tavern (a popular alternative). Thus, the meaning of recreation was fixed long before the first countries to do so industrialized and became predominantly urban.

Recreation in Industrial Society

The preexisting meaning of recreation survived into the Industrial Age, though in most other respects the changes associated with industrialization were revolutionary. There was a new rhythm of work and leisure. In industry, people worked according to clock time, mechanical time, rather than according to the seasons and other rhythms of nature. Work, as generally understood (that is, not including unpaid tasks in households and elsewhere), was removed from homes and moved into factories, mines, and offices. The new organization of daily, weekly, and annual life created leisure as a separate part of life, available to everyone not just a leisure class, where leisure activities were not thoroughly interwoven into life in general. Leisure became separate, one's own time, in the evenings, on weekends, and during holidays.

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