Lacrosse   - a Native American Sport -

With a little creativity, you can get Cubs to play Lacrosse.  Tie or tape a small basket, or a cut-open bleach container on the end of a short stick.  Use a soft ball (foam or bean bag) that does not bounce.  Arrange goalie nets or target to throw the ball at.  Have challenges to compete who can throw the farthest or most accurate.  Try pitch and catch between the Cubs.  If you play a game between Sixes, arrange for proper eye protection.

Below is a brief history of this fascinating sport and what it means to our native peoples.

This material can be used to fulfill partial requirements for the Aboriginal Awareness Badge.

The American Indian Game When the first people of America started playing lacrosse centuries ago, the game served many purposes. It was played to amuse the Creator, to train young men for war, and to settle disputes between tribes. The game was played by tribes in all parts of the United States and Canada; it was played by the Mexican Kickapoo in Texas, the Seminole in Florida, the Bungi in Manitoba, the Cherokee in Tennessee, and the Passamaquoddy in Maine. 

The game was called Baggattaway, meaning they bump hips by the Algonquin tribe, and Tewaarathon, meaning little brother of war, by the Iroquois tribe. In the earliest times of American Indian lacrosse, the game had few rules, if any. Lacrosse games would last for days, stopping at sunset and continuing the next day at sunrise. The fields had no boundaries, and goals were usually between 500 yards to a half-mile apart, though sometimes they were several miles apart. The goals were usually marked by a single tree or a large rock, and points were scored by hitting it with the ball. There were no limitations on the number of players on a team, and often there would be as many as one thousand players in a lacrosse game at the same time. 

Because there were no rules and players did not wear any protective equipment or even shoes, injuries to players were severe and occurred often. As one French explorer described the game, "Almost everything short of murder is allowable." The game was especially violent when used as an alternative to war to settle intertribal disputes. One example was a game between the Creek and Choctaw tribes in 1790. This game, which was to determine which tribe had the rights to a beaver pond, broke out into a violent battle after the Creeks were declared the winners of the game. Because of the massive attack and the savage play, lacrosse truly was the little brother of war. 

The game also had important religious value to Native Americans. Especially in the Iroquois tribe, lacrosse was played to please the Creator, whom the Natives worshipped. Although the Natives were for the most part polytheistic, the Creator to whom the Iroquois referred is likely the divine leader Deganawidah, who, according to Iroquois legend, united the Six Nations of Iroquois in the 15th or 16th century. For many Natives, a lacrosse competition was a ceremonial replay of the Creation story and of the constant struggle between good and evil. The Natives believed that team selection and victory were supernaturally controlled. The game was also played for other spiritual reasons, such as to bring good weather, to honor the deceased, or to cure the sick. 

As Tony Gray, captain of the 1998 Iroquois National Team says, "We play because we believe it will please the Creator, and he will then help the sick person." Whether for war or spiritual purposes, there were different types of lacrosse played by Native American tribes. Types of sticks used varied in the southeastern, the Great Lakes, and the northeastern regions. The southeastern tribes played a double-stick version of the game. In this variation, a 30-inch stick was held in each hand by a player, and the ball was cupped between them. The Great Lakes tribes played the game with each player using a single three-foot stick. This type of stick had a pocket about three to four inches in diameter only slightly larger than the ball. The northeastern tribes used a stick from which the present version of the lacrosse stick was derived. This stick was more than three feet long and its major difference from other sticks used by Native American tribes was that it had a large triangular pocket which took up two-thirds the length of the shaft. Much more information on the stick craft is available at E-Lacrosse.

THE CREATOR'S GAME

The game of lacrosse was given to the People by the Creator to play for his amusement. Just as a parent will gain much amusement at the sight of watching his child playing joyfully with a new gift, so it was intended that the Creator be similarly amused by viewing his "children" playing lacrosse in a manner which was so defiant of fatigue. This is the belief, and when the four Great Messengers came, the Creator reiterated to the People that his game should be played.

Tewaarathon was not just played to call the Creator's attention to the efforts of the medicine people or simply for one's personal enjoyment and physical fitness. Tewaareathon, because it came from the Creator himself, was also played to bestow honor and respect to these members living on Mother Earth who had done great things for the Nation. Related to this, Tewaarathon also was a means of offering thanksgiving to the Creator for having allowed an elder or medicine person to remain with the Nation so that he could continue to share the richness of his full life with the younger members.

It is true that Tewaarathon does demand physical fitness, and participants would train for many months to prepare themselves for these important games, but what is more significant is that the People believed that all things on Mother Earth were a gift of the Creator and following the Creator's instructions. Because lacrosse was such a gift, the difficult training for Tewaarathon was not seen as a burden of work, but rather this training was enjoyed as a preparation to partaking in a precious gift. A participant in Tewaarathon believed that his ability to play was a gift itself and that the enjoyment of playing rested in freely giving his best effort. Because only the participant really knew when his effort had been well prepared and complete, the training for Tewaarathon was related to enjoying one's gift in the view of the very one who had been so generous. It is unfortunate that the fervor which the People took to the field of play was often misinterpreted by the European eye which was untrained to the relationship between the Indian, Tewaarathon, and the Creator. As for the players, in a game of such great importance, there were no bad feelings for any accidental gestures because both teams realized the sincerity of the effort.

Why did the People play lacrosse with such enthusiasm? As mentioned earlier, part of this explanation lies in the link between lacrosse and its status as a gift from the Creator But lacrosse has an additional spiritual significance as well. In times when an elder or anyone in the Nation became sick, the medicine people would call upon the Life Forces of Mother Earth to remedy the sickness. The medicine people would prepare and administer the medicines obtained from Mother Earth, and then they would call for a lacrosse game to be played to provide additional power for the medicine. The People believed that by demonstrating to the Creator that his people had not forgotten his gift, the Creator would look favorably upon their efforts and therefore would not forget the stricken member. The game was played for the Creator's attention and his fair decision as to whether or not the stricken member recovered or not. The medicine people would prepare and administer the medicines, and the game preceded by sacred ritual would be played with the sincerest effort. If the stricken member failed to recover, no one doubted the decision of the Creator.

February 20, 2001