Imagine running across a field. You’re tired and out of breath. You’ve been in what seems like an endless game. From sun up to sundown you’re running and fighting to make a goal. To some, it may seem like a game, but not to you. To you, it’s part of your culture, your religion, and, to you, the outcome matters.
Lacrosse was first played by Native American tribes in different regions of North America. There were many different versions of the game, rules, numbers of players, and sizes of the fields that would change depending on the tribe. Names of the game also varied, and included Creators’ Game, Baggataway, and Tewaaraton, which translates to “little brother of war.”1
The name that we know today as lacrosse came about in 1636 when French Missionary Jean de Brebeuf compared the shape of the sticks used by players of the game to a bishop’s crozier, which is ‘‘crosse’’ in French.2
For many Native American tribes, lacrosse wasn’t just a sport, but rather part of their culture and their religion. Since the game was very rough and people could be injured and even die while playing, the Iroquois used lacrosse as a way of training young men to be warriors, and the game was used to settle disputes without actually going to war. This is why lacrosse is nicknamed “little brother of war.”3 Lacrosse also had religious significance among some tribes. It was called the Creator’s Game, and it helped the players put their lives into perspective and teach lessons, some of the most valuable lessons being that everyone has struggles and opponents and the key to survival is friends and allies.
In the culture of the Iroquois, when a man dies, his lacrosse stick is buried with him. They believed that the first thing he would do when he wakes up in the afterlife is to take the stick from his coffin and begin playing that day.4
Native American lacrosse was often played on a stretch of land up to two miles long with sticks between 3-5 feet long made of wood and animal skin. A game could include between one-hundred to one-thousand players at a time. There was no set time to the games. The two teams would agree on a set amount of points and would play from sunrise to sunset until the amount of points was achieved.5 Violence and injuries were very common, and players would often walk away with minor cuts, broken bones, head injuries, and occasionally a death would occur.
Few people can claim to have experienced a Native American game of Lacrosse. Artist George Catlin had a passion for learning about Native Americans, and how they lived. He once said that “If my life is spared, nothing shall stop me short of visiting every nation of Indians on the Continent of North America.” He attended a major Choctaw lacrosse game in 1834. In his time there, he recorded everything that he saw and described how the game was set up from the length of the field and deciding where the goals would be places, to how each team was set up. He described how the night before the match both teams danced and chanted all night. Each team had a medicine man who chanted incantations to strengthen their team and weaken the other. He recorded his experiences through paintings and writings.6
Lacrosse is a sport that has a beautiful history and carries a meaning that many of us will never be able to understand. To Native Americans, lacrosse was a sport, a teaching tool, a religion, and a way to connect their cultures with other tribes.7 Today the history and meaning behind lacrosse has been lost, and to many it has become just another sport played for recreation and friendly competition.
- The Gale Encyclopedia of Fitness, 2012, s.v. ‘”Lacrosse,” by David E. Newton. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2017, s.v., “Lacrosse,” by Justin D. Garcia. ↵
- Thomas Vennum Jr., “American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War,” The Journal of American Folklore 108, No. 427 (1995): 98-99. ↵
- S. L. Price, “Pride of a Nation,” Sports Illustrated 113, no. 2 (2010): 60-71. ↵
- Stanley A. Freed, “Lacrosse yesterday and today,” Cobblestone 15, no.9 (1994): 32. ↵
- Joanna Shaw-Eagle, “Catlin saves vanishing Indians on canvas,” The Washington Times, January 4, 2003. ↵
- John Seabrook, “Gathering of the Tribes,” New Yorker 74, No. 26, (August 1998): 30. ↵
154 comments
Cheyanne Redman
I have little knowledge on lacrosse, I have family members who grew up playing it but the tradition pretty much died out. It is interesting to see that the native Americans played lacrosse to settle problems, instead of fighting they played a game. There was no bloodshed and no casualties. I feel like this should be implemented in today’s society to solve issues rather than going to war.
Carlos Vazquez
Lacrosse is one of those obscure sports not many people know about. Before reading this article, I didn’t know Lacrosse came from a mixture of many different Native American cultures. I had seen the sport being played in movies and television and it’s interesting to see how the Native Americans played the sport to train young men for war and even buried people with their lacrosse stick.
Clarissa Bustamante
This was a very interesting article. It was very well put together. I am a bug sports person but when it comes to lacrosse I know very little about it. It is amazing how instead of going into war with many native americans they stayed and played a game. This lacrosse game taught many lessons and created several bridges between tribes. Even if the game was on an intense side there was never a time when the tribes would go against each other off the playing field.
Alejandra Mendez
This was such a great and well written article! It contained so much information about lacrosse I never would have imagined. I never thought of what the origins of lacrosse were, but I definitely did not know that it came from Native Americans. However, based on how their equipment for the sport was like, I could definitely see the similarities between modern day lacrosse and the lacrosse that they played. It is also amazing how instead of going to war, they would play a game. If only it were that way today.
Dayna Valdez
Prior to reading this article, I had some knowledge of the game and its history. However, I got a better understanding of of a culture and religion. I really liked how the article began, it was a great way to get reader’s attention also, you included very great images that allowed me to compare from how it was and how it is.
Edward Cerna
It is really interesting learning the story behind lacrosse and finding out the origins of its creation. I have never really been interested in lacrosse but this story really spiked an interest in it for me. This article had lots of great information that shows the amount of research put in to it so good job.
Megan Barnett
The introduction to this article was for sure different than others as it left me with curiosity as to what the author was going to talk about. I had always assumed lacrosse came from some other country, but I had no idea Native American tribes came up with it. Even though I would never consider playing this version of Lacrosse it was interesting to learn about it.
Erik Shannon
This was a very interesting article. The author did a very good job at putting this article together. The introduction really brought the reader in and kept the very interested in the reading. I did not originally know that lacrosse was originally played by Native Americans. I also did not know that this was looked as a religious tradition. Overall, this was a very good article.
Mario Sosa
I enjoyed this article, as I never knew how important lacrosse was to the Native Americans or how the sport originally came from them. Honestly, what really surprised me was how lacrosse was used to settle disputes. If only conflicts could just as easily be solved by playing sports everywhere else, especially in 20th century Europe. Nice introduction, very informative article; excellent job!
Robert Rees
Calling this article informative does not do it justice. I never knew much about lacrosse other than players used sticks with nets to catch and carry a ball, in fact I assumed it had been invented somewhere in Europe. To learn that Native American tribes not only invented lacrosse, but that it was such an important part of their faith and culture that players were buried with their sticks so they could use them in the next life, similar to the pharaohs of Egypt, is incredible. I also found it rather interesting that lacrosse was used as form of diplomacy by being an alternative form of war.