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October 1, 2017

The Creator’s Game: Native American Culture and Lacrosse

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

Ball Players | George Catlin | Hand colored Lithograph on paper | Courtesy of Wikimedia

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

Play of the Choctaw Ball Up | George Catlin | Oil on Canvas | 1843 | Courtesy of Wikimedia

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.

  1.  The Gale Encyclopedia of Fitness, 2012, s.v. ‘”Lacrosse,” by David E. Newton.
  2.  Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2017, s.v., “Lacrosse,” by Justin D. Garcia.
  3. Thomas Vennum Jr., “American Indian Lacrosse: Little Brother of War,” The Journal of American Folklore 108, No. 427 (1995): 98-99.
  4. S. L. Price, “Pride of a Nation,” Sports Illustrated 113, no. 2 (2010): 60-71.
  5. Stanley A. Freed, “Lacrosse yesterday and today,” Cobblestone 15, no.9 (1994): 32.
  6. Joanna Shaw-Eagle, “Catlin saves vanishing Indians on canvas,” The Washington Times, January 4, 2003.
  7. John Seabrook, “Gathering of the Tribes,” New Yorker 74, No. 26, (August 1998): 30.

Recent Comments

154 comments

  • Aidan Fitzgerald

    Extremely interesting article! Seeing how much the sport of lacrosse has grown not only in the United States but across the world makes this article and the pure history behind the sport that much more fascinating. This article makes me want to go back in time just to view one of these games. The significance behind these games and the amount of passion these men played with is probably incomparable to today’s game. The sport of lacrosse has gained so much traction in the last decade that I believe the history of the sport should be embraced and expressed more. Native Americans and their culture own this sport and their history should be broadcasted to a larger audience as the sport continues to grow.

    • Eliana Villarreal

      It was fascinating to read your article and about the origin of the game of lacrosse! I had no idea the name of the game took after a bishop’s crozier. When I first opened the article, the first image had a brutal context and I had no idea what I was about to read but it really goes to show how aggressive the game used to be for the natives. I am glad that the game has now been modernized to not be as rough as it was but the significance of its originality cannot ever be taken away.

  • Tyler Pauly

    I really enjoyed how the author started the article by making us imagine that we were in the moment and playing the game for ourselves. This helps us visualize how Native Americans may have felt playing lacrosse all that time ago. Also, I appreciate the use of the pictures in order to allow us to compare what lacrosse looked like then to how it looks now. It is obviously very different but does still resemble the game that the Native Americans played.

  • Samuel Enriqure Miguel Vega

    I never knew Native American’s created a game such as lacrosse. I was first introduced to Lacrosse in high school. I found it fascinating how the material used for the sticks were made and how the game was used in mediation. The article makes you think more of the origins of other customs and the purposes that they served. This was a great article and it had a lot of great information I did not know about Native Americans.

  • Tomas Salazar

    I had no idea the history behind the sport of Lacrosse. It was fascinating to read how native American tribes used Lacrosse in various ways from training young men for war to settling disputes among people. The game of Lacrosse now is extremely different to how it was once played by the Native Americans. The picture that was attached of what a game of Lacrosse would like is amazing to see the amount of people that were playing at one time. I am glad I know more about the history of Lacrosse and how much it meant to the Native Americans.

  • Amelie Rivas-Berlanga

    I had no idea that lacrosse had such a powerful meaning behind the origin. It is interesting to know that the lacrosse stick meant so much to them that whenever a man dies he is buried with his stick. It seemed they played to prepare for their “wars” and used it to physically strengthen themselves. The oil canvas really captures the essence of what the games consist of, you can see people helping each other up or some people tackling others, and there are two people holding what seems to be a goal post. I wish the history of lacrosse was shown more and taught more because now it just seems like a sport that people play.

  • Kendall Guajardo

    Awesome article! I never knew the origins of lacrosse from the name to even its cultural influence. I have seen time and time again that Native Americans have such a rich history and to know that the game was so different for many different tribes is really interesting. We can even now study the way the sport has evolved from its roots and took on a different meaning to many different types of people today. I understand that now it is predominantly a sport that has transcended to different countries more so but I never knew that Native Americans made it. Very insightful to see such a great influence from Native American to different countries throughout the world. Who would have known a mediation tool would become so popular?

  • David Castaneda Picon

    This is a great article, and a very interesting story. I was not very familiar with this sport until I came to this country. However, it amazes me the story that goes behind this sport called Lacrosse, it is very intriguing how this game is very ancient and how has been changing over time, nowadays this sport is just played for fun but is incredible how in the past Lacrosse was used to train warriors among other interesting things.

  • Berenice Alvarado

    It is amazing to know that lacrosse wasn’t only a game to the Native Americans. And even though now it was lost it’s meaning I thank this article for teaching me that this game once had a meaning to people. I remember watching an old movie which was about how Aztecs would fight by playing soccer. I know it isn’t the same game but which ever team that lost would get sacrificed to their God. And I thought it was ridiculous but also crazy how much meaning these games had before.

  • Raul Colunga

    It is fascinating to learn that the game of lacrosse originated from Native Americans. Also, the scale of the game compared to what it is now is massive. It is crazy to think that a thousand people can participate in a game. It is interesting that the Creator’s Game was used to deal with disputes rather than going to war.

  • Sara Guerrero

    This story reminds me of another story I saw about Cricket and African Tribes playing the game and is believed that Europeans got Cricket from them. The most interesting part was that these Native American tribes like you said for instance the Iroquois played this game and it had a religious purpose for them and it was meaningful. I didn’t know the history behind it and this publication shows that New Historicism perspective.

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