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
Michael Thompson
I really like this article and the back story behind the game. There are not many other sports who have the same rich history and cool backstory the Lacrosse does. I think it’s amazing that in some cases, instead of going to war, they would just play Lacrosse instead. It would be amazing if today, instead of war, we could just play a sport of some sort and fight it out that way. That way lives wouldn’t be lost, or at the very least destroyed. The Iroquois had the right idea.
Jake Mares
Great article! I think its interesting how Natives were able to make equipment to play with from animals. Today, we have all sorts of manufacturing devices, but they only had their hands. Also, using a sport to train warriors does not seem like a bad idea at all as it tests endurance and coordination.
Cassandra Sanchez
I never knew the origins of Lacrosse and it was interesting to learn that it came from the native American tribes. I can only imagine how intense the games were back then when it was used to settle disputes instead of going to war. Nowadays this sport is just played for fun and leisure so it is sad to see how the significance behind it has been lost.
Sebastian Azcui
This article is very detailed and well written. Lacrosse is not a very famous sport from where I come from, but I know something about it. I find it very interesting for native americans to play it before and “invent” the sport. Now I know where this sport began and what is the origin. Native Americans used it for religious purposes, so this was not a sport for them but instead used for other purposes.
Mauro Bustamante
I did not realize was the gravity of how spiritual lacrosse is to Native Americans, what interested me the most is how multiple tribes from different regions came up with their own variant of the game, while keeping the same basic rules. I found surprising how this game allowed native Americans to connect with other tribes, it seems that the lesson was that in order to work through struggles and hard times was to build and alliance with different people so they can help you. this article was well written and truly informative of how lacrosse was invented by Natives Americans.
Kasandra Ramirez Ferrer
I didn’t know that lacrosse was played by native Americans and how important the game was to them, I think this is a very interesting article because it shows how a game that we play like any other, was something that involved religious believes and traditions in the culture of native Americans. I found surprising how this game allowed native Americans to connect with other tribes, how the used it as a tool and also the meaning the put on the sticks when a person dies the stick gets buried with them.
Raul Vallejo
Learning about the origins of the sports that we love today is very fascinating. I never would have assumed that lacrosse actually originated from the Native Americans. It is also awesome to learn about how much it has changed over time. How now it was a fun and casual sport, back then it was so much more than that.
Jesus Parker
Never realized how much lacrosse meant to the natives. I heard maybe once or twice that the native Americans made up the sport and just thought how they would probably just play the game when they were bored or whatnot. Never would I have guessed the game was used to settle disputes and used in rituals. Very informative article, thanks for informing me.
Roberto Rodriguez
I knew prior to this that native Americans invented lacrosse, but I had no idea how serious it was until after I read this article. I mean a teaching tool for preparing for war, that is just really heavy to think about, I originally just thought it was a game that happened to be violent (because people’s general competitiveness). It is extremely interesting that it was connected to their religion as well. What intrigues me the most after reading this article is how multiple tribes from different regions came up with their own variant of the game, while keeping the same basic rules. It is also amazing how the tradition/sport has stayed alive throughout the years, through all the different time periods that the Americas has gone through lacrosse has still survived.
Alicia Guzman
This is a great article that truly explains the rich culture and meaning of lacrosse, which is so much more than a mere sport. Something that I did not realize was the gravity of how spiritual lacrosse is to Native Americans, it is so beautiful. I love the lesson that is learned from lacrosse, that you will have opponents and struggles but in order to win and survive you must work with and establish allies and friends.