WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:25.440 This is a lacrosse stick. 00:25.440 --> 00:27.640 It's used to play lacrosse. 00:27.640 --> 00:29.800 This is also a lacrosse stick. 00:29.800 --> 00:33.880 This is an example of the kind used by native peoples in the Great Lakes area. 00:33.880 --> 00:39.240 They played the original game of lacrosse hundreds of years before the modern game was developed. 00:39.240 --> 00:42.000 But lacrosse wasn't limited to the Great Lakes. 00:42.000 --> 00:46.800 Versions of the game were played by indigenous people across many parts of North America. 00:46.800 --> 00:49.920 And it turns out lacrosse wasn't just a game. 00:49.920 --> 00:54.480 It could also be medicine, spirituality, or even a substitute for war. 00:54.480 --> 00:59.800 And thanks to a combination of oral tradition, physical artifacts, and written records, 00:59.800 --> 01:03.520 we can explore the deep history and significance of this sport. 01:03.520 --> 01:08.260 So let's dive into one of the oldest games in the Americas, a game that's still being 01:08.260 --> 01:16.000 played by native peoples today. 01:16.000 --> 01:17.840 What is lacrosse? 01:17.840 --> 01:23.520 Lacrosse is a western term for a game that has been played throughout what is now the 01:23.520 --> 01:24.520 United States. 01:24.520 --> 01:27.720 Lots of different tribes have their version of it. 01:27.720 --> 01:29.440 Sometimes you'll see different sticks. 01:29.440 --> 01:32.360 But basically it's got the same premise for everybody. 01:32.360 --> 01:36.000 So with Taylor and everybody, welcome to the Indian Community School, it's a beautiful 01:36.000 --> 01:37.000 and amazing place. 01:37.000 --> 01:38.520 So my name is Avery Anderson. 01:38.520 --> 01:42.520 My coach lacrosse here at Indian Community School, Mark Denning is my mentor. 01:42.520 --> 01:47.320 We started coaching, started doing clinics across the city to help revitalize traditional 01:47.320 --> 01:49.200 lacrosse in Milwaukee. 01:49.200 --> 01:54.320 The traditional native game of lacrosse has a history that goes back hundreds of years. 01:54.320 --> 01:58.400 Many native peoples across Eastern North America played some version of this game. 01:58.400 --> 02:02.960 The basic elements were a ball, an area of play, and a lacrosse stick. 02:02.960 --> 02:07.520 Unlike the modern game, the native game could vary in the number of players and the size 02:07.520 --> 02:08.720 of the playing field. 02:08.720 --> 02:13.400 Dozens or even hundreds of people might play in a game, and the area could be much larger 02:13.400 --> 02:15.440 than today's lacrosse fields. 02:15.440 --> 02:19.320 So in speaking to this kind of game, there's no boundaries. 02:19.320 --> 02:24.160 So wherever the ball goes, if it goes off into wherever it might be, or in the water, 02:24.160 --> 02:27.640 or behind something, that's your play. 02:27.640 --> 02:28.640 That's where it is. 02:28.640 --> 02:32.560 We didn't want to interfere with the spirit of what's happening in that game. 02:32.560 --> 02:35.320 That game has a life, just as we have a life and a purpose. 02:35.320 --> 02:37.880 Our games have a life and a purpose. 02:37.880 --> 02:40.400 How do we know about lacrosse's history? 02:40.400 --> 02:44.720 Some of our knowledge comes from the oral traditions and histories of native people. 02:44.720 --> 02:48.960 Many of these stories emphasize the game being a gift from the creator. 02:48.960 --> 02:54.840 Our stories are about entities that existed before humans existed, and they were playing 02:54.840 --> 02:55.840 it. 02:55.840 --> 02:56.840 We learned from them. 02:56.840 --> 03:01.920 This game was gifted by creation, and others took part in it, the ones above, the ones 03:01.920 --> 03:05.080 of this earth as we walk on it, and the ones below. 03:05.080 --> 03:08.680 They'd all take part in the game, and we were the inheritors of it. 03:08.680 --> 03:12.280 We also get some of this history from Europeans who saw the game. 03:12.280 --> 03:17.480 The Jesuit missionary Jean de Berbeuf mentioned lacrosse in the 1630s during his travels in 03:17.480 --> 03:19.480 the eastern Great Lakes area. 03:19.480 --> 03:24.640 If there is a poor, sick man, fevered of body and almost dying, some healer will order 03:24.640 --> 03:27.960 for him a game of lacrosse as a cooling remedy. 03:27.960 --> 03:32.440 Sometimes also, one of these healers will say that the whole country side is sick, and 03:32.440 --> 03:35.240 he prescribes a game of lacrosse to heal it. 03:35.240 --> 03:38.200 So was lacrosse a game or was it medicine? 03:38.280 --> 03:43.400 Well, it could be a lot of things, and native people today keep this tradition alive. 03:43.400 --> 03:48.680 So when we talk about traditional lacrosse, we play games not just for social purposes, 03:48.680 --> 03:50.320 but very much deeper than that. 03:50.320 --> 03:55.320 So we have medicine games that can be for healing, it can be for supporting people who 03:55.320 --> 04:00.800 are going through a hard time, and the community wants to kind of show up and surround those 04:00.800 --> 04:04.680 people with community, with love, with food, with gifts. 04:04.680 --> 04:10.160 And so maintaining the game of traditional lacrosse is a responsibility that we hold 04:10.160 --> 04:13.560 because it is cultural, it's traditional to us. 04:13.560 --> 04:18.560 Lacrosse could also be a means of settling disputes, and even a way to avoid war. 04:18.560 --> 04:23.040 I remember my uncles, and my uncle telling me about people could choose war to settle 04:23.040 --> 04:28.200 disputes, but there was a game that existed, and in playing that game that we could settle 04:28.200 --> 04:33.080 our disputes and find peace, and that was a game of lacrosse. 04:33.080 --> 04:38.280 So instead of going to war, right, true clans, families, nations could say, we're 04:38.280 --> 04:43.240 going to agree to a game, and the victor of that game is going to carry the day or the 04:43.240 --> 04:44.240 argument. 04:44.240 --> 04:47.120 What about the sticks used to play lacrosse? 04:47.120 --> 04:49.800 These varied based on the people and the area. 04:49.800 --> 04:55.160 The first drawing we have of a lacrosse stick is from 1790 by the Italian explorer Count 04:55.160 --> 04:56.800 Paolo Andriani. 04:56.800 --> 04:59.000 His drawing shows an Iroquois style stick. 04:59.000 --> 05:02.880 It has a bent staff and a large webbed net where the ball would be held, but in the 05:02.880 --> 05:06.560 Great Lakes area, the sticks were generally a different style. 05:06.560 --> 05:10.840 We got a close look at one of these at the Lacrosse County Historical Society. 05:10.840 --> 05:13.200 So this is a lacrosse stick. 05:13.200 --> 05:15.640 Will you walk me through the design of it? 05:15.640 --> 05:16.880 What is going on here? 05:16.880 --> 05:22.920 This stick is probably over a hundred years old when it was gifted to the Historical Society. 05:22.920 --> 05:27.440 Lacrosse sticks are made out of harder woods, a lot of times hickory will be used, and 05:27.440 --> 05:29.360 they will use steam. 05:29.360 --> 05:34.000 And what they do is that they have this basic, the shaft of it, but then you come up here 05:34.000 --> 05:35.920 and it's a lot narrower. 05:35.920 --> 05:41.680 And so then they use the steam to bend it into this circle, and then they'll use leather 05:41.680 --> 05:45.000 or sinew to tie it together. 05:45.000 --> 05:49.640 So then you just have a circle right here, and then just the more leather straps go into 05:49.640 --> 05:51.840 the middle to create a net. 05:51.840 --> 05:56.000 So this is where you would both catch the ball and then throw the ball as well. 05:56.520 --> 05:57.520 Hold on. 05:57.520 --> 06:00.600 Is the city of Lacrosse named after the game? 06:00.600 --> 06:01.600 Yes. 06:01.600 --> 06:07.520 The American explorer Zebulon Pike wrote about the area back in the early 1800s, September 06:07.520 --> 06:13.280 12th, past the Racine River, also a prairie called Lacrosse, from a game of ball played 06:13.280 --> 06:16.000 frequently on it by the Sioux Indians. 06:16.000 --> 06:20.160 But why was the game of Lacrosse called Lacrosse by Europeans? 06:20.160 --> 06:25.360 If we look at the first written records of the game, Europeans use the phrase je de 06:25.360 --> 06:30.840 cross, or je de la cross, and French je means game. 06:30.840 --> 06:34.680 And cross can mean a curve stick used to play a game. 06:34.680 --> 06:38.560 Even today, a hockey stick might be called a cross in French. 06:38.560 --> 06:44.200 So the French writers who saw the native game called it je de la cross. 06:44.200 --> 06:47.840 This was a term they already used for other ball and stick games. 06:47.880 --> 06:51.040 Eventually, this was shortened to just Lacrosse. 06:51.040 --> 06:55.200 But native peoples have long had their own names for this game. 06:55.200 --> 06:57.960 What is the traditional name for the game of Lacrosse? 06:57.960 --> 07:02.760 So with the Hochunk, what we call it is chabna, which is actually the stick that we're talking 07:02.760 --> 07:03.760 about. 07:03.760 --> 07:08.480 Sometimes you can also see it referred to as chabnaikisik, but for the most part it's 07:08.480 --> 07:09.720 just chabna. 07:09.720 --> 07:15.240 Other tribes will have other words that they use to call the game or the stick, but for 07:15.240 --> 07:18.320 us it's chabnaikis, the stick and it's the game. 07:18.320 --> 07:23.520 The modern game of Lacrosse was developed in the 1860s by a Canadian named George Beers. 07:23.520 --> 07:27.440 He based it on a version of the game that was played by the Mohawk. 07:27.440 --> 07:32.680 Unfortunately, the game's native origins didn't mean it was open to indigenous people. 07:32.680 --> 07:35.320 Native players were often banned from playing. 07:35.320 --> 07:38.120 This likely happened for a lot of reasons. 07:38.120 --> 07:42.720 Partly there was concern that native players were too good, and partly this was a way to 07:42.720 --> 07:44.640 erase indigenous culture. 07:44.640 --> 07:49.040 But in the last few decades, native people have worked hard to reclaim both the modern 07:49.040 --> 07:51.560 game and their traditional Lacrosse. 07:51.560 --> 07:54.320 Both of you all played Lacrosse yourselves. 07:54.320 --> 07:59.680 What has been the experience like playing versus teaching other folks how to play, especially 07:59.680 --> 08:01.240 with that cultural element? 08:01.240 --> 08:07.320 I love playing Lacrosse because like you said, it's that responsibility to maintain our culture, 08:07.320 --> 08:08.560 and then it feels good. 08:08.560 --> 08:12.680 I'm an athlete, so I love to move, I love to, you know, the healthy movement, get your 08:12.680 --> 08:17.000 blood pumping, a little healthy competition, but then when I come into a space where I 08:17.000 --> 08:23.240 get to teach it and offer that to a larger group, that's that responsibility. 08:23.240 --> 08:24.560 It's like being multiplied. 08:24.560 --> 08:26.360 We need to really give sport. 08:26.360 --> 08:27.360 It's right full due. 08:27.360 --> 08:33.400 It's not for everyone and every child, but for sure, at this school, there's a spot in 08:33.400 --> 08:35.240 Lacrosse for everyone. 08:35.240 --> 08:39.160 Why do you feel like Lacrosse is an important part of a digital culture? 08:39.160 --> 08:40.800 Because it's been used for several things. 08:40.800 --> 08:45.120 It's a part of our stories about our past and our spirits. 08:45.120 --> 08:48.600 It is just a way to relax and have fun. 08:48.600 --> 08:54.920 And it's even been resolving conflicts with other tribes, not just within our own villages. 08:54.920 --> 09:01.080 So it's been a very integral part of how our society worked and resolved things, but also 09:01.080 --> 09:03.320 how we just enjoyed life. 09:03.320 --> 09:07.080 The story of Lacrosse is part of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of 09:07.080 --> 09:08.080 North America. 09:08.160 --> 09:12.360 It's preserved in their oral traditions and objects like Lacrosse sticks, and in the 09:12.360 --> 09:15.880 writings of people who witnessed the game hundreds of years ago. 09:15.880 --> 09:19.840 Sports and games of all types are super important to people everywhere. 09:19.840 --> 09:21.960 So what's the story behind your favorite game?