Knife River Indian Villages - Teachers Guide games & recreation

UNIT 5...GAMES and RECREATION

Like all people, American Indians had to devote considerable amounts of time to economic tasks such as gardening and hunting. They still enjoyed leisure time, however, to practice sports, music, dance, and other art forms. In fact, games and recreation were an important part of Indian culture throughout North America. Many of the games enjoyed by the Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara Indians were also played by groups on other parts of the continent. Sports and games not only provided fun and excitement for the participants, but athletic contests such as racing and archery helped to develop physical skills. Some sports invented by American Indians, such as lacrosse, are still played in our culture today.

Among the Village Indians, men, women, and children each had their own forms of amusement. There were also some activities enjoyed by everyone. Children often played by pretending to be adults, much as they do today. By imitating the behaviors of their parents, they learned skills and behavior they would need when they grew up. When not helping their mothers and grandmothers, small girls played in and near their earthlodge homes with their playmates. Buffalo Bird Woman, a Hidatsa, born in a village along the Knife River said, "I look back upon my girlhood as the happiest time of my life. How I should like to see all my little girl playmates again!" Little girls played with dolls made of squash or corn stalks; they also had deerskin dolls stuffed with antelope hair with bead eyes and horsehair braids. Their grandmothers made clothes and cradles for the dolls. Little girls also made little figurines and toy houses out of the clay found near the river. Small girls and boys played with a variety of toys, such as cylindrical wooden tops, dolls and whistles.

Buffalo Bird Woman remembered that in the summertime groups of little girls would gather long willow branches to make a playhouse (Figure 22). Their mothers would give them food such as dried or boiled meat and berries, and they would pretend that they were giving a feast. Sometimes they invited little boys to be their husbands, and they would order them to go and hunt like their fathers did. The boy's mothers would laugh and give them scraps of meat to take back to their play wives.

Girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen were fond of a game called "tossing in a blanket" or "foot moving" (Figure 23). This game required fifteen to twenty players. A newly dried buffalo skin was scraped clean of hair. Holes were cut every few inches around the edge, and wooden stakes were thrust through the holes and twisted to make handles. This hide was then placed over a pile of brush and weeds stacked near the edge of the village. Each player would grip a handle and leaning back would pull the skin tight, creating a sort of trampoline. A girl would lie down in the
middle of the hide, and then, with a quick pull of the handles, she would be tossed into the air! The object of the game was to see how many times she could be tossed into the air and still land on her feet. She should be able to move her feet many times while in the air, and should turn to the right and left as she landed.

Girls also played several ball games. Using a big, soft leather ball stuffed with antelope hair, they tried to see who could kick the ball into the air the most times without it ever hitting the ground. (This game is much the same as the modern game of "Hacky-sac".) Some girls could do this more than 100 times! Older women also played this game, using fancy balls decorated with porcupine quills. Prizes were given to the winners. Women and girls also played another ball game where they used long, hooked sticks. Teams tried to move a hide covered ball past their opponents to a goal, which was usually two stakes in the ground.

Little boys often staged "mock" hunts. Some were the hunters and some, pretending to be animals, were the hunted. Their fathers would make them small bows and blunt-tipped arrows, which the boys would shoot at targets or small animals and birds. They built small lodges and set up mock hunting or eagle trapping camps much as their father and uncles did. They also liked to get together and mock raid their own lodges, making off with some meat or other food. Then they took these treats to their play camps and had a feast.

A game similar to "follow the leader" was played at sunset by boys and girls about eight to ten years old. A group of children, either boys or girls or both together, formed a line each taking hold of the shirt or dress of the child in front of them. They would march through the village singing and following their leader under the corn drying stages, around posts, through earthlodges, wherever they were led. At times they would stop and sing in front of a lodge where a group of adults were gathered. This game would allow young people to move around the village and become familiar with places which they may not have been before. It would also keep them in groups so they could more easily be watched by a supervising adult. A similar game for boys was called "follow the bad road". In this game young boys followed each other down a very difficult path. The boys did not hang on to each other in this game. If one of them stumbled or fell, he had to go to the end of the line. This sort of game would develop strength, surefootedness and agility.

Games involving both throwing and running were very popular with Plains Indian boys and men. One such game consisted of throwing a spear or shooting an arrow into a rawhide-laced hoop which was rolled over the ground by an opponent. The score was determined where the spear or arrow came in contact with a series of concentric circles on the hoop. (This game is very similar to one described later, called "tchung-kee".) The hoop and pole game was similar. In this game, two or three boys each with three or four rawhide-laced hoops, played on a team. The teams faced each other about thirty yards apart. The players on one side rolled the hoops forward; opposing players tried to catch the hoops on the points of long lance-like sticks. A hoop caught in this way was then thrown back at the team which had rolled the hoops. Play would continue until all the hoops were caught, at which time the opposing side gave chase to the hoop throwers. This game was played only in the early spring. When the Missouri River ice broke up, the young boys would go to a high bluff over looking the river and throw all the hoops into the water. According to Hidatsa tradition, the hoops would be transformed into dead buffalo after they had passed out of sight around the first bend in the river.

Men and boys played a team game called "shinny". Much like field hockey, this game involved moving a rawhide-covered ball towards a goal by using long, curved sticks. Players were allowed to touch the ball with their feet, but not with their hands. This game was played throughout North America. Sometimes two tribes played against each other, or one band or village would challenge their neighbors. There might be as many as forty players on a team. Great bets were often placed on these matches. Leaders would choose the teams and oversee the betting. Horses, buffalo robes, guns, knives, and other valuable items were wagered by players on both sides. The winning team would then distribute these goods among its members.

Horse racing and foot racing were also very popular among the men and boys. Many of the Indian villages had horse racing tracks, which often were several miles long. Indians liked horses that were not only fast, but could also run for long distances. They loved to challenge each other to see whose horse was the best runner. After white people came to their country, Indians often challenged them to horse races, and even though the Indian ponies were small and differently formed from the eastern horses, they almost always won these races. Foot racing was also very popular throughout North America. Young men were warned not to smoke, because it caused the runners to become short of breath. Foot and horse races were not only exciting, but they helped to develop stamina, agility and speed. These skills were an important part of warfare and hunting. Betting was also an important part of these races; many valuable items often rested on their outcome.

Perhaps the most popular sport among the Hidatsa and Mandan and other groups as well, was a field game called "tchung-kee" (chun-kee). The village Indians built special tchung-kee grounds just outside of the village. The ground, or clay, was smoothed and packed hard for a distance of about 50 yards, and bushes were planted around the sides as a windbreak. Logs were placed on each side of this alley to keep the playing sticks and balls from glancing off the field. In some cases the Hidatsa and Mandan even constructed this playing surface out of wood, smoothed and joined so as to be as level as a house floor. The game was played in teams, with two opposing men competing in each turn. Each player carried two poles about seven to eight feet long, with bunches of feathers or leather tied onto them at regular intervals. Starting at the same end of the playing area, the men ran together, side by side, each carrying a pole in a horizontal position. One of them then rolled a round, polished stone with a hole in the center in front of them, and each threw his stick, trying to spear the tchung-kee stone. Points were counted for the "deepest" catch, as measured by the feathers or thongs. If neither player had caught the stone on his pole, the one who came closest was considered the winner, and got to throw the stone the next time. This game was played for hours at a time in both summer and winter.

The most popular women's game was called "double ball". This game was played by three teams with two deerskin bags about five inches long, attached together by a thong. These "double balls" were tossed around from sticks about five to six feet long. Of the three teams playing, two were on defense and one on offense at any given time. The goal posts were usually long, low tree branches, often as much as a quarter of a mile apart. To begin the game, the "double ball" was laid on the ground between the teams. At a signal, the players rushed forward, the object being to catch the ball, throw it into the air and then, by passing it to one another, throw it over the goal post. This game was played largely by young, unmarried women.

Some games were played only in the winter. When the weather began to turn cold, the Hidatsa and Mandan moved out of their big summer villages and into smaller ones among the trees by the river. Sometimes a family built two connecting earthlodges, one smaller than the other, called a "twin lodge." The small earthlodges were easier to heat and were often used by the children as playhouses. On winter evenings, families would gather there around the fire, and listen to the grandfather and grandmother tell stories and legends.

Many games and sports were played on the ice of the Missouri River. A favorite one was played with objects called "ice gliders" or "ice slides". Ice gliders were made of buffalo, elk, or deer ribs; feathers were stuck into one end. Usually geometric designs were carved into one or both sides of the rib bone. A course about 100 yards long was marked off on the ice; the object was to see who could slide the glider the furthest with the most accuracy.

Young women sat on the ice wrapped in buffalo robes and played gambling games. A common one was played by two teams with two to eight players each. As in many such amusements, the object was to slide a game piece to a goal. In this case, a bone thrower made from a buffalo vertebra was used to propel the gaming piece towards the goal, which was a piece of wood about three inches long, notched at each end and painted red. The game piece itself was either a flat, circular river pebble or a small, square piece of buffalo vertebra. Such bone pieces were usually decorated with two carved lines stretching from corner to corner and crossing in the center.

A favorite winter pastime for children was sledding. Young boys and girls coasted over frozen drifts on buffalo robes or on natural sleds created by a section of four or five buffalo ribs still attached to each other. Older children used sturdy sleds made of buffalo ribs bound together with sinew and covered with a buffalo hide pad. These were guided by the sledder's heels.

A wide variety of hand games and gambling games were popular throughout the year and were played by both men and women. One was called "dish raised up". Five bone dice, each marked with a different design, were tossed in a plate-shaped basket. The score was kept according to the points represented by the various design combinations, each being worth a certain number of points. Counting sticks were used to keep track of the score.

A very common type of hand game throughout North American is one in which an object is hidden, either in the hands or in another object such as a moccasin. The object of the game is to guess the location of the game piece. These old games are still played today, especially on the Plains and on the West Coast. This game is played by teams, and is often accompanied by drumming and singing. In one version played by the Mandan, two teams of five sit in front of each other and take turns guessing where their opponents have hidden a game piece. Counting sticks are used to keep track of the score. The rules of this game are outlined later, so that you can play it if you would like.

Summary

Many games and sports were developed and enjoyed by American Indians. Most of their athletic events were strenuous and developed qualities such as stamina, speed, and agility. These skills were necessary for survival in the harsh Plains environment.
In addition to promoting physical strength and health, recreational activities provided Native Americans with a chance to interact with their friends and with people from other groups. The gambling, which was such a popular accompaniment to nearly every recreational activity, helped to distribute wealth among the group. Native American societies had many such "leveling mechanisms" which worked to minimize economic differences between people.

Some of the sports developed by American Indians, such as shinny and lacrosse, are still played by people today. This is only one of the many ways in which American Indians contributed to our society. Can you think of others?