Everything of Indigenous North American Stickball Game or Brother of Wars
Stickball is an ancient sport of native people. The game is still practiced in today’s society with great joy and gained quite a popularity all over the world. People have adopted the game in many cultures and one of the most renowned versions is Lacrosse.
Modern-day stickball talks about the rich cultural heritage of Native Americans. Google Doodle announces September Native American Heritage Month.
The sports hold so many histories and rituals of native people. Throughout the game, people get to know the enrich traditions of indigenous peoples.
Below we are going to discuss everything about Indigenous North American Stickball.
So, let’s start.
History of Indigenous Stickball
The history of stickball dates back to the 17th century. It has a long history and rich culture associated with several Native American tribes. The native tribes first started playing stickball among themselves and 200 years later the sport became famous all over the world.
Stickball’s literal name means wars of little brother. One of the major reasons the game was invented was that the tribes stopped fighting among themselves and instead played games. The plan worked very successfully. The game reduces tribes’ wars by a great number. Through the game, people can settle their problems and enjoy a playful time.
Stickball Role in War
The history of stickball games is connected with the Revolutionary War in America. Sports has played an active role in the war at Mackinac Island, Michigan. The British had an army fort in Michigan called Fort Mackinac. This was built to control the Straits of Mackinac for the fur trade on the Great Lake.
The native Americans always had problems with the British. So, in 1763 natives tried to enter into the fort to take control of it. They use stickball for the attack in the fort. The chief of Ottawas tribes Chief Pontiac planned for this invasion.
He invited soldiers to their village to watch the stickball games and enjoy festivals which were arranged in honor of the King’s birthday. When soldiers were enjoying festivals and food the stickball players tried to reach the fort. They were close enough to rush the fort and massacre them.
Stickball Evaluation to Lacrosse
This is how the story of stickball started to rise and take shape into modern-day stickball. The game gained huge popularity in 1834 when the Caughnawaga Indians demonstrated a game of stickball in Montreal, Canada. Many Canadians took the very seriously and found it very interesting.
From this interest in stickball sports, Canada developed a new game named lacrosse. We are familiar with lacrosse games, it was originally inspired by stickball. William George Beers who is known as the father of lacrosse codified the lacrosse game in 1856 from the rules of stickball.
Stickball First Recorded in History
In history, the games were first talked about in the mid-17th century. Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary is the first one to reveal stickball to the world. He saw many many Indian games and wrote about them.
He watched Wyandot people play their native stickball games. Brébeuf condemned the game because of its violence. Even though he said the game was very violent many English colonists were captivated by it and began playing the game themselves.
The game was always out of most Americans’ knowledge. The game was revival across the southern region of North America in the mid-to-late-20th century.
Indigenous North American Stickball Rituals
The native Americans have rituals for everything. They practice and follow so many rules for every occasion. Stickball is a very important event for all the native American tribes. Participating in the game is like going to war as the event is a way to settle disputes between villages and keep peace.
Before the game night, the whole village and all the communities gathered together. They enjoy the night together and prepare their players for the next day’s big event. The preparation and rituals for the game are quite similar to the rituals associated with war.
Ball Dance rituals
The night before the game is dated to be played, the tribe organizes a ball dance. All the communities of the village join in that tribal ball dance. The native American tribal ball dances consist of conjuring ceremonies and spiritual songs. Besides these two, they also do a few practices. They believe that rituals and practices will bring good luck to the team.
In the rituals, players wear dresses that are specially designed for themselves. They appeared in the rituals with ceremonial regalia. At the ceremony, tribes make sacrifices to the God. Players of the stickball make scared expressions and yell to intimidate opponents.
Shaman rituals
The medicine man is the spiritual leader of the tribe. He performed rituals to prepare the players and their sticks for the next day’s battle. The shaman called players one by one and took them away from the dance. Under the shaman’s order players perform a mystic rite known as the “going to water”.
While being in the water the shaman blesses the players and gives them ritualistic scratches. It has been said the scratches are given so that the blood flow can run more freely during the game. The spirit in the rituals gives energy to players and encourages them to win the game at any how.
Player’s rituals
Besides shaman rituals, players take some preparation all by themselves. They decorate their bodies with different types of art, and they use different types of paints and charcoal for that. Players also paint their sticks or stick racks with different kinds of objects. These painted objects represent qualities that are needed to win the game.
Every player of the game takes heavy athletic preparation for the game. Alongside athletic training, players are bound by strict taboos about what they can eat and what they can’t before the game. Until the game finishes, players fast and do not take certain foods.
Players banned themselves from eating certain foods in hopes that the absence of these foods would enhance the player’s mental, spiritual, and physical quality. These will make a player more capable of moving the team towards a win in the game.
Stickball Game Wager
When the game day finally arrived players slowly walked onto the field for rituals. There is a rule of the game, before the stickball match starts every player in the match must put something on the wager. Players place various things on the wagers such as handkerchiefs, knives, trinkets, and horses.
These bets of the game are displayed on a rack near the spectator. In many events, players place their wives and even children at stake for the game. After the game, these items are awarded proportionally to the winner of each quarter. After the end of the game, each tribe arranges another ceremony along with a great feast for the hungry players.
Rules of Indigenous North American Stickball Doodle
The basic rules of stickball are pretty simple, you put the ball into the opposite team goalpost post and you score a point. Scoring points by going is the main point of the game. When it comes to other rules and regulations it becomes quite obscure because, in different parts of the country, the game is played by different rules.
For example, the rules of the Choctaw stickball are different from the rules of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians stickball or Chickasaw Stickball. They say, that stickball, it’s never the same game because the rules change in every game.
However, there are some common basic rules in all the stickball. Let’s see,
Team Players
Stickball is a team sport, however, there are no certain rules about how many players each team will have for the match. Mostly, in games, each team formed with 12 players but that number could be less or more in other games.
For the stickball tournament, the stickball organizer recently formed a new rule that says each team can’t have more than 30 players on the field. Many times it’s been seen that 26 players in each team play stickball at a time.
Drivers
Drivers are like the referees of the game. Each team brings its own driver for the game. Before the game start, the two team’s referee sit together and settle down the rules of the game. They work together throughout the match and observe closely to make sure that the game is being played according to the rules they agreed upon.
Scoring
Various methods are used for scoring in stickball. Before the game, drivers determined exactly how points would be scored in the game. Some run past the goal to score, throw it past the goal, or circle the goal post with the ball to score, there are many different rules of scoring.
Timing
There is no definite fixed time in stickball in most of the places. Whichever team can score 12 points first become the winner.
Handling The Ball
To move the ball, players must always use the stick. It’s strictly against the rule to pick up or catch the ball down the field with a hand. There are rules to touch the ball. Players can hold the ball after they pick it up from the ground.
Injury
If a team player had to leave the field because of an injury then opponent drivers select a player from their team and send him to the bench to maintain both sides even.
Other
Stickball is mostly played without any shirts on, however, in some places they wear t-shirts and shorts for the game. Players of stickball do not wear any sort of padding or protective gear, pads, or helmets.
Slamming or clothes-lining is forbidden in the game. Swinging sticks at other players and hitting below the knees are illegal in the game.
Stickball Sticks, Ball and other Equipment
Stickball doesn’t require much equipment to play the game. Each player holds a pair of sticks and chess a ball. So some sticks and a ball are all one needs to arrange a stickball match.
The sticks of the game could be different depending on the tribe. Different tribes use different types of sticks. The tribe creates their sticks and designs them in their way for the players. Players use tree trunks or saplings of hardwood such as hickory to create their sticks.
One side of the stick is thinned at one end bent around and attached to the handle. This format helps the sticks to create a loop. The loop is bound with leather or electrical tape. In the back of the loop, they stretched leather stripes to form netting. In this way, players can catch the ball in the net and hold it in the cup of the stick.
Like the sticks, the stickball games ball are also mostly handmade. In the early days, sticks were made from tightly wadded cloth” and wrapped in a weaving of leather strips. Indigenous people also used to play stickball with wooden balls.
These wooden balls are usually harder than what is normally used in the game. Moreover, the wooden ball has more speed than the general ball. Because of their flexibility and speed wooden balls were very famous among all the tribes.
Many tribes also use deerskin stuff and hair to create a ball for the stickball tournament. However, nowadays using handmade balls is not that popular anymore. People use rubber balls, typically a spaldeen, pensy pinky, high bouncer, or tennis balls to play stickball.
Types of Sticks in Indigenous Stickball
Sometimes tournaments adopt odd-looking sticks for the game. These designs are very unusual, for instance, in the St. Lawrence Valley of sticks the head took two-thirds of the sticks. The South western United States played the game with a double stick version. In that game, the sticks were about two and a half feet long.
In the old days, people used to use wooden sticks for the game. At that time, the sticks were like a giant wooden spoon with nspoonsting. A more advanced type of stick was a one-end bent stick. The bent created to 5-inch diameter circle, which was filled with netting. The netting of the sticks is made up of wattup or deer sinew.
Decoration of sticks
The decoration players do with sticks is amazing. Players attached different types of animal hair on the holding grip or with the netting, hoping that these would give them desirable qualities. For example, they think that adding the hair of horses or raccoons to the stick will give them speed or agility in the game.
Players also use elaborate carvings on their sticks to help them in the game. These sticks are like a holy weapon to the players. They keep a very high thought about it. To the players, it’s very important and treasured that many players requested to be buried with their sticks beside them.
Conclusion
Indigenous North American Stickball is a way to keep the native tradition alive and connect the modern generation with it. The sport is a way to teach the new generation about the great tradition and pass it from generation to generation.
Through these, the natives and other people learn about the sacrifices of their great leaders and the histories of their tribes. The sport connects today’s youth to their ancestor’s beliefs and ideas and teaches the kids about their culture. Because of all this, the indigenous stickball game holds great importance.
FAQs
Why Native Americans Play Stickball?
Indigenous North Americans play stickball to settle conflicts among themselves. They used to play the game to avoid war and establish politics peacefully.
Is stickball a violent sport?
Stickball may turn into a very violent game sometimes. However, modern stickball has added some rules to avoid violence in the game.
What is the oldest stickball game?
Stickball has been mentioned many times in the old native culture. Choctaw stickball is considered to be the oldest and first stickball recorded in history.
