#cayuga

Lily Gladstone, in a film by Erica Tremblay FANCY DANCE (2023)

Samuel L. Thomas, bead work artist — Lower Cayuga, Six Nations (2002)

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the world right now, but most people look at the sport as expensive, exclusive, and very white. Most people who play the game have no idea the origin that goes behind it or how it was originally played. Lacrosse is a spiritual game for many Native Americans and other indigenous people. Here are 10 essential facts on Lacrosse and the Haudenosuanee. Please leave feedback on your thoughts and opinions of the 10 facts listed below!

Lacrosse is the oldest team sport on our continent, originated by a North American tribe. Some people might say it started around the 1100’s A.D. The Native American tribe originators of this game are the Haudenosaunee.

The Huadenosuanee call lacrosse “Dehontsigwaehs" which means they bump hips.

In the 1630’s, French Jesuit missionaries who were working in the St. Lawrence Valley saw the Huron Indians playing the Medicine Game. The name of Lacrosse is just a reflection of this term, another way of how the French pronounced this game was “le jeu de la cross” (the game of the stick).

 Traditional lacrosse game sticks were made from hickory tree wood which represented all plant life. It was said the original game of lacrosse could last several days and have been played with 100 to 1,000 men in a 2 mile radius of land. This game is still played to this day amongst certain Native American tribes.

The cosmology of this game of lacrosse started out way before it was even put on earth for the people; it started out with the animals in the sky world. 

The game was given to them by the creator and is very sacred to the Huadenosaunee people, some say it even has healing powers. It's referred to as the medicine game amongst the Haudenosaunee.

This game was called to make peace amongst nations, heal the sick, an exchange to the creator if there was ever a drought, fight diseases, stop war, fix conflict, and to be played with a good mindset at all times, for the creator.

It was never about the outcome of the score but about harmony through the game.

A Haudenosaunee tradition that is still practiced today, is when a male baby is born they receive their first wooden stick and at the end of their journey here on earth, they are buried with the stick. So they can continue playing the game with their ancestors.

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the world right now. Thanks to the Haudenosuanee for sharing it with the world!

Four American Indians, dressed in traditional clothing, appear before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, October 20, 1941. They argued that the Selective Service Act violated their liberty and a treaty between the Indians of the Six Nations. Judge Thomas W. Swan reserved decision. From left to right are: Clinton Rickard, Tuscarora chief; Jess Lyons, Onondaga chief; Harry Patterson, Tuscarora brave and Ivan Burnham, Mohawk brave. The other nations are the Oneida, the Cayuga, and the Seneca.

Friends camping at the drag races in Cayuga

Ontario