#tuscarora

Tuscarora, Haudenosaunee raised beadwork clam shell needle case c. 1890 - 1900. Sold to tourists at Niagara Falls.

“The piece opens like a clamshell, with one side stuffed with sawdust for holding pins and needles.” — Grant Jonathan.

“Grant Jonathan has spent the last decade repatriating beadwork crafted by his Tuscarora ancestors and sold to tourists from across the world at Niagara Falls.”

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.

Ratified Indian Treaty 19A (first and last pages), April 11, 1793. 

This treaty with the Six Nations (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora) included this wax Great Seal of the State of New York. 

Record Group 11: General Records of the United States Government

Series: Indian Treaties

Image description: A circular seal, just over three inches in diameter, made of wax covered with paper. Depicted in the center is a sun with a face, rising over hills. Below the hills is “EXCELSIOR”. Around the border of the seal is “THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK”. There is a hole through the seal at the top. 

Image description: Reverse of the circular seal. In the center are spiky rocks jutting out of the water. There are letters at the top of the border, but it’s difficult to see what they say. At the bottom of the seal is an ink “X”. There is a hole through the seal at the top. 

Transcription: 

I know discussions about Lumbee are probably done to death but I really wanted to insert my perspective as a descendant of one of the tribes the Lumbee claim to be an admixture of:

The Lumbee actively erased us and our culture over the years. The reason they cannot be federally recognized is the same reason they are state recognized—in claiming to be the descendants of my, and many other NC tribes, they signed an agreement with the NC government stating they would be the only valid Indians of Robeson County and would in exchange for preventing us from being recognized, they could not receive federal recognition and benefits.

It's painful to attend indigenous events in my state knowing I'm going to be surrounded by the very people helping kill my culture. They are NOT related to us—they cannot trace lineages back to us, they are not related to us according to DNA tests they've taken.

My tribe's langauge was just officially declared extinct recently and it just furthers my anger towards the Lumbee.

Their recognition as a tribe at all feels more and more like some kind of psyop every day.

And when you call them out on being culture vultures, on erasing cultures, on stealing land and resources—they will whine and cry that that only reason we don't claim them is because 90% of them are mixed Black.

Like, I don't believe in blood quantum but I also don't like a group of people with >2% OVERALL native DNA claiming to be my tribe when we're not related. My culture is DYING and they're complaining because the harm they did to us is no longer beneficial anymore.