Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs Part 10

The opening ceremony requires the ball to be handled and moved in a peculiar and ceremonial manner by the hand of the Umpire before he tosses it up for the beginning of the actual play.

The b.a.l.l.s used by the Indians are of different materials--buckskin stuffed with hair; formed from roots, such as the wild-grape vine; wood; bladder netted with sinew; and in a few instances, of bone or stone.

Three ball games are here given.

I

BALL AND RACKET

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--The game in which the ball is struck with a racket is almost exclusively played by men, but there are tribes where it is played by women, and one tribe, cited by Dr. Culin, where it is played by men and women together. The form of ball game where the racket is used was less widely distributed over the country than some others. It was most frequently found among tribes living near the Atlantic Coast and in the region of the Great Lakes. It had a limited range on the Pacific. There are two forms of the Racket Ball Game, one where a single racket is used and the other where two rackets are employed to catch the ball. The latter form is peculiar to the tribes formerly living in the Southern States. The game here given is presented as it is played among the Chippewa tribes dwelling in Minnesota.

_Properties_.--A ball, not too hard and the size usually employed for cricket. As many rackets as there are players. Red and yellow head-bands equally divided as to number and enough for all the players.

_Directions_.--The field should be as large as the camp ground will permit.

At the extreme East of the field a tall pole should be set as a goal and a like pole at the West for the other goal. To the pole at the East a red streamer should be tied and a yellow streamer to the pole at the West.

These poles should be practically in line and as distant from each other as it is conveniently possible to set them. The rackets should be made in camp. A racket can be made from a sapling cut at such length that when the racket is completed it will be 26 inches long. One end of the sapling is whittled fiat on one side for a sufficient length to be bent round to the shaft or handle so as to form the rim of the circular receptacle which is to receive the ball. Sometimes both sides of this bent portion of the sapling are made flat. The end of this flat end where it curls round upon the shaft or handle must be bound firmly to the shaft with thongs or heavy twine. Holes are sometimes bored through the rim and the thongs or twine are pa.s.sed through them and woven into a loose netting to form a bottom to the coiled end, making a shallow cup-shaped receptacle in which to catch or hold the ball. The rackets are not difficult to make. Each lad should make his own racket and mark the stem with some device by which he can identify it should he drop it during the play. Care should be taken when making the racket to have the cup-shaped receptacle at the end of the shaft of such size as to hold the ball without its rolling about, in which case it would be easily dropped when being carried on a run; yet it must be large enough to catch and hold the ball as it is flying about. The players should be divided into two parties by casting lots. Those who belong to the east goal should wear red head-bands; those who have the west goal should wear yellow head-bands. An Umpire must be selected. The ball must strike one of the goal posts to make a point; the number of points that shall const.i.tute the game should be agreed upon. Two players, one from each side, stand near each goal. One helps the ball for his side; the other hinders the ball when near the goal by tossing it back into the field again so that his side may catch it.

THE GAME

The four players stand at their posts beside the two goals; all the others gather in the field. The Umpire takes the ball and goes to a place as near the center of the field as possible. All being in readiness, he throws the ball with force straight up in the air. Every player watches the ball and makes ready to try and catch it in his racket when it descends. If one succeeds in catching the ball, he runs at full speed toward his goal, holding his racket so that the ball will not fall out. The other players rush after him, trying to strike his racket and dislodge the ball. If he is hard pressed he may try to toss the ball to a player on his side who has a clearer s.p.a.ce; if the ball is caught by the player to whom it was sent, then all the players turn upon the new holder of the ball and try to block his progress. In this game care must be taken never to strike the arm or body of a player; only the racket should be struck. There is danger of receiving injuries if this rule is not strictly observed.

Perhaps one of the most difficult feats in this game is when a player has brought his ball near to the goal to so turn his racket while it holds the ball as to send the ball with such force that it will strike the post squarely and not miss the goal. The difficulty is owing to the horizontal position of the racket when holding the ball. Of course, the keenest playing is about the goal, where the guard of the side opposite to the player does his best to catch the ball on its way to the post and send it back into the field.

The ball should not be allowed to touch the ground from the time the Umpire throws it into the air until it falls at the pole after a point has been made by the ball striking the post. It is the duty of the Umpire to go to the pole, mark the score, return with the ball to the center of the field, where he again sends it up into the air, and the game starts afresh for a second point to be made.

This game is good sport; it develops and requires skill, agility and strength.

II

TA-Be

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--This ball game was known to a number of tribes that formerly lived on the prairies, and called by different names. The game as here given is as it was played among the Omaha. The opening of the game was ceremonial. The person who performed the opening ceremony had to belong to the tribal group that had charge of the rites pertaining to the Wind, for the figure outlined on the ground by the movements of the ball in the opening ceremony was one of the symbols of the Wind. The Wind when spoken of ceremonially was called the Four Winds, one for each of the four points of the compa.s.s. These Four Winds were regarded as the messengers of the Giver of Life, known as Wakon'da by the Omaha and kindred tribes. The recognition of man's connection with the forces of Nature did not disturb the pleasure of the Indian when entering upon a game; on the contrary, it tended to enhance his happiness by bringing to his mind his dependence upon Wakon'da, together with the feeling of being in accord with the power represented by the Wind.

_Properties_.--A ball about three or four inches in diameter; the Omaha and kindred tribes made the ball out of the root of the wild-grape vine. As many sticks as there are players, the sticks to be about three feet long and crooked over at one end. Each stick should be marked by some design invented by its owner, so that each player can identify his stick.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DIAGRAM OF THE TA-BE

1 Circle showing lines made by the ball

2 Goals

3 Guardians

4 Players at the opening of the game]

_Directions_.--A wide open field is best for this game. Two goals, one at the East, the other at the West. The goals are each made by two posts with a cross piece on top. The path of the ball is East and West.

The officers of the game are: an Umpire, four Guardians of the Path. Two of the Guardians of the Path stand at the eastern goal and two at the western goal. The two Guardians at a goal represent the two sides; one wears a yellow streamer or badge, the color of the West; the other wears a red streamer or badge, the color of the East. A red streamer is tied to the goal at the East and a yellow streamer to the goal at the West. It is the duty of the one who wears the color of the goal by which he stands to try and help the ball through the goal when it comes in that direction, and it is the duty of the one who wears the color of the opposite goal to prevent the ball from going through and to send it back into the field or toward the other goal.

The players on the two sides are chosen in the following manner: The person who is to act as Umpire and to perform the opening ceremony must sit in a circle drawn on the ground, about six feet in diameter, and face either the North or the South. All the sticks are placed before him in a bunch. He is then blindfolded. After that he picks up a stick with each hand and lays down the stick that he has in his right hand on his left side, the stick that he has in his left hand he lays down on his right side. When he has finished dividing the sticks in this manner they are in two bunches, one toward the East and the other toward the West. The blindfold is then removed. When that is done, all the players run to the two heaps and each takes his own stick, recognizing it by the design marked or cut upon the stick. All those whose sticks were in the pile to the East must tie on a badge or streamer the color of the East, red. All those whose sticks were in the bunch toward the West must tie on the color of the West, yellow.

All the players must now stand in two lines. One line starts from the circle and extends directly toward the goal at the East; all in this line must be only those whose sticks were in the east pile and who have on the color of the East, red. The other line starts from the circle and stretches out toward the west goal, and is composed of those whose sticks were in the west pile and who have on the color of the West, yellow. The four Guardians of the Path take their places. The Umpire wears no color. All being in readiness, the Umpire advances to the middle of the circle.

THE OPENING CEREMONY

The Umpire places the ball in the exact center of the circle, then he gently urges it with his stick in a line toward the North until it reaches the edge of the circle. There he picks it up and puts it back in the center of the circle. Again he gently pushes it with his stick along a line toward the South until the edge of the circle is reached, when he returns the ball to the center of the circle with his hand. In the same manner as before he sends the ball slowly along a line to the West. When the edge of the circle is reached he picks up the ball and returns it to the center. Once more the ball is moved in a line, this time to the East; when it touches the line of the circle it is picked up as before and placed in the center of the circle. The symbolic figure that has thus been made is that of a circle within which two straight lines cross each other at right angles; the circle is divided into four quarters, one for each of the Four Winds.

THE GAME

Every player now stands at attention, with his stick ready for action. The Umpire pauses a moment at the center of the circle, then he picks up the ball lying there and throws it into the air as high as he can. All the players, who have watched the throw, run in the direction where the ball seems likely to descend, in order to have a chance to strike it toward one of the goals.

To win the game the ball must be sent through a goal; to strike it so that it goes over or around the goal does not count. The ball must be made to take a straight line, to "make a straight path" through a goal, then the game is won. When a good shot is made, all on the side of the one who made the stroke should send up a shout. When the goal is won the winning side should give the victory cry of the game, "Ta-be!"

III

DOUBLE-BALL GAME

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--Some stories credit the Moon as the giver of this game to the women, by whom it is exclusively played throughout the United States except among the tribes in Northern California, where the men use the game.

There are indications that the Double-ball Game was known upon this continent in the remote past.

The peculiar ball employed for this game is composed of two small stuffed pouches connected by a band, or two billets of wood about five inches long, made like thick pegs with heads and ornamented on all sides with carvings; a leather thong five to eight inches long is attached at each end to the neck of each of the two billets. Dr. Culin reports an ingenious specimen made by the Maricopa Indians of Arizona; that double-ball is made from narrow strips of leather braided to form a band, each end of which is enlarged by braiding so as to make a ball, the finished article being about eight inches in length. (Ibid., p.665, Fig. 882.)

_Properties_.--One double-ball; as many sticks as players; red and yellow head-bands, equal in number, for the two sides of players.

_Directions_.--The double-ball should be made in camp in the following manner: A strip of leather or of strong, closely woven brown cloth from fifteen to twenty inches long. For six inches from both ends the strip should be about seven inches wide; the portion of the strip between these wide ends should be about three inches wide. The wide ends are to form the pouches, and the narrower middle section the band to connect the two pouches. The two edges of the strip should be lapped and strongly sewed the entire length of the strip, except a small opening about an inch long left on the side of each of the pouches. Through this opening the pouches are filled with dry sand, then the edges are securely sewed together so that no sand can escape. These pouches are the "b.a.l.l.s." The sides of the pouches should be decorated with designs painted in bright colors and a little tuft or ta.s.sel of red yarn fastened at the middle of the bottom of the pouch.

The sticks should be about thirty-two inches long, not too heavy and somewhat pointed at one end that is slightly curved. Each stick should be marked by an individual device so that it can be claimed by its owner.

Two wickets, made by crotched poles about five and a half to six feet high, having a bar fastened across the top, are placed in line with each other, one at the East, the other at the West, and as far apart as the limits of the camp grounds will permit. A red streamer to be tied to the eastern wicket and a yellow streamer to the western wicket.

The players are divided into two parties of equal numbers and lots should be drawn to decide which side shall have the eastern goal, and all of that side must wear red head-bands; the other side must wear yellow head-bands to show that theirs is the western goal.

An Umpire must be chosen, to whom belongs the duty of tossing the ball when necessary; to keep the score, and to settle any disputes.

To make a point the ball must be tossed so as to hang on the crossbar of the wicket. An agreement must be made as to how many points shall const.i.tute the game.

THE GAME

The players stand in two rows about fifteen to twenty feet apart, one color on one side, the other color opposite. The Umpire takes a place between the two lines and as near as possible to the middle of the rows. When all are in readiness the double-ball is tossed by the Umpire straight up into the air, and all those whose places are near the middle of the rows watch the descent of the "ball" and try to catch on their sticks the connecting cord of the double-ball. If one succeeds, she tries to send it down the line toward the goal of her side; those of the opposite side try to prevent success to this movement and to send the "ball" in the other direction. The "ball" should not be allowed to touch the ground from the time it is tossed until it is lodged on the wicket. The side that lets the "ball" fall to the ground loses a count, and the side that keeps the "ball" up until it reaches the goal scores two points, equal to four counts.