By Bryan Eneas

Traditional games showcased in La Ronge

Feb 24, 2017 | 4:00 PM

Before the advent of technology or even board games, Indigenous peoples found ways to keep themselves entertained.

One form of entertainment comes in games such as hand games, leg wrestling and the one-foot high kick. Youth from La Ronge were able to learn and participate in the three games during the annual winter festival this week.

Hand games are essentially guessing games. Two teams line up face-to-face; one team guesses and one team hides an object. The guessers must correctly guess what hand the hidden object is. If they guess correctly, the players with hidden objects are eliminated.

Sticks are used to keep score. One stick is awarded for each incorrect guess, so if a team guesses correctly for three out of four players, one stick is awarded to the hiding team. The game is won when a team acquires 12 sticks.

Allen Adam, a Dene man from Fond du Lac, first learned about hand games when he was a teen.

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He said he hopes to restore the games to prominence by passing on his knowledge about one style of play.

“[The Elders] didn’t share it too much with the young people, and the young people my age probably weren’t that interested,” Adam said. “Recently we’ve seen a resurgence of sorts where people my age and just a little younger than me brought back the drum… and they’re just starting to practise hand games.”

Adam said in Fond du Lac, youth around the ages of 16 and 17 are starting to pick up the games again.

“If you go up North, to the North West Territories, they have major tournaments, $50,000 tournaments held in March close to Yellowknife,” Allen said. “In that way it is coming back.”

Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson stopped into the gymnasium of the Jonas Roberts Memorial Community Center to check the games out.

“I hope it catches on, because we have our own traditional games here as Woodland Cree,” Cook-Searson said. “We have different games too, but I think it’s something we need to share and pass on.”

She said the games may have been taken for granted while they were around, but it’s ‘special’ to see the traditional games coming back.

A small tournament was organized to educate the youth about leg wrestling. Each participant laid down next to each other and linked their elbows and engaged in a thumb war with their legs. The winner of each match is decided when one competitor is flipped off their back.

To teach the youth about the one-foot high kick, a fake rabbit’s foot was hung from a basketball hoop. Youth lined up and eagerly attempted to kick at the foot – some with efficiency and some fell on their bottoms as they kicked.

“Just having the winter festivals is really amazing,” Cook-Searson said.

The Lac La Ronge winter festival wraps up this weekend with a king and queen trapper contest.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @BryanEneas