Games

Jones collected pieces used to play traditional games from two of the families on Walpole Island. Unfortunately, he recorded limited information about how the games were played.

Flying Fish Arrow

This pole and fish were made from shell bark hickory by John Colwell, the son-in law of George and Sarah Shogonosh. Colwell told Jones that he used a shaving horse and drawing knife to shape the pieces.  The pieces were hand sanded after they were snapped.

In Jones' notes, he recorded some information about the game, noting that each player had their own pieces and that the game involved throwing. These pieces were also used in a game about hunting small animals. 

Snake Arrow

This game piece was made out of hickory by one of Mr. and Mrs. Hyman Smith’s sons. It was used as part of a throwing game on frozen ground. Jones writes that this piece was called a “snake arrow” and was similarities to game pieces described by Stewart Culin in his1907 report, called Games of the North America Indian.  This book is an encyclopedic summary of game pieces in museum collections and the notes of anthropologists who collected them. Jones notes the similarity to a snow-snake collected from the Sauk and Fox (today known as the Meskawki Nation) that has a thin, long, bendable handle (figure 524). These types of snow snakes were swung at the end of the handle to gain momentum before they were thrown. 

Gooniikaa-ginebig ataadiiwin -- snow snake game

“We are with our ancestors, and we play with them in mind.”
Paul DeMain, organizer of the 2022 Inter-Tribal Nations Snow Snake Festival

Today, Anishinaabe and neighboring tribes are reviving events that bring together communities to play traditional winter games. In February 2022, members of many neighboring tribes gathered on Madeline Island, Wisconsin for an annual Inter-Tribal Nations Snow Snake Festival. Paul DeMain, the organizer of this event, explains its importance.  

“Many of these events bring together people whose interest in traditional sports provides an opportunity for the revival of traditional languages, working with equipment, tools and objects that need their own language basis revived as part of the reemerging instruction and survival of Native languages.” 

To learn more about this event, click on the video and article links below:

video and information from They played snow snake at Madeline Island by Dan Ninham, Feb 21, 2022. Indian Country Today