Many of today's popular games and forms of recreation originated with the American Indians. Such games as lacrosse, cat's cradle, ball & cup, pick-up sticks, tobaggining, hockey, and even football are a few examples of games and recreational pasttimes which had Indian origins.
The following are a few examples of modern games which originated with the Lėnape. All of these were adopted by the white culture, and over time have evolved into popular games of today. Historically, when these games were played by adults, gambling was almost always an aside to the game.
A round hollow bone is attached to a pointed stick by a string to the end opposite the point. The overall length of the game can vary, but is always somewhere between 14 and 20 inches.
Holding the stick in the hand, the bone "thrown" up into the air by using a rapid upward movement of the wrist. The object is to catch the bone on the pointed end of the stick.
Traditionally kwa'kwa'lis was considered a game of chance and was most often played by adults. Over time it has evolved into a popular childrens game, and the form of the game has changed considerably as well, with the most popular version being a sort of cup with a handle, with a ball attached to it by a string.
Seven cone-shaped bones (or pieces of wood) are strung on a string which is attached to a pointed stick (needle) at the end opposite the point. The cones are held onto the string by an animal's foot, such as a raccon, woodchuck, or such. The stick, or needle, measures approximately 3 1/2 inches long, the string about 8 inches long. Each bone possesses it's own value, with the highest value being the one closest to the stick. That bone also has 3 holes near the wide end, and catching the bone by one of those holes gives extra points. Above each hole was a series of notches indicating that hole's value. (4,6, and 9)
The game is played by tossing the bones up into the air by a rapid upward movement of the wrist, and catching one of the bones on the point of the stick. The player with the most accumulated points at the end of a predetermined time period, or the first player to attain a predetermined winning score, wins the game.
Pahsahėman is a traditional Lėnape game which dates back to before anyone can remember. The earliest known writings about Pahsahėman date to about 1609, and were written by Henry Spelman who was captured and lived among the Lėnape for two years (1609-1610). Pahsahėman was popular among the Lėnape and among the Shawnee.. The only other people known to have played Pahsahėman were the Creeks, who at some unknown point in time adopted it from the Lėnape or Shawnee.
Pahsahėman is a team sport in which the men play against the women. It is played with a ball which is called pahsahikąn, on a field which is generally 150 feet long and 60 feet wide. (The field size is not absolute and can be larger if the players desire, but the dimensions given here are the ones usually used.) At either end of the field are trees or posts measuring about 5-6 inches in diameter, 15 feet high,and about 6 feet apart, called goal posts The ball is oblong in shape, about 9 inches in diameter at it fattest point, and traditionally was made of deerskin and stuffed with deer hair. It was laced shut and at the end of the season, if the ball was in good enough condition, the hair was removed and the shell put away for usage next season. The game was played only from March or April (as soon as the weather became good enough to permit play) until mid June. It was considered wrong to play it at other times of the year. It was played in the afternoon. There were no set number of games played.....but was played as often as possible within the time limits of the "season".
The teams had no set number of players, the number being decided by mutual agreement. One team consisted of all men while the other was all women. Young people could also play, but small children were not allowed to play for fear of them getting hurt.
The game begins when a selected elder goes to the center of the field and throws the ball straight up into the air. The players jump up and try to knock it towards their own goal posts. The men can not run with nor pass the ball. They can only kick the ball forward. The women can run with the ball, pass the ball, or kick the ball, if the ball is on the ground, (women can not high kick the ball) forward. If a man intercepts the ball, or catches a kicked ball, he must stand where he is and kick the ball forward. A man cannot tackle or grab a women, but must feign to prevent the women from passing by him or passing the ball. He may knock the ball from her hands. Women can grab or tackle the men.
Scoring is accomplished by the women by running, passing, or kicking the ball between the goal posts. The men score by kicking the ball between the goal posts. Score is kept by a selected elder. A pile of 12 sticks, about 2 inches long is used to keep the score. When the women score a point a stick is removed from the pile and placed to the side, when the men score, a stick is removed from the pile and placed to the side as well. In such manner 2 rows of sticks are made, one for the women's score and one for the men's score. When all 12 sticks are gone from the original pile, which ever team has more sticks in their row is the winner. If the score is tied, a 1 point playoff is played to determine the winner.
Pahsahėman was an extremely important game to the Lėnape. In fact it is the only game to which a ceremony was dedicated, and play was restricted to a specific period of time. It was never, ever played at any other time of the year.
As with most games, gambling was a popular aside to pahsahėman. A bet string is passed around the village. A bet string is a long string on which those who wish to bet on a team tie something. If the team the person bet on wins, the person can go and get anything off the bet string which has not already been spoken for.
It is claimed that football is a modified form of rugby, which was a popular game of England in the 1800's. Walter Camp is creditied with being the "Father of American Football" as it was his changes to rugby rules that most identified football apart from rugby. But in reality, American football most closely resembles pahsahėman, which predated rugby by untold centuries, and was first described in writing in 1609 - 214 years prior to the invention of rugby in 1823.
When the dance begins, the women gather in front of the singers facing them, and sing along with the singers. At a specific point, the main singer ques the men to join the dance. The men enter from the center and circle the fire several times, after which, they dance up behind the women. Each man selects from 1 to 5 women by placing his hands on their shoulders, and dances them around the fire. Each of these "groups" whirl as they dance. When they have completed two circuits around the fire, the men return the women to their original positions before the singers, and dance off alone around the fire. When a new song begins the men return to the group of women and select new women to dance with. This cycle continues for the duration of the dance.
