Center presents ‘Lakota Games Day’

  (Feb. 1, 2007) - The Center will present “Traditional Lakota Games” at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17. The free event will launch the Center’s Native games programming focus.

  The afternoon will include demonstrations of a variety of traditional Lakota games, such as Tashiha Unpi “Catching Deer Bones”; Icaslohe Econpi, “Bowls”; and Hutanacute, “Winged Bones” (photos).

  Game pieces were created for the Center by Lakota artist Mike Marshall, of Mission, S.D. The pieces are based on game artifacts preserved at the Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum at St. Francis Mission, St. Francis, S.D.

  The museum houses the collections of Fr. Eugene Buechel, S.J., who lived with the Lakota on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations for 50 years. Thanks to Lakota participants and non-Lakota researchers, including Fr. Buechel, many game pieces and written descriptions are preserved today.

  Marshall will teach visitors how to make and play the games. He’ll discuss the process of creating reproductions using various materials, including buffalo ribs, white deer antler, cactus leaves, and cedar. The pieces will be on permanent display at the Center after the games day.

  Fr. Ray Bucko, S.J., director of Creighton University’s Native American Studies Program, will present an illustrated talk about the history of interest in Lakota and other Native games. Fr. Bucko is Cultural Outreach adviser to the Center and Chair of Sociology and Anthropology at Creighton.

  “Games are important not only to test memory, increase physical skills and acknowledge mastery but they also provide a place to engage relatives and friends socially and even to make new friends,” says Fr. Bucko. “Games are an ideal place to encounter new people, learn new skills and to spend time enjoyably.”

  Games were an essential part of traditional Lakota life before they were prohibited in the late 19^th century. Some games were played only by adults or only by children. Some were for girls, some were for boys. Games could have social, economic or spiritual significance and many generated humorous stories. All games promoted skills and values important to the Lakota, including competition, sportsmanship and risk-taking.

  The Buechel Museum collection contains games given to Fr. Buechel by Lakota people and pieces he commissioned from skilled Lakota artisans as part of his work to help preserve Lakota culture. Unlike preservationists who sent their collections to distant museums, Fr. Buechel’s materials have remained at St. Francis on the Rosebud Reservation.

  For more information contact Marcia Poole, director of the Center, at 712-224-5242 or mpoole@siouxcitylcic.com.

   The Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, exit 149 off I-29, is a private, non-profit institution built and sustained by Missouri River Historical Development, Inc. (MRHD). Admission, all programs, exhibits and activities are free.

Return to top

“Winged Bones,” Hutanacute, will be among the traditional Lakota games demonstrated at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 by Lakota artist Mike Marshall at the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. The free event will present a lecture and discussion by Fr. Ray Bucko, S.J., Director of Creighton University’s Native American Studies Program.

“Winged Bones,” Hutanacute are projectiles thrown along ice for distance and accuracy. This was traditionally a male game. (Ray Bucko, S.J, photos of Hutanacute made by Mike Marshall)

Return to top