Legends 13 The Game of Snow Snake

Iroquois History and Legends

Andrew James Cotter

Canadian History, Iroquois, History, North American History, First Nations, Religion & Spirituality, American History, Education, Six Nations, Native America, Christianity, Native American, Indian History, Colonial History, Haudenosaunee

4.8 • 697 Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2020

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Snowsnake is one of the most popular indigenous winter sports. Not only for people in the Haudenosaunee community but for dozens of other nations and tribes as well. Learn about how this entertaining game is played through today's story about two young boys who fall into an argument about the outcome of a Snowsnake match.

Story based on the traditional tale as told in, "Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children", by Mabel Powers (Yeh Sen Noh Wehs) published 1917

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There were once two little Mohawk boys.
0:24.6	Their names were Flying Squirrel and Lightning Bow.
0:29.6	Every day they went out and played.
0:32.6	They were together from sunrise to sunset.
0:36.6	They enjoyed a good many games and adventures.
0:40.3	During the summer, they said things like,
0:42.3	How about a swim in the river?
0:44.8	And...
0:46.0	Let's go fishing!
0:47.2	They would practice shooting their arrows into chipmunk and woodpecker holes.
0:51.3	They played all kinds of games that their mother and uncles had taught them while they were very, very young.
0:57.0	They loved the winter too. After a blizzard, they would jump into big snowdrifts and roll around in them until their little bodies became numb.
1:06.0	Then they would run inside their longhouse to warm up.
1:10.0	They especially loved to play snow snake.
1:15.0	It was one of the most popular winter sports.
1:18.6	People would gather in large groups to play and watch others send their snow snakes skimming over the hard crust of snow.
1:27.3	Snow snakes, it must be pointed out, are not snakes at all.
1:31.1	They are rods of wood.
1:32.7	You can play games with short sticks or matches that use long ones,
1:37.2	some that are even longer than a spear.
1:39.8	They're polished smooth with a resin oil or wax.
1:44.1	Small knocks are carved on the back, and this allows the thrower more control. They're polished smooth with a resin oil or wax.
	...

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