At the Multi for Junior Handgame Tournment! :)
Okay, Handgames were AWESOME! I had the best time! The Junior Handgame Tournament was Tuesday-Sunday, and I was there from Thursday-Saturday. It's all such a hooplah of drumming and singing and colors and noise and excitement! Let me try to explain...
The medallion that Mrs. Frances let me borrow for handgames
Each district on the reservation has a team- the St. X/Fort Smith area is Bighorn District, so I was on Bighorn Juniors. (Juniors are 30 and under [literally down to newborns!] and Seniors are over 30- their tournament is in two weeks.) It was so fun being invited to play with Bighorn because it's many of the families I've gotten to know and love here, including Bridgette's crew, my little buddy Terrel and his family, and most of the 5th grade girls. It's been wonderful getting to spend time with everyone and get to know even more people around the community.
So districts will play handgames for months leading up to the tournaments, sometimes inviting other districts over to play (like last Friday they invited No Water here and we played a few games.) But handgame season really got into full swing this month, with lots of practices, learning the songs, and making our outfits. It's been all about handgames!
The designs on my shawl: I didn't want to machine-sew them on, so I hand stitched them on with sequins for some extra bedazzle :)
So the game itself is simple: a hider hides an elk tooth in either hand and a guesser on the opposite team tries to guess which hand. If they guess correctly, they earn the bone back. If you trick them, your team earns a point. Each round the first team starts with 4 bones, and play switches to the next team once they've guessed and won all the bones. There are 14 points which the teams battle for and take from each other... so it can go back and forth for hours!
But actually playing handgames is more complicated (and exciting!) than it might sound. Some of the men drum, everyone else sings, and there's LOTS of cheering and rattle-shaking. The girls sit (or stand, mostly) on bleachers and make motions to try to get the bone back or to push the other team away-- it really felt like we were helping to push the "medicine" around and like the success of the team depended on the energy everyone put out. It's quite a sight; the teams will jeer at each other and make all kinds of noises to try to distract the guesser and throw him off... there's really just so much energy and noise and color going around that it's entrancing. Everyone gets REALLY into it; there's a high level of excitement on each side! So so much fun.
Bighorn celebrating a point for our side!
Our first game was supposed to be on Thursday, but the previous game went so long, til 1:30 am, that they bumped us to the first game on Friday. We played Black Lodge- a huge team- in a long and intense game, over 2 1/2 hours. Terrel was our Medicine Man (he's only in 4th grade but he is handgame king! he was awesome) We won and everyone was ecstatic! We were supposed to play the game after the next one- which lasted only 12 minutes! So it was our turn to start again.. at midnight. I was so tired but I got waves of energy and it was still a blast. But we thought the first one was long- this one was 3 hrs 14 min!! Everyone was saying they usually only play hour-long games or so. Not this year I guess! We were close to winning several times, but all of a sudden No Water took the win. We ended at 3:35 a.m... holy smokes! The kids weren't kidding when they were telling us how crazy this handgame business is! And there were kindergartners on our team... little kids all over the place! Don't know how they lasted, but I definitely saw more than a few kids sleeping on the bleachers.
Bighorn vs. Mighty Few
We came back Saturday night for our 3rd game against Mighty Few. Another long one, over 2 hours again! We hung on for a long time but couldn't beat Mighty Few. We ended around 1 am... but I didn't even notice because it felt so early compared to the night before! I was so disappointed when we lost because that meant the end of our games... but it was so much fun while it lasted and I am so appreciative that I got to be part of it. All of it was awesome- the people, the outfits, the games...
All of the beautiful beadwork lent to us... amazing!
For our outfits, we needed to make pink dresses and blue shawls. It took me all week to put it all together but it was fun to make and thankfully we had a lot of help. Everyone wears beadwork with the outfits, so the kindergarten teacher Mrs. Jefferson was so incredibly generous to let me borrow her moccasins, leggings, and belt. I was so humbled and honored to wear them and dress up. Each team has their own colors and designs so it was neat to see all the beautiful outfits!
I just had such a great weekend at handgames and am so glad I got to participate. Thankful for this and all of the many other incredible opportunities I've had in my time here!
...but loving it!
Sunday was spent going between basketball tournament and making these curtains:
plus re-purposing the valances that came with the house to make them a cute set! I felt so "DIY" ;)
Then there's the handgame outfits which I finally started tonight, made the designs for the shawl! Ah! I was scared that I was going to mess it up but so far so good!! Can't wait to work on the fringe for the shawl, and then the actual dress!
Handgames start next Tuesday so I need it all done by then... won't be coming up for air until they end on that Sunday after next!
Other currently crafting:
*helping the 7th and 8th grade Crow Studies classes make traditional Indian dolls
*Mini elk-tooth dress pouch that Sarah & I started with some ladies that meet for a craft group at the school on Monday nights
*Crocheting prayer shawls for presents
*Making more cloth "comfort dolls" that we learned about at the Prayer Lodge a few weeks ago
*& Making approximately 60 friendship bracelets for the girls at school
Crafting All Day Every Day.
Women's Fancy Dancers at the MSU Billings Pow Wow
Phew, what a weekend! The Pow Wow circuit has begun and this week's spot was MSU Billings. I went Friday afternoon right after school with Lorna's crew (it's always fun being with them!) Her oldest daughter Brittany was chosen as princess for Big Horn District, so she had to be there for the Grand Entry. She had to rush to get ready once we got there.. and there's so many parts to the outfit! The pieces are so beautiful though. We ran in and she somehow made it at 6:24 for the "6 o'clock" grand entry... once again thank goodness for Indian time. Their family isn't usually pow wow people but now that Brittany's princess they'll have to be this year. It was really fun going with them and seeing all the different types of dancers that were there- lately we've only been seeing traditional Crow dancers, but here there were Fancy Dancers, Grass Dancers, and then Jingle Dress dancers from other tribes as well as other tribes' traditionals. So many colors and sights and sounds and ah!
Brittany, Big Horn District Princess
Grand Entry.
Thomas being a goofball!
Boys' traditional dance contest... even the real little ones are out there!
Saturday morning I went over to watch some of our little kids' basketball (there's of course another tournament this weekend here at Pretty Eagle) and then we went to Hardin for a spaghetti dinner/silent auction fundraiser for my little friend Macariah's father. He's really sick with a tumor on his lung and they're raising money for surgery to remove it. She and her sister are the sweetest girls and they are being so brave and graceful, but I know it's been hard for them. Please keep them in your prayers!
From Hardin we headed to Billings and Sarah & I went to a bunch of fabric/craft stores to get all of our materials for the handgame outfits... I'm so excited (and a little nervous) to make them!! ...hope I can do it! We ran into a couple of other ladies also from Big Horn district picking up their materials too, which was fun and they helped us figure out everything we needed. One of them we hadn't met yet, but she was genuinely excited to hear that we would be playing with them; I'm continually amazed and humbled by how welcomed we have been as outsiders, even by those like her who don't even know us.
With Dixie and Carrie at the pow wow!
Dixie, Zoe, and their big sister Bergen... beautiful girls!
Carrie, our 3rd grade pow wow princess. She goes to all of the pow wows with her grandmother and is always so poised. She will definitely be an actual Crow princess someday!
We went back to the pow wow around 6 and oh my gosh, it was SO much fun. We ran around seeing tons of people from school, went in and watched the Drum Call- they take turns going around to the drum circles and some of the men have to get up and dance (it was all kind of goofy) and if they don't dance they have to put money in the pot... then whoever is picked as the best dancers win the money. Random and so entertaining!- met Miss Debbie from school, found Lorna again, took tons of pictures, and ran around alternatingly dancing/exploring with Dixie and her little sister Zoe... Zoe ran around dragging me by the finger the whole time haha.. she was hard to keep up with but so darn cute! I had so much fun with them! And then I danced a lot, too! They had a lot of "inter tribals" (when anyone/all tribes can dance) between the contest dances so I kept dancing with Dixie and Zoe or with Carrie. So much fun, being there with everyone, seeing so many friends, and enjoying the traditions!
Dixie-Doo, while we were dancing :)
Me & Zoe!
Landon, a kindergartner at Pretty Eagle. He's an amazing dancer... he took second in his contest!
Me & Joleigh :)
Shopping around and being goofy!
So much fun!!
Simply a lovely weekend spent with the community here and enjoying lots of traditions.
Friday night several people from Bighorn District (the area where we live) were getting together to learn the new songs for the handgame tournaments coming up. (I'm still not entirely sure what the tournaments are like, but they're in high anticipation- kids are practicing all around school, getting excited, and folks are busy preparing.) Vandy, one of the ladies from school who is always thinking of us and including us, invited us to go over to the get-together to listen to the songs and maybe even learn some. When we got there, all the men were sitting in the living room area with their drums and the women were in the back at the table working on the designs and emblems for the outfits (they make new handgame outfits every year. lots of work!) My housemate Matt brought his drum and joined in on the songs, while I sat with the women and learned about the world of handgame outfits. Actually, I spent most of the time playing with some of the kids from school that were there, haha. But it was awesome to be there, part of this tradition they have, part of their close community. It almost felt like a holiday, with family gathered for a purpose and a buzz in the air. With Crow drum songs being belted out in the living room. It was just awesome.
Saturday Sarah & I spent a lovely morning at the Prayer Lodge in Busby for a workshop on Traditional Doll-making, presented by two Cheyenne women, Alberta Twenty Stands and Patty Oldman. (We were also happily surprised to see Meredith, Kathryn, & Kelly there, so we got to spend the day with our Ashland JV friends!) Alberta taught what she had learned from her mother and generations before her that were sent to boarding schools and had everything- clothes, hair, belongings, identity- stripped away from them. To find comfort, they got crafty and ripped the hems off of their dresses to make simple dolls. When the schools caught on and took them away, her mother made a small hole in her mattress and hid her doll in there, so that she may hold it and be comforted at night. When Alberta was a young girl and was given a Barbie doll, her mother took it away and taught her how to make their traditional dolls instead. Now she teaches the simple technique to children at St. Labre, to share the tradition and keep it alive.
Potluck lunch on the Prayer Lodge porch... it was a beautiful day!
So for the rest of the day, around a lovely pot luck lunch, we were given fabric and world of dolls to create. Patty's 9-year-old granddaughter Natawhee was there, an experienced doll-maker herself, so she kind of stuck by our table and helped us figure out how to make them. It was so much fun to create the little dolls. At the end of the day Natawhee looked at all of Sarah's and my dolls and gave them each a name. It was a special tradition to learn and share in and another beautiful day at the Prayer Lodge.
Natawhee and Sarah
Saturday night was also exciting because I went to my first sweat with our close teacher friend Lorna. Sweats are a spiritual ceremony that is important to the Crow culture (and to many other Plains Indians and other tribes.) You sit in a small sweat lodge as it is filled with steam for four rounds, each of its own prayerful significance. (It's also used for physical health, since sweating releases toxins and the heat soothes your muscles... but physical/spiritual health are seen as very connected.) I'm grateful that I finally got to experience the sweat and share in this tradition as well.
Hope you all had a beautiful weekend, too!
