The Creator's Game

Long Before the Modern Game

Lacrosse started with Indigenous peoples of North America centuries before it was a high school or college sport. Its roots are traced to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) in what is now New York and southern Canada around 1100 A.D., and nations across the Northeast, the Great Lakes and the Southeast all played their own versions.

The Haudenosaunee call it the Creator's Game.

What the Nations Called It

Every nation had its own name for the game, and many of them describe how rough it was.

Onondaga: dehontsigwaehs, meaning "they bump hips"
Mohawk: tewa:aráton (often written Tewaaraton), the Mohawk name for the game
Ojibwe: baaga'adowe, also meaning "bump hips"
Choctaw: kapucha toli, meaning "little brother of war"

Miles of Field, Days of Play

The original game was massive. Matches could put 100 to 1,000 men or more from opposing villages or nations on the same field, and the field itself could stretch for miles with no sidelines at all. Goals were anywhere from 500 yards to 6 miles apart.

Games ran from sunup to sundown and sometimes lasted several days. There were no pads and no helmets, just a wooden stick and whatever you could take.

Made by Hand, Made to Last

Sticks were carved from wood like hickory or ash, split by hand along the grain, steamed, bent and left to dry for months. A single traditional stick can take close to a year to make from log to finished pocket, with netting made from deer sinew or leather cord.

Sticks ran anywhere from 2 to 5 feet long and looked different from region to region. Great Lakes nations used a stick with a small round head, the Haudenosaunee and other Eastern nations used the long crooked stick that the modern head comes from, and Southeastern nations played with two short sticks, one in each hand. The ball was carved from wood or made of deerskin stuffed with hair, about three inches across.

The stick still means a lot. In Haudenosaunee communities, small children are often given a stick in place of a baby blanket.

The Medicine Game

Lacrosse was never just a sport. It was played for the Creator and as a way to heal, which is why it's also called the Medicine Game, and ceremonial medicine games are still played in Haudenosaunee communities today.

It was also used to settle disputes between nations, to toughen young men for war and to bring communities together for trade, festivals and celebration. Northeastern nations played a passing, team-first style, while Southeastern stickball put more weight on individual play.

From the Creator's Game to Lacrosse

In 1637, French Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf watched Wendat (Huron) players and became the first European to write about the game. The French name it ended up with, lacrosse, likely came from "le jeu de la crosse," a French term for a stick-and-ball game.

In the 1860s, a Montreal dentist named William George Beers wrote down a set of rules that shortened games, cut down the number of players, changed the stick and switched to a rubber ball. That version grew into the field game played today.

Respect Comes First

Our vintage look leans on old wooden sticks and old school play, and we take care with how the origins of the game show up in our work. We stay away from headdresses, war paint and other stereotyped imagery, and we don't use sacred elements as graphics.

Where This Comes From

History of lacrosse · The Native American Origins of Lacrosse (History.com) · A Haudenosaunee stick maker on an 800-year-old tradition (WAER)