The game of lacrosse was given to our people by the Creator to play for his amusement. This is our belief, and when the four Great Messengers came, the Creator reiterated to us that his game should be played.
We don not wonder who invented lacrosse, or when and where; our ancestors have been playing the game for centuries for the Creator.
Lacrosse was such a gift, the difficult training for lacrosse was not seen as a burden of work, but rather this training was enjoyed as a preparation to partaking in a precious gift. A participant in lacrosse believed that his ability to play was a gift itself, and that the enjoyment of playing rested in freely giving his best effort. It's unfortunate that the fervour which our own people took to the field of play was often misinterpreted by the European eye which is untrained for the relationship between the Indians, lacrosse, and the Creator.
In times when an elder or anyone in the Nation became sick, the medicine people would call upon the life forces of Mother Earth to remedy the sick. The medicine people would prepare and administer the medicines obtained from Mother Earth, and then they would call for a lacrosse game to be played to provide additional power for the medicine. Our people believed that by demonstrating to the Creator that (the people remembered to play the game, the Creator) therefore would not forget the stricken member. If the stricken member failed to recover, no one doubted the decision of the Creator.
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