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Vince Two Eagles
The Rez of the Story
Yes, Indians had Board Games too
By Vince Two Eagles Hau Mitakuepi (Greetings My Relatives), The so-called "holiday season" has arrived everywhere at once here in our country--yes even in Indian Country. Many families have begun conversations about where they are going to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas, complaints about the out-of-control cost of Xmas gifts are also thrown into the mix for good measure. So be it. But I thought it a bit appropriate to call your attention to an interesting fact of history about what may surprise you as a legitimate subject for possible conversation about the so called "savage" and "ignorant" nature of the indigenous peoples who's savagery and ignorance was of course lifted by the "certainty" of European culture brought here by European immigrants. One of the more common gifts I noticed families like to give each other during this coming time of year is board games. Yes, I said board games--you know like Monopoly, Scrabble and the like. Well, I got news for you, American Indian people had already invented "board games" without any "help" or "enlightenment" from white America thank you very much.
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A depiction of the game of patolli in the Codex Magliabecchiano. Image from University of California, Berkeley, via Wikipedia
Case in point--Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfield in their book American Indian Contributions to the World
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"Board games were popular throughout North America as well. Much like modern board games, they were played with dice and counters, or "men," that were moved around a course marked out on a board. For example the Hopi . . . played a game called totolospi, using dice made of two pieces of cane with designs burned into the round side. Players placed stones they called animals on a board marked with a square design, including a number of circles around the perimeter," Keoke and Porterfield conclude. Thus the stereotype of Indian people being living out violent and poverty ruled lives, so popular among many white Americans, becomes less and less tenable when you know the rez of the story. Doksha (later) . . . Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter.
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