Research Guides: The Land You’re On: Acknowledging the Haudenosaunee: Episode 5: The Stickmaker's Workshop

The Stickmaker's Workshop

The process and consideration of traditional lacrosse stickmaking from pre-eminent craftsman Alfred Jacques, recorded at his workshop at Onondaga.

Producer Brett Barry records Alf Jacques at his workshop at Onondaga Nation. Photo by Jim O'Connor

The Medicine Game

From Onondaganation.org: "Lacrosse at Onondaga is considered sacred. It is a game that was given by the Creator, to be played for the Creator, and has been known to have healing power. Because of this, it is also known as the Medicine Game. The game in its original form is played between two groups, usually divided up between clans or young men versus old men. Since women are respected for providing life and are to protect this gift, they do not play lacrosse."

'What Is a Medicine Game?' Neal Powless Shares His Insight
Neal Powless: “I can only give you the essence of the Medicine Game mostly because it is a ceremonial space, and so there are actual processes that go into the ceremony that are not widely shared. For the space of healing, there is a process where an individual or a group or community might call a game and in order to play in the game, you must have a wood stick. There’s medicine in the ball, there’s medicine in the stick, and in that traditional Medicine Game … all of the things in nature and spirits are connected in those spaces. The ball comes from deer hide, and there’s medicine there that represents all the animals in the world, and the hickory in the stick represents all the trees in the world. So it invokes all of those living spirits to join. There’s a ceremony where those sticks are placed, words are spoken and we play the game.”
Lacrosse -Onondaga Nation
One of the gifts that the Creator can bestow on the individual is the gift of sport. The sport that is most recognizable with the Onondaga and the Haudenosaunee is Dehoñtjihgwa’és or Lacrosse.

Original Lacrosse Rulebook

The Haudenosaunee were the originators of lacrosse, but according to the earliest known lacrosse rulebook, written by Montreal dentist William George Beers (1869), Rule IX Section 6: "No Indian must play in a match for a white club, unless previously agreed upon."

THE NATIONAL GAME OF CANADA: BY W. G. BEERS, Secretary of the National Lacrosse Association of Canada.
PUBLISHED WITH THE SANCTION OF THE NATIONAL LACROSSE ASSOCIATION OF CANADA. MONTREAL:
DAWSON BROTHERS.
1869.
Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty- nine, by Dawson Brothers, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
Montreal: Printed by the Montreal Printing and Publishing Company.

Alf's Stick-making Process

Alf explains the time-intensive nature of traditional lacrosse stick-making.

For Alfie Jacques, Making Wooden Lacrosse Sticks Is A Way Of Life
Brief Version of Alf’s Stick Making Process
1) Pick out a Hickory tree and cut the wood into eights.
2) Let it dry for two months
3) Put the wood in the steamer to heat it up and make it flexible
4) Bend the wood into a lacrosse stick shape
5) Carve the wood
6) Net the stick
7) Smoothen it all out
Alf giving a stckmaking presentation to an international audience
Video recording of Alf at his outdoor workshop