Pakitahantaawi! ('Let's play lacrosse!')

You can click on any photograph to see a larger version. Many of the words and phrases also have sound files you can listen to.

At the day camps, everyone plays lacrosse. It is a fun game and people of all ages can play. In former times, very large teams would play on a very large field with no boundaries. Almost everyone in a village might play against almost everyone in different village.

 

At the day camp, the children learned some of the vocabulary used when playing lacrosse. At the beginning of a game, someone might say šaaye-nko kiilwa 'Are you guys ready?' and everyone would respond šaaye niiloona 'We're ready!'

 

 

If you want someone to pass you the ball, you say miililo! which means 'give it to me.' You can say this when you want someone to give you anything like nihswi amehkwa miililo 'give me three dollars' oroonsaayosaakani miililo 'give me a frying pan'

 

Here is a video of a lacrosse game during the 2012 day camp. One of the players has a helmet cam on. Click on the picture to see the video. See if you can recognize any Myaami words. You can also see the video on YouTube at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwFXJLiWFUo

 

pakitahaakani 'lacrosse stick'

pakwaahkoni 'lacrosse ball'

naatilo! 'get it! (lacrosse ball)'

 

Some more photographs: