World Cup Schmorld Cup

Who needs the World Cup when there's Stickball?  

This game is seriously fun and action packed.  During my visit to the reservation in Philadelphia, part of my experience was staying to watch the stickball game series going on later that evening.  

Cute kid with his light up sunglasses ready to cheer on his favorite team!

It reminded me of a high school football game atmosphere (granted I know American football is its own religious denomination but I've never gotten the attraction). 

Stickball is 10 times more interesting than football and so much fun! 

What's cool is there is a drummer on the sidelines beating out rhythms the entire time the players are on the field.

Everyone was rooting for their home team:  Bogue Chitto vs. Beaver Dam and several others.  We watched a series of play-offs that are leading up to the Choctaw Indian Fair in a few weeks.

The Choctaw game of stickball is considered the oldest field sport in the world and is still played each year - the winning teams secure bragging rights!  Lacrosse came out of this tradition.  There are 30 team members on the field - which means there are 60 players total.

Opposing teams use handcrafted sticks or kabocca, and a woven leather ball, or towa. Each team tries to advance the ball down the field to the other team's goalpost using only their sticks, never touching or throwing the ball with their hands. Points are scored when a player hits the opposing team's goalpost with the ball. 

~From MS Band of Choctaw's website

 Teams congratulating each other on a good game.

The players either make their sticks themselves or a family member makes them.  It is a game that takes a lot of skill to coordinate the sticks in both hands.  A stick is held in each hand - and the   

Kids begin playing at a very young age and it amazed me to watch their coordination and skill as they dodged in and out, picked up the ball with their sticks and flung it across the football field towards the goal.
 
The ball begins with a rock wrapped in cloth that is then surrounded by woven leather.

I was given the ball as a gift!

I have to say it was hard to photograph the game because things happened so fast.  I would look down one minute and the team would score a goal or something really good happened, they would be down at the end of the field and I missed it!  So, at some point, you have to let go and follow along.

For the last game of the evening, the drummers led their team onto the field.

 There was a full moon out that night.

After the game, I was invited to go to a traditional Choctaw funeral wake.  It was a true honor to be able to experience that.  The Vice Miko, Harrison Ben, of the Standing Pine community lost his wife just a few days before.  After the game let out around 10 p.m., we drove out to the Standing Pines community center where everyone was gathering.

As we drove closer to the community, there was a sign on the road that read "Funeral Zone" and I was told that two different people had passed away in a very close amount of time.  So there was a wake at the Baptist church and then around the corner, was the wake for the Vice Miko's wife.  As we rounded the corner past the church, there were folks outside and a big fire was burning outside.

We came to the community center where, I was surprised to see so many people, adults and children, still there and milling about.

As we came through the door, we heard traditional singing.  As we walked into the main community room, it was just like a regular funeral wake with the casket at the head of the room, surrounded by floral arrangements and pictures of the deceased displayed nearby.  There were lots of chairs for those who wanted to sit and pray, listen to the singers, reflect or meditate and visit with friends and family.  

We stayed there for quite a long time and regardless of the time of night, the wake was full of people coming to pay their respects.  It was a touching experience.  People didn't hide this experience from their children, who were regularly coming in and out of the room.  

When a person in the Choctaw community dies, they immediately light a fire in honor of that person.  Friends and family sometimes cook food for the family on the fire (or in these modern days, prepare it in the crock pot).  The fire must be completely put out each night.

The body is embalmed and prepared for the wake, which typically lasts three days (and can be longer depending on how far family has to travel).  The community comes at all hours of the day and night to visit the family and pay their respects to the deceased.  Someone is always there with the body (a sign of respect) and the family stays in shifts sometimes pulling mattresses in the room to sleep.  On the third day is the burial and funeral service. 

The experience for me was moving.  I didn't know the lady who passed away nor did I know anyone else there except for my new friend Wilma.  All in all, listening to the traditional hymns, watching groups come in to sing in honor of the deceased lady, community members showing up during the late hours of the night, listening to women quietly chatting in the Choctaw language, elderly men catching up with each other, the community consoling the family members got me  to thinking about both our differences and similarities.  Funeral food, comfort food, traditions (or lack thereof), respect for the elderly and respect for a long, well-lived life.

The Choctaw community is so tightly knit.   

It is difficult for me to articulate some of it right now.  There is so much we need to be aware of and so much we have yet to learn about ourselves and about those in our own back yard.