Traditional games promote cultural awareness
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Peyton Lammerding, 9, wove a lime green string quickly between her fingers and around the wrist of a young boy helping her demonstrate.
She then lifted her hands and pulled the string down, almost magically seeming to cut through his arm with the string.
The trick, called “cut the hand,” was the newest string game Peyton learned.
Some of the second-graders gasped in amazement while others tried to mimic the same trick with their own lime green, hot pink and purple strings. A few yards away, a group of second-grade girls played a game of Tewa sling ball taught by Peyton’s older sister Taylor, 12.
The girls were two of the many volunteers who helped teach games and crafts during the American Indian Cultural Awareness Day hosted by Arlee Schools May 18.
The whole school day was dedicated teaching Arlee K-12 students about the culture and history of Native American tribes.
The day included traditional games such as double ball, string games and Tewa sling ball. There were classroom activities where students made pony bead bracelets, pictographs, dream catchers and beaded pouches. Students had the opportunity to set up a tipi and attend a field trip that included picking bitterroot and learning about native plants. There was also a powwow and a Drug Task Force presentation.
Peyton and Taylor learned the string, sling ball and other games while attending a traditional games workshop hosted by the International Traditional Games Society at Salish Kootenai College with their mother Susan Carney, a physical education teacher, in October.
Tribal college presidents and cultural directors in Montana and Southern Alberta founded the International Games Society in 1977. The mission of the group is to resurrect and incorporate ancient games to promote cultural values, native languages and family well being.
DeeAnna Leader, executive director of the Traditional Games Society, even allowed Carney to leave training to go pick up her two daughters and bring them back with her.
“It’s cultural. And when something is cultural, you involve everyone in the family,” Carney explained. Carney has earned a level one certification from the International Traditional Games Society. Fellow Arlee physical education teacher Shawn Orr has a level three certification.
Though children are not able to obtain any of the three levels of certification available, Carney said her children learned a great deal at the workshop and that it helped spark an interest in traditional games.
“My goal is to make a story with the figures,” said Peyton, who can already make such figures as the drum and the Kiowa star. Once she masters more string figures she can use them to illustrate a story.
“The entire day is about the sharing of American Indian culture while incorporating American Indian Education for All,” said Wilhemina “Willie” Wright, the American Indian curriculum coordinator for Arlee Schools and Cultural Awareness Day organizer.
As the curriculum coordinator, Wright is responsible for researching books and resources about Native Americans for teachers to use in their classrooms. Though she tells them what they can incorporate into their classrooms, she doesn’t tell them how to teach.
In a survey Wright took of Arlee teachers, one of the aspects most concerning them was knowledge of other tribes in Montana. As a result, Wright has put together an in-service training set for June 7 and 8. She is inviting representatives from the Northern Cheyenne, Crow, Fort Belknap and Fort Peck reservations to present the history and culture of their tribes.
Montana is home to 11 bands and seven reservations that also include the Salish and Kootenai tribes. According to Wright, Arlee Schools are comprised of a student body that is 68 percent Native American. Thirty six percent of those students are from various other tribes in Montana.
For Wright, American Indian Cultural Awareness Day is just another step to honoring the implementation of the Indian Education for All Act authored by State Representative Carol Juneau in 1999.
Wright encourages all teachers to attend workshops and conferences that teach different aspects of Native American culture and history like the one attended by Orr and Carney.
“You can give them a book or you can sit here and show them,” Carney said picking up a sling ball with her hands. “It’s not a book thing, it’s oral history, and it’s hands-on history.”
