Chapter XXI

GAMES AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS

Heavy betting on games was the rule. Games were commonly played between neighboring villages or even on occasion with neighboring tribes. Gambling was an important element in these contests and large sums were bet. Sometimes nearly all of a person’s or even of a group’s possessions were at stake. Evaluation of the stakes in white man’s terms is difficult, but they are said frequently to have been of the order of several hundred dollars or even as much as a thousand dollars. Important games lasted more than one day—perhaps three or four days. The players caught brief rests only and were completely exhausted by the time the playing was over. Singing was the usual accompaniment and high quality rendition at games was much admired. Cheating was rare, maybe because it was supposed to bring subsequent bad luck.

Most games were guessing games. There was considerable variety in the character and number of gambling stones or wooden sticks used, the manner of shuffling and other details. The sticks were shuffled and then concealed in the hands of one or several players on one side. The opposition had to determine the location of the marked stick or the arrangement of several. There were many spectators and excitement ran high. Women occasionally participated along with the men who were the main contestants. Counting sticks might be supplied to each side in equal number at the beginning. More often, however, the sticks were all placed in a common pile at the outset, the successful side taking a counting stick with each win. These scoring sticks were taken and surrendered as the tide of the game changed until one side had all. The game was won at this point.

Ball games were played too. The ball was of buckskin stuffed with hair. The object was to kick the ball between the other team’s goal posts. Kicking ball races over given courses and back, or around a lake shore, were also indulged in. In some contests the men and youths on opposing sides would engage in restraining each other so that a number of individual or group wrestling bouts developed on the playing field.

There were foot races of distances either short or up to fifteen miles or so in length. Also archery contests and wrestling matches were held. In wrestling the object was to throw the opponent to the ground; tripping was not allowed. Contests in which heavy rocks were tossed, somewhat in the manner of today’s shot-put, and heavier rocks carried in competition over a designated line were other games in which the Atsugewi engaged.

Shinny was played by women and children as well as by men, but adult sexes played separately in all of our tribes except Yana. Among them only men participated in this game. Mountain Maidu had three players on a side; Atsugewi had five players. Straight shinny sticks curved at the striking end were used and the puck was a hide affair. Mountain Maidu used a double ball puck. An attempt was made to keep the puck in the air in play. The object, of course, was to get the puck to go between the opponents’ goal posts. The Yana used a puck of two bones linked by a string several inches long. Running with the puck on the stick as well as hitting, and throwing it down the field were permitted.

Children improvised a number of games in the same manner as our own children do today in copying their parents. They played house with limbless but dressed dolls, made and used toy bows and arrows, and made sling shots, too. They commonly tried juggling two stones in one hand, spun acorn tops by hand, and in some instances noise makers such as wooden buzzers and bull roarers were used. In play, loud noise was not condoned, however.

Small feasts might occur at any time and were perhaps the most important social gatherings of Atsugewi. They were usually sparked by a temporary abundance of food. Dancing was not included.

Mr. Garth describes the Atsugewi “... grand occasion ... held only when a large supply of food had been accumulated, was the bagapi or ‘big time’.... The chief called a meeting to decide on the date and then sent his people to various places for deer and other foods. Knotted strings (rokuki) with a knot tied for each intervening day before the festival were sent to other villages. By untying a knot each day other chieftains knew when to start for the host’s village. The host chief stood on the roof of his earth lodge and welcomed the visitor, calling each chief by name: ‘Don’t fall down. Step carefully. I’m glad you have come to see me. Don’t be in a hurry.’... Toward evening the visitors might give a dance, after which the host chief called everyone to eat. Large baskets containing acorn mush, meat, sunflower seeds, and other foods were placed on the ground. The host proffered baskets of food to each visiting chief who in turn then distributed the food to his people. In winter two tribal groups on opposite sides of the sweat house might have a competitive sweat dance, vying to see which could endure the heat longest. In summer the sweating was usually omitted, and games of chance were begun. In the several days that followed, foot racing, archery, weight lifting, and other contests were indulged in. Large bets were made by opposing sides on the outcome of each contest, and the losing side at the end of the week’s festivities often had little property left. Surplus food was divided among the guests before they departed.”