Indian Games, Dances & Native Songs - online book

Native American Ceremonials, Sports, and Songs with Sheet Music, Lyrics & Commentary

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76                INDIAN GAMES AND DANCES
player who must guess. If he loses, he drops one of his counters on the mat; the guessing goes on as described, until some one is successful and puts a counter in his hair, when the bundles are all thrown on the mat and the play begins again as before. Should the person designated by the Leader to guess think that he holds the bundle with eleven straws, he must point it at the Leader. If this surmise is correct, the person guessing puts a coun­ter in his hair and all bundles are again thrown on the mat.
In this way the game proceeds until some player has won the requisite number of counters and has them all standing in his hair. Throughout the game the singing must be kept up, accompanied by rhythmic movements of the feet and the body, the players acting as though searching among the tall grass for a desired clump. When a point is won, the Leader should shout out the counter won, without interrupting the song or the play. Among the Indians the game, once started, is kept going without halt or break in the song or the movements. The calling out of the winnings in no way disturbs the singing or the playing.
The victor should wear his successful counters in his hair the rest of the day, if possible.
II
Ata-a-kut
Introductory Note. — This game is played among one of the basket making tribes of California. As not infrequently occurs in Indian games, there is in this
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