Hand Games and Two-Foot High Kicks
Before heading out west and north, I asked my graduate assistant to prepare binders for me with information regarding the rules and vocabulary of all the sports competitions included at the winter Olympics, Arctic Games and Paralympics. The binders have proved invaluable to me numerous times over the course of the last few weeks, from explaining the difference between a Salchow and a Lutz, clarifying the scoring for free-style aerials or curling, or providing me with acrobatic vocabulary for poetic fodder.
However, the Dene Games and Arctic Sports sections of the red binder, I must admit, have been a bit of a mystery to me, and one I have been keen on solving as soon as possible. Here are some excerpts from the Dene Sports “Hand Games” pages:
Teams start in a kneeling position facing each other in pairs. The game is accompanied by drumming. Each team is provided with twelve small sticks. Teams take turns to hide and guess. Each player on the hiding team will take his token and with hands behind back place the token in one hand or the other. Presenting the hands for the other team to see, the player attempts to deceived to player opposite him with elaborate gestures of the hands, arms, head and upper body…Players must each have a small object to conceal in their hands. This can be a coin, rock or other small object…Players may kneel on mats and may use a blanket or other cover to help conceal their hands when hiding.
A guessing game with hand gestures? I had no idea what to expect. I was grateful to have a guide with me, Greg Edgelow, the Director of the Yukon Aboriginal Sport Circle, a good friend of Ann Peel’s (you may have already guessed this, but my friend Ann knows everyone worth knowing), a man with a wicked sense of humour and a lot of patience with me and with youth, as the indoor tent shook with intense monotonous drumming and teams began bouncing, screeching, flailing, gesticulating wildly, shaking, and punching hands in front of their opponent’s faces while their opponents made arm motions to indicate which hands contained the concealed items.
Here is what the binder pages did not tell me: The game is a form of traditional gambling (their version of poker), but very physical as the players taunt, mock, hex, and dance as they try to psych-out their opponents and embody the rhythm of the game, which is understood to be much like the rhythms of nature (some experience the flow of a river, others the personae of animals—for hand gestures, several mimic horns or antlers). The drums are meant to speed the game up and also allow participants a rare form of self-expression, especially for the normally subdued personality, and almost every team has at least one player that seems possessed by the music, the game, and greater spirits. The men’s reactions to wrong guesses by their opponents might be aptly described as “dissing.” The Alaskan women’s team, blessed with long heads of hair, spun their locks like headbangers—one covered her face as if she were scratching her eyes out in distress. And yet, the game is extremely friendly, as team members smile, pat each other on the back, and shake hands after particularly good rounds.
The announcer claimed that men used to bet their wives in hand games. Some believe the chances are 50%-50% no matter what, but those people are not players of the game. Those who play believe it is a game of skill, deceit, trickery, and power dynamics. The teammates are selected for their skill in the other Dene Games events (which I will write about as I experience them), but then must learn hand games.
Greg tells me that all the aboriginal sports have a basis in survival techniques, but that a distinction frequently made between the Dene Games and the Arctic Sports is that the Dene Games are more strategic, and privilege slyness, cunning, quick-thinking, and strength (both mental and physical), whereas the Arctic Games are more athletic and acrobatic.
Here is an excerpt from the Two-Foot High Kick event page:
The player may start with a running or standing approach. On take off, both feet must be no more than shoulder width apart. The target must be clearly struck while both feet are parallel. Upon landing both feet must hit the floor at the same time, and be no more than shoulder width apart. The player must maintain balance and control.
I thought that sounded fairly straight-forward. Athletic, but nothing out of the ordinary in terms of common track sports like long-jump or high-jump. And yet, I’ve never quite seen anything like it either. Players must kick a fur object, usually dangling well above their heads. They must do so taking off on two feet and must hit the object with both feet at the exact same time, and then must land on two feet and control their landing. Try it. No, really try it. Then process this: junior girls winner hit 6 feet 2 inches, and adult males winner 8 feet. And my hotel neighbors were knocking on my door as I tried to crack the 2 foot mark!
(Note: Today’s poem is set to the rhythm of the drumming of the hand games.)
Photo: Hand games, Alaskan team
