11th annual Wooden Stick Festival upholds Onondaga Nation’s lacrosse roots
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When Betty Lyons Hill, a coordinator for the Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival, saw her 15-year-old son Sidney Hill Jr. carve his first full lacrosse stick on Sunday, she turned away, blotting her tears with her fingertip.
Watching her son scrape a draw knife against a piece of curved oak wood was more than just an act for Hill – it was spiritual. The carving was part of a larger demonstration at the festival to show attendees how traditional lacrosse sticks are made.
“That connection that he’s having with that stick right now,” Hill said. “It’s so powerful.”
The American Indian Law Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group, hosted the Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival at Onondaga Lake Park on Saturday and Sunday, which featured lacrosse games, vendors and a group-wide cleanup. The festival focused on restoring the lake’s spirit, celebrating the sacred game of lacrosse and educating attendees on tribe beliefs.
North American Indigenous tribes, including the Haudenosaunee, created lacrosse over a thousand years ago. Within the tribes, lacrosse is considered sacred, often called the “medicine game.”
“We’re trying to show that this game is about peace, friendship, that through this game, it can be healing, and bring it back to why we’re here on the lake,” Hill said.
Hill Jr. said he first played for an organized lacrosse team when he was around 5 years old but held a stick at a much younger age. Male babies of the Onondaga Nation are given a small wooden lacrosse stick to clutch the day they’re born to symbolize a lifelong duty to carry the game, Hill and her son said.
“It’s a special day for everybody, just gathering together in the center of Onondaga,” Hill Jr. said. “It makes you feel good after.”
Five lacrosse teams, consistently rejoining the Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival each year, compete in preliminary matches before entering a round-robin playoff game on the second day. Returning players often switch teams each year, making the tournament different every time.
Though the jersey they sport varies, many of the players have been competing with each other since they were children and have stayed in contact since.
“Everybody looks forward to this weekend, knowing that it’s going to be the same annually, that we’re all going to see the same players,” Oneida Silver Hawks player Tyler Gabriel said. “We all sit together, we all eat together. It is very community organized.”
Gabriel said he always looks forward to competing with and learning from one particular older teammate, whom he met at a festival years prior. Gabriel said the player often shares wisdom and stories with the group beyond lacrosse.
On Sunday, the Irish United team, inspired by Ireland’s national team, faced the local Onondaga Red Hawks in one of over 10 games throughout the weekend, before the festival declares a champion for the year.
Ireland Lacrosse turned down their spot in the 2022 World Games to ensure that the Iroquois Nationals, who represent the Haudenosanee Confederacy, could compete in the game their ancestors founded. The Irish United have been invited to the tournament since to represent their friendship and loyalty to the Haudenosaunee.
In Onondaga culture, male babies are given a lacrosse stick to clutch the day they are born. Paul Hakimian | Staff Photographer
Now, the Onondaga Nation is fighting for its spot at the LA28 Olympic Games. When cultivating the annual tournament, Hill said she wanted to help the community take the “medicine game” back to the lake where it started.
“We are still governed by our own government. We are not U.S. citizens,” Hill said. “And we are strong people. And I think that this event helps to demonstrate that.”
Outside of lacrosse, the AILA also advocates to restore Onondaga Lake during the festival, which suffers from severe pollution. Children at the festival walked around the lake, picking up trash as a part of its clean-up efforts.
Hill said the effort is part of a broader worship of the land for Indigenous people who participate.
“It’s important for people to understand this should be important to everybody,” Hill said.
While the cleanup was still going on by Onondaga Lake, Hill Jr. finished carving the frame of his traditional lacrosse stick before returning to his post at a food vendor. His mother kept a coiled wooden shaving from the demonstration, something she said allowed her to keep the spirit of the wood with her.
Hill Jr. said he feels closer to his mom and community through the festival and playing lacrosse over the years. Together, they helped to continue a legacy.
“We’ve been making these sticks for thousands of years, and just being able to hold that piece of tradition and culture is incredible,” Hill Jr. said.
