 About Hazard
Games
The objects which are thrown or tossed in games of hazard Dr.
Culin, for convenience, has designated as "dice" and he calls
the games "dice games." He found these
games among one hundred and thirty tribes belonging to thirty
different linguistic stocks. Throughout this wide distribution
the "dice" are
not only of different forms but are made from a variety of
materials: split-cane; wooden or bone staves or blocks; pottery;
beaver or muskrat teeth; walnut shells; persimmon, peach or
plum stones. All the "dice" of whatever kind have the two sides
different in color, in marking, or in both. Those of the smaller
type are tossed in a basket or bowl. Those that are like long
sticks, similar to arrow shafts, from which they are primarily
derived, were thrown by hand. Myths of the Pueblo tribes speak
of the game, in which "dice" shaped like a shaft were used,
as being played by the War Gods. The split-cane "dice" were "sacrificed" on
the altar sacred to the Gods of War. In this connection it
is interesting to find evidence that the "dice game" of hazard
was associated with the thought of war among tribes very different,
both in language and customs, from the Pueblo Indians. Among
the tribes living on the prairies the word used to indicate
a "point" made
in a "dice game" is derived from the same root as the word
used to indicate an honor won on the field of battle.
Two examples of the class of games called "dice games" are here
given: the first a Pueblo game played
almost exclusively by men - The Pa-tol
Stick Game;
the second a game found among the Omaha
and kindred tribes and almost exclusively played by women - The
Plum Stone Game . |
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