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Mystery Alaska


james laverance

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A little history of how the Inuit of Alaska lived and games they used to play before contact with the Europeans and in my opinion is the earliest stick and ball games on ice skates during the period of Columbus (1400's)

" Nelson listed thirty-seven recreational activities which he found among the Eskimos before the coming of the whites"
" With the passing of that institution some of the recreations of the Eskimos have been lost."
" For example, hockey was formerly played on ice with a crude stick and an ivory, leather, or wooden ball."
" Now the players usually have steel skates, and very few have manufactured hockey sticks, and the "ball" is frequently and empty milk can"
https://books.google.ca/books?id=o9KrAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA184&dq=nelson+eskimo+hockey&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5l-3b0rvKAhWMtYMKHeHIAbMQ6AEIJjAA


This is a passage from a book written in 1900 about the Alaskan Inuit...

"Skating. — This is "par excellence" the popular exercise of the men and boys. They make skates for themselves, sharpening the edge of a piece of an iron barrel hoop and inserting the blunt edge into a block of wood, which has been rudely shaped to accommodate it to the boot, to which it is bound by sealskin straps. They do not pretend to be graceful skaters ; they prefer to play ' ' shinny " rather than practice tricks."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=CFBZAAAAIAAJ&dq=block&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=block


Another link to how the Inuit lived...

"They play football and several kinds of shinny, using long bones for shinny sticks. Sometimes they skate on new smooth ice, using bone skates tied fast to their soft shoes."
books.google.ca/books?id=H48dAQAAIAAJ&q=bone+skates&dq=bone+skates&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjdmpPV1L3KAhWhzoMKHXnkAIYQ6AEIIzAB

"The game of aqsaqtuk was played by Eskimo in Canada and Alaska, although dates of its origin are unknown. It was contested on snow and ice by two large teams. According to one Alaskan legend, a game was played between two villages with goals 10 miles apart."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=s9IS5gcKNJEC&pg=PT13&dq=aqsaqtuk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjh487strzKAhUCsoMKHTXXAcAQ6AEIPTAG


Another couple of early skating references...

"The Eskimos were good skaters, often going the distance to the next village, eighty miles, entirely on skates. The skates were made from old pieces of iron or steel that were picked up perhaps on the beach. They filed the metal down and attached the metal to pieces of driftwood. The driftwood was cleverly shaped to fit the sole of the foot. This was then strapped with strips of raw hide to the soft mukluks."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=ubTCCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT67&dq=eskimo+skaters+metal+driftwood&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSoe6X98XKAhXkvoMKHRrlBBQQ6AEIKDAA

"These are the Eskimo village and the cliff dwellings. The Eskimo village has been located for a long time ; and last winter, when snow filled the air and the pond was ice-covered, its inhabitants were a happy crowd. They amused themselves and their visitors by sledding with dogs, skating on old wooden runners, and whipping ... with their long-lashed dog -whips."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=hCsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA619&lpg=PA619&dq=eskimo+village+wooden+runners&source=bl&ots=bpCRP5DSP0&sig=Wyi1MHxlvqneX_AsTBVmKX4gUe4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid5uDi8sXKAhVskIMKHWf7BqYQ6AEIGjAA

^^^
Does this suggest that it may have been possible for the Inuit living in Alaska to have played Hockey on Bone skates in the Pre-Columbian era?

"In the picture George is showing us now the Greenland boys are playing the lively game of hockey, or shinty. Slip-Su (the handsome boy).and his friends are enjoying this game on the hard snow. A walrus-rib answers for a stick, and the hurly is made out of a round knob of a nipped joint."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=2bQXAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA185&dq=lively+game+hockey,+or+shinty.+Slip-Su+(the+handsome+boy).&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj679Ph8YbNAhVMIFIKHQE9A0sQ6AEIJDAA


Then we have the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia of a little later on...

"Down east, about 1500 — The Mi'kmaq reported today that they have developed a winter game called "oochamkunutk" — which is easy for them to say.


It is played on a frozen river or pond, with two sides of ten men each. The players use deer gut to tie runners of sharp bone or wood to their moccasins, the better to slide along the ice. Two goals, made of upright sticks or small heaps of stones, are set a few hundred paces apart. Each player has a curved stick, with which he tries to hit a wooden ball, the object being to send it into the opposing side's goal.It is permissible to hit an opponent anywhere except the head.The likelihood of this peculiar activity enjoying wide acceptance or popularity is exceedingly slim."
https://books.google.ca/books?id=j8RgQrfaSEIC&q=micmac+played+deer+gut+tied+to&dq=micmac+played+deer+gut+tied+to&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG_OHd_LbKAhUrkIMKHa7yA8YQ6AEIHDAA

 

 


 

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