Irony (2021)

The name given by the Onodowa’ga:’ (Seneca) to the Medicine Game is Dewa’a:o’ which translates in English to “nettings in it” and by two Kanien’keha (Mohawk) words Tewa:arton (it has dual nets) and Teiontsikwaeks “they bump hips”. Post-Haudenosaunee naming of the Creator’s Game, came from Jesuit Missionary, Jean Debeoef (1600s), who gave it the French terminology, “LaCrosse”, envisioned from his relational perception to the Bishop’s crosier (cross) and resemblance to a “Sheppard’s staff or crook”. In this story stick, the art depicts the “Irony” by creating talking points of religions, colonization, and Indigenous Knowledges—an Irony of two-world views. One ties to French priests and religion via Crosse imagery and the other to the origins of the Medicine Game and the spirit of the Haudenosaunee or People of the Longhouse. An irony of perceived conization of the game versus the continuance of the medicine and spiritualty of Haudenosaunee lifeways. This collaborative community piece was co-created by traditional wooden stick maker, Dr. Rodney C. Haring (Seneca, Beaver Clan) and weaver, Brody D. Jimerson (Seneca, Wolf Clan). Dr. Haring re-worked the staff, purchased from the United Kingdom, into a lacrosse stick. Historically, the stick may have resembled 1600s style Haudenosaunee patterns. Mr. Jimerson completed the stick by weaving a raw-hide (gut) sidewall and then finished the net with gut “clock cord” from England—materials often used in early 20th Century lacrosse sticks.