Come Play where Lacrosse Originated
Deyhontsigwa’ehs: The Creator’s Game, Lacrosse Weekend 2023
Saturday September 16-Sunday September 17, 2023
Onondaga Lake Park, 106 Lake Dr, Liverpool, NY 13088 in the heart of Onondaga Nation Territory
6th Annual Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival
(10:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
The festival takes place at Onondaga Lake Park, just 5 miles north of the Onondaga Nation. This event will be educational and entertaining for the whole family.
Look forward to these events:
- Traditional Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Making Demonstrations throughout the weekend
- The Randy Hall Masters Tournament will run over the whole weekend.
- Traditional Haudenosaunee social singing and dancing at noon each day.
- Traditional Haudenosaunee foods and crafters
Wooden Stick Festival (10:00am-5:00pm) Schedule
Restore Our Sacred Lake 5K Saturday Morning
Social Dancing Noon Saturday and Sunday
- Wooden lacrosse stick artisans,
- Travis Gabriel and Tionatakwente Lacrosse will be selling lacrosse sticks at the event.
- traditional Haudenosaunee crafters
- Haudenosaunee dancing
- Haudenosaunee speakers
- Free and fun for the whole family
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Randy Hall Masters Wood Stick Lacrosse Tournament Schedule Saturday (9AM-4PM)
- TBA
- TBD
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Randy Hall Masters Wood Stick Lacrosse Tournament Schedule Sunday (10AM-3PM)
- TBD
Background to the event
The Haudenosaunee (Called “Iroquois” by colonists) are the originators and keepers of the game known today as “lacrosse.” Deyhontsigwa’ehs (“They Bump Hips,” in the Onondaga Language) goes back millennia and is also known as “The Creator’s Game” and the “Medicine Game” The Onondaga Nation is the “Central Fire” of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of six nations (Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora). The Haudenosaunee Confederacy was founded on the shore of Onondaga Lake––now called Syracuse, NY. Over 1000 years ago. Deyhontsigwa’ehs played an integral role in establishing “The Great Law of Peace.” Today throughout Haudenosaunee territory the “Medicine Game” is still played in ceremony. We are dedicated to re-establishing a Haudenosaunee presence back at Onondaga Lake where this game was originally played.
Our Collaborative Spirit.
The Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival is a collaboration between the American Indian Law Alliance and the Indigenous Values Initiative. We are proud to collaborate with one another on such an important event. One of the many lessons we can all learn from Deyhontsigwa’ehs (lacrosse) is the importance of collaboration and working together.
Our Sponsors
Special thanks to our Sponsors:
USA Lacrosse is a proud partner of the Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival and are committed to ensuring the stories, traditions and spirit of lacrosse continue to be shared.
Fourth Annual Randy Hall Masters Wooden Stick Lacrosse Tournament
There will be referees, a tent for changing, a box sized field marked out on the grass with 4×4 nets by Onondaga Lake. Players will be responsible for helmets and gloves, and wooden sticks. Teams will be responsible for their jerseys. Wooden sticks are preferred but not required.
- Prizes
- First Prize: Leather Game Ball, trophy, $300 cash
- Second Prize: Plaque, and $200 cash.
- Third Prize: a Plaque.
- The tournament registration fee:
- Update the fee is reduced to $400 as of August 2, 2023.
- Individual registration for house team(s) (includes jersey and lunch)
- Update the fee is reduced to $50 as of August 2, 2023.
Tournament Rules
Rules Overview
- Two – 20 min running halves (unless agreed upon differently by both teams)
- 5-minute warmup and half time
- Shots out of bounds are a turnover
- all penalties are 1 min and start when player is seated in the box (released on goals)
- 1 wooden stick must be on the field at all times (not including goalies) if there is NOT at least one then a 1 min delay of game
- penalty is assessed
- stick checking is allowed but ON BALL ONLY (otherwise it’s a 1 min slashing penalty)
- over and back is in effect once you cross into your attacking half designated by lines on the field
- no shot clock, but there is a failure to advance call which is designated by the officials (which is a turnover)
- time, penalties and score will be kept at scorer’s table
- seeding for the finals will be based on: Head to Head, Goals Scored, and Goals Against
Rules (PDF)
Get Involved
About Randy Hall
Thomas Randall “Randy” Hall, Akwesasne Mohawk Wolf Clan, passed away January 18, 2018. He served in Vietnam with US Army (1965-68) and participated in the 1972 AIM take-over of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. He loved sports and was deeply involved with the Onondaga Athletic Club where he played and coached lacrosse and basketball. One of his favorite things to do was to travel and play in tournaments. In his memory, the Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival honors Randy by naming the wooden sticks tournament after him. The inaugural Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival was held at Onondaga Lake in 2013. Previously the game had been played exclusively on Haudenosaunee Nation territories, but in 2013, Randy Hall asked Philip P. Arnold and Sandy Bigtree for help in bringing the game back to Onondaga Lake––its place of origin. It was here the Peacemaker arrived well over 1,000 years ago to bring peace to five warring nations. Few realize that Deyhontsigwa’ehs, the Creator’s Game, was an integral part of this peacemaking process. This ancient game is still played ceremonially among the Haudenosaunee. It is played hard, but always played to foster good relationships between human beings and the natural world.
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