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lahal
[< slahal Chinook etlaltlal]
British Columbia, especially Pacific Coast
DCHP-2 (Jan 2011)
Spelling variants:lehál, la halle, lahelle, lehal, slahal, sla-hal
The game is played with two groups. While a player of group A is hiding "bones" in their hand (see Image 1), group A's followers make noise and bang the drums in order to distract group B's players' attention. Group B then needs to guess in which hand (variant: and how many) the bones are found. They get a stick if right, they lose one if wrong. The game ends when one group has not more sticks. One version of the game starts with 7 each today, but versions up to 50 have been reported (see the 1793 quotation).
Lahal and slahal seem to compete with one another as froms (see the 2013 quotation), with lehál as a newer third competitor.
n.
a traditional game of some western First Nations, based on guessing the correct location and/or number of "bones" (see Image 1).
Type: 1. Origin — Lahal goes by many names, and slahal, lahalor lehal all fluctuate. There is evidence to assume the name (s)lahal originates in Chinook Jargon, as evidenced by the Chinook Jargon dictionaries which were early documents of the (s)lahal forms (see the 1863 and 1870s quotations). The game, however, likely predates European contact, as the Carrier are reported to have played a version in the 1790s (see the 1793 quotation). As such, the form (s)lahal is likely closely tied to British Columbia, the Columbia District (now USA's Washington and Oregon States) and the Pacific Coast.
See the video in the references for quick instructions for a basic version or the description in the 2025 quotation.
Quotations
1793
[We all sat down . . . and our guide and one of the [Carrier] party prepared to engage in play. Each had a bundle of about fifty small sticks neatly polished, of the size of a quill, and five inches long; a certain number of these sticks had red lines around them, and as many of these as the players might find convenient were curiously rolled up in dried grass, and according to the judgment of his antagonist respecting their number and marks he lost or won.]
1863
Sla-hal, n. Chinook [not Jargon] Etlaltlal. A game played with ten small discs, one of which is marked.
1870s [?]
La-hal. See Slahal
[...]Slahal. A game played with eight small disks, one of which is marked.
[...]Slahal. A game played with eight small disks, one of which is marked.
1906
Lehal, which appears to be played in the same way as among the southern tribes, is also in vogue.
1934
. . . as (the gamblers) played their ancient game, La halle. . . .
1963
Performances include the Swai-Swai dance, Lahal or stick game, Salish Mask dance, medicine, paddle and masked dances.
1965
That night the Indians rounded off the day by playing Lahal, sometimes called Slahal or Pageesee.
1995
Table 1 Examples of sacred areas in the Clayoquot Sound region
Sharp Point (diving place) [Place general] Training place for players of lehal (gambling stick game) [Type of area] Sam 1992a:11 [Reference]
Sharp Point (diving place) [Place general] Training place for players of lehal (gambling stick game) [Type of area] Sam 1992a:11 [Reference]
1998
The Museum and Archive of Games is a unique public institution dedicated to research of games and game-related behaviour, and to the collection, preservation, and exhibition of games and game-relatedobjects. The Slahal - Bone and Stick Gambling Game (photograph) is a game in the Museum’s Collection. You can see how the game is played using the Virtual tour of the museum at http://www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/~museum/
2013
You asked me about “lehál.” I’m no expert, but my kids play it. They say slehá:l or lehál. It all depends on who’s saying it. They have two teams facing each other. They used to, in the old days, have a board in between and they would all have sticks with which to hit the board, what we called q’ewétem. Then they would have one or two drummers who would lead the singing. I don’t see them with that anymore. They don’t have the big boards. They just have the drum. And usually it was one tribe against another or one village against another—or if it was just for fun, one family against another, or men against women. It can be anything, you know, anybody. Sometimes, the betting would get really heavy and a lot of money would be involved. Other times, it was just for fun. But they have—how many sticks? Yes, eleven sticks. And they have king sticks. No, one king and another a little bit smaller than the others. I don’t know what they call them. If Mark was here, he could tell you what their names are. Anyway, there’s about eleven or twelve sticks on each side. Then they have two sets of bones, one plain white bone and one with a black circle around it, a mark. They have two sets of those.
2025
Traditional Coast Salish game enjoying a resurgence with Victoria studentsPlayed between two teams using two sets of "bones," scoring sticks and a king stick, the traditional Coastal Salish game involves one team concealing sets of bones within their hands, while the other team tries to win scoring sticks by guessing the location of the unstriped bones while the team that has the bones drums and sings in an attempt to distract the team that is guessing. "Lahal is a game of chance. It's a very old game that's been played by many different communities across different [first] nations," said Shelley Wilton, director of the Greater Victoria School District's Indigenous education department, at the Wednesday, Feb. 12 event.
References
- Carrier Sekani Family Services (2024) • Video
Images
