Depth of Experience

Among the thematic threads woven into this issue is the idea that tradition deepens our relationship with the outdoors. In his essay “The Hidden Canyons," Bear Paulsen recounts multiple winter trips to the BWCA. He tells of exploring the same two canyons year after year, eventually gaining an intimate, almost spiritual familiarity with the landscape, which he describes as a “temple of ice.”

Similar connections exist throughout this Sense of Place edition. Some were forged on water (“A Winter Cruise,” “Snake River Memories”), others in quiet pockets around the state (“Five Corners of Solitude”).

One unique article focuses on the centuries-old tradition of Indigenous stickball (“More Than a Game”). A precursor to the modern game of lacrosse, the activity has been called the oldest organized sport in North America. For centuries tribes played the game to settle disputes and honor spiritual traditions. Equipment consisted of carved wooden sticks and a leather ball, and games took place in open spaces like fields and frozen ponds. Rules were few and players were many—anywhere from 100 to 1,000 members from opposing villages would gather for a single match that might last for days at a time. 

In what is now known as Minnesota, Ojibwe people played—and continue to play—a stickball variant called baaga’adowewin, a word that loosely translates to the sound of two sticks colliding. Colonization nearly erased this tradition from the region, but a new generation of players is leading a baaga’adowewin resurgence. In addition to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe members highlighted in our stickball story, groups like Twin Cities Native Lacrosse and Indigenous Lacrosse Alliance organize camps and games to carry the culture forward.

“As the larger community learns the history of the sport and develops a deeper appreciation for it, it starts to bring us together as a people of this land,” said Twin Cities Native Lacrosse founder John Hunter in a 2022 article in Mpls.St. Paul Magazine. “A non-Native lacrosse player is part of a heritage that is extended 400 years; they can be part of that too. It’s a game meant to be played by everybody.”

I like this quote. It’s a reminder that however varied our traditions might be, we remain connected by the land and our humanity.