[nativestudies-l] Oct. 6-7: Hammonassett Festival and Iroquois Nationals/Yale Bulldogs lacrosse scrimmage

[Alyssa Mt. Pleasant]

*The Hammonassett Festival

An exciting local event celebrating
Native American cultures
and providing environmental education
**
October 6 and 7 at Hammonasset Beach State Park, Madison, CT*

Presented by Friends of Hammonasset, the event includes performances, 
art, authentic native crafts
as well as nature activities, educational programs and museum exhibits.  
The Festival is sponsored by
The Liberty Bank Foundation and The Madison Foundation.
Admission is $5 per person.  Children 10 and under will be admitted 
without charge.
 
*The Iroquois Nationals/Yale Bulldog Lacrosse scrimmage
**Saturday October 6 at 7 PM
at the Surf Club in Madison, CT. *

This event, organized by Yale University, is an event associated  with 
the Festival.
The Iroquois Nationals finished 4th in the World Championships and 
feature several All-American players.
 
Additional info at *www.Hammonasset.org*, the website for The Friends of 
Hammonasset.

Press release for lacrosse scrimmage follows below:

*Bulldogs to Face Iroquois National Team*

*Game to be Held at Madison Surf Club On Oct. 6*

* *

NEW HAVEN, Conn.---The Yale men's lacrosse team will play an exhibition 
contest against the Iroquois National Team at the Madison Surf Club's 
Strong Field on Oct. 6, at 7 pm.  The game is part of the Hammonassett 
Native American Festival, held each year at Hammonasset Beach State 
Park.  Admission for the game is $5.

 

Yale received special permission from the Ivy League to play the game, 
which will likely be played in 20-minute quarters. Don Rankin, a Colgate 
graduate and co-Chairperson  of the Hammonassett Festival, suggested 
playing the contest as a part of the festival program and contacted Yale 
head coach Andy Shay last winter. Both sides have been working to 
organize it since. Shay, who grew up in Northern New York, is friends 
with many of the Iroquois players.

 

"This is an exciting way to show off the game of lacrosse and educate 
sports fans on the history of the sport in this country," said Shay. 
"Everyone in the Yale lacrosse program is pumped about the opportunity 
to play such a storied team. This is also a great chance to reach out to 
a shoreline area that has embraced the sport at the youth and high 
school levels."

 

Rankin, an instructor in Connecticut Geology and local Native American 
history at the Megs Point Nature Center, first conceived the idea of the 
Hammonassett Festival with his friend Dale Carson a number of years 
ago.  The Friends of Hammonassett is one of the most impactful 
environmental organizations in the state.  With nice weather, attendance 
at the Festival is expected to reach five to 10,000 per day. There are 
currently 13,000 Connecticut residents who list their primary heritage 
as Native American.

 

"This festival was organized to honor Native American culture, as well 
as to provide environmental education," Rankin said.  "Native American 
appreciation for the natural world makes including environmental 
education and appreciation for nature in this special event a compelling 
fusion.  I see this event as a remarkable way for Yale University to 
present its own set of priorities, respecting and honoring the culture 
of our First Americans."

 

The Iroquois Confederacy is credited with inventing the modern game of 
lacrosse, playing it long before Europeans came to North America.  The 
modern international long-stick game was created by the Iroquois.  
Iroquois tribes are the indigenous people of areas in what is now New 
York State and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.  Also known 
as the Six Nations, the Confederacy consists of the Cayuga, Oneida, 
Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca and Tuscarora tribes.  The alliance created the 
first United Nations in North America and maintains the oldest 
continuously-operating government on the continent.  In 1987, Congress 
recognized the contributions of the Iroquois people to the democratic 
principles of the U.S. Constitution.

 

Today, approximately 70,000-plus Iroquois live in 18 communities in New 
York, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Ontario and Quebec.  Iroquois tribes have 
lived in northeastern North America for thousands of years.  Members of 
the Six Nations currently residing in New York and Canada remain 
sovereign and independent, and Iroquois people travel internationally as 
residents of their respective nation and carry their own passports.  
Lacrosse is the only sport in which the Six Nations organizes a national 
team.

 

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