Photo Credit: Discover Mediaworks
The vibrant and strong community Ho-Chunk Nation has created continues to carry on and preserve many traditions through each generation. One of their unique traditions is the snow snake games, a resurging tradition which celebrates and builds intertribal relationships among the close-knit community. Join us as we discover Ho-Chunk’s snow snake games beginning with crafting snow snakes to connecting the community together.
Crafting Snow Snakes
Photo Credit: Discover Mediaworks
The long-held process of creating an original Ho-Chunk Nation snow snake takes preserved tribal techniques and tips. First, select a wood that has fairly straight grain to ensure the snake is fast and dynamic.
Next, render down to shape a head on the snake to give it arrow dynamics as it cuts through the snow bank. Shape is important, but so is personal effect. Each snake is unique and different to each individual. Initials, designs, and/or patterns are added that speak to who each member is and the revitalized Ho-Chunk culture they are proudly a part of.
The final step is feeling the bottom of the snake. The perfect snake is smooth and easily slides across the snow. To protect and preserve each snow snake, a variety of different products can be applied to repel water and keep them in their best condition for the games each year such as linwood seed, clear varnish or wax. Time to see those snow snakes in action…
Connecting the Community
Photo Credit: Discover Mediaworks
The snow snake games offer a chance to experience Ho-Chunk Nation’s culture first-hand while enjoying a little light-hearted competition. The games work like this: Whoever wants to play gets together in a line and takes turns throwing the snow snake down the snowbank. Whoever throws the longest down the track wins! But they play by Ho-Chunk rules– there is no second or third place honoring the original purpose of snow snakes used in the wild to survive during the cold winters.
Dating back to the last glacial period, the snow snake, or spear process, was used to harvest animals. This ancient process began as tribal members tried to harvest amidst long, snowy winters. In order to successfully harvest a herd of deer in waist deep snow, they would use the snow snake as a tool to drift across the bank and bring home their gatherings to make it through the blustery elements.
Today, the snow snake games are key to the community, not only bringing joy to those who participate and watch, but they also connect the community together giving them a tradition to gather around and celebrate their long-lived culture.
Ho-Chunk Nation is a very strong, vibrant group of people. Through the concerted efforts of removal and to change their ways of life, the community remains strong and resilient. Even though times of adversity have been troubling, together, as a tight-knit community, they’ve been able to grow and support one another through the intertribal relationships they’ve formed.
These games show the next generation that this is something they can ancestrally claim as their own and a way to stay connected with the community. It brings members of all ages together and fosters a significant tradition to be passed down for several years to come.
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Ho-Chunk Nation’s unique tradition of holding the snow snake games not only celebrate their culture but also build quintessential relationships between tribal members that are fundamental to their strong, prided community. From crafting snow snakes to connecting the community together, this tradition is truly worth cherishing.
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Hailey Rose: Writer for Discover Mediaworks. A born & bred Wisconsinite with a love for fishing, hunting, and enjoying the great outdoors.
