What we can say about play
Play is often the least well recorded part of childhood. Adult ethnographers wrote more about ceremonies, kinship and war than about what children did in the afternoon. Even so, there are accounts of children’s games among the Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla and other Apache groups, mostly set down in the early to mid twentieth century and drawn from the memories of older people. Some descriptions are detailed; others are brief. Because the Apache peoples are separate nations, a game recorded for one group should not be assumed to have been played by all.
Imitating the adult world
A common theme in published accounts is children copying what adults did. Children set up pretend camps, built miniature shelters, and acted out household and community tasks. Girls cared for dolls, often made from natural materials or cloth, and boys practiced with small bows and arrows or with simple throwing toys. This kind of play served as practice for skills later used in daily life, though children also simply enjoyed it.
Children in mountain and river country also played in and near water when it was available, and rode or tended horses where families had them. Accounts from the southern Plains peoples, such as the Plains Apache, reflect a different environment with different pastimes from those of desert and mountain groups.
Chasing, hiding and running games
Active group games are reported in many Native communities, and Apache children were no exception. Running and chasing games, hide-and-seek variations and contests of speed or agility were part of ordinary play. Their value was physical as well as social: running was a respected skill in several Apache groups, and children grew up watching adults race. Specific rules of such games are inconsistently recorded, so it is better to say only that this kind of play existed than to present a fixed set of rules as authentic.
Games of skill
Some games involved aiming and coordination. Hoop-and-pole games, in which players try to throw a pole or dart through or at a rolling hoop, are documented among various Native nations of North America, including among Apache groups, with adults often the main players. Children watched and imitated them. Games of this kind, along with hand games and guessing games, belonged to community life more broadly and were usually played by adults at gatherings. Gambling elements, where they appeared, were mainly adult affairs.
Stories, riddles and song
Not all leisure involved running. In many families, winter was a time for storytelling, and children listened to tales told by grandparents. The tradition of Apache storytelling was a form of entertainment as well as instruction, and some stories feature animal characters whose antics made children laugh. String figures are reported for numerous Native nations, though one should be cautious about assuming a particular Apache practice without a source for it.
Songs and dances for social occasions also drew in children as watchers and, as they grew, participants. Sacred songs and ceremonial dances are a different matter and are not described here.
What children learned through play
Several lessons appear repeatedly in the sources:
- physical skills such as speed, balance, throwing and aim;
- cooperation, taking turns, and handling winning and losing;
- the shape of adult roles, through pretending to carry them out;
- respect for relatives and elders, who often supervised, joined in or told the stories.
These benefits were seldom described as lessons at the time; they were part of growing up in a household and a community.
Change over time
Reservation life, the introduction of formal schooling, and later the arrival of new games and sports changed children’s leisure. Mission and government schools introduced organized sports, and many Apache young people have since become active in basketball, running and other athletics. Meanwhile, some communities and cultural programs teach traditional games and crafts to young people, and the Apache youth programs of various nations may include such activities. Details change often, so check each nation’s own website for current events.
A note on sources
Because so much of what is written about Apache children’s play was recorded by outsiders, and sometimes long after the childhoods described, it is best treated as a partial record. Where this article says “reported” or “documented,” it refers to such accounts; it does not claim a complete list of games, and it does not describe any ceremonial play.