Sleha:l Ewolem

Traditional Bone Game

Sleha:l:  Is a battle of powers between the birds and the animals.  It was the way Aboriginal people solved their differences.  It was called the bloodless war.  The two leaders from the warring tribes kneeled and played the game of chance.  The purest tribe, the Aboriginal people closest to the spirit won the game and won the war.  It was a difficult Emotional game that involved the spirit of nature, nature and the person’s individual strength of will.

The songs were taught centuries ago in the forest to the people by the birds and the animals.  The songs ask nature to be good to them and make the white bone appear in the leader’s hand.  In this probability game the two leaders of the two teams must guess the position of the plain bone. 

Training for sleha:l involved running and taking baths in the rivers, creeks and lakes as if the person were training for sports, this was to gather SPIRITUAL POWER   to win in the Bone Game.  One had to be pure in mind and spirit.  Today this game is played at gatherings such as Canoe races and sport events. E.g. Seabird Island and Cultus Lake, today you can recognize where the song is from by listening to the teams singing.

The team who gains all 10 sticks plus the King stick is the winner.  To play the Slaha:l game each of the two teams should have:

8-10 players, a set of sticks and bones, two guessers per team, a variety of slahal songs and at least one or two drums.  (Story from Coqualeetza Archives).

Sleha:l Ewolem    Traditional Bone Game         t’it’elem    singing

leha:l                     to play slahal                        t’at’emes   guesser

t’amet                   to point in slehal, guess it      q’owet        a drum

th’omtsestel          slahal bones                         ewolem      to play

syeyelh                  slahal little sticks                   st’i:lem      any song