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“That Demonic Game”: The Campaign to Stop Indian Pelota Playing in Spanish Florida, 1675-1684

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Amy Bushnell
Amy Bushnell*
Affiliation:
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
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Extract

In the last quarter of the seventeenth century the Spanish officials of Florida, both religious and civil, became convinced that a certain game of ball played by the Christian Indians was detrimental to their bodies, their souls, and the peace of the provinces of Apalache and Ustaqua. During a ten-year campaign this time-honored custom was investigated, argued over and finally outlawed. The story of this crusade against a ballgame is valuable for both the ethnologist and the Spanish colonial historian. For the ethnologist it is important because among the documents is a lengthy description of the game and its associated myths and magic: “Origin and beginnings of the game of pelota which the Apalache and Ustaqua Indians have played since pagan times up to the year 1676, brought to light by the Reverend Father Fray Juan de Paiva, Father of the mission of San Luis de Talimali. September 23, 1676.” For the colonial historian, the campaign demonstrates the identification of conversion with sovereignty long past contact and conquest, as well as the interwoven relationships among civil and religious authorities, unofficial Spanish residents, and native nobility.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , July 1978 , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1978 

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References

1 Origen y principio del juego de pelota que los yndios apalachinos y vstacanos an estado jugando desde su ynfldelidad hasta el ano de 1676, saco a luz el Reverendo Padre Fray Juan de Paiva, padre de la doctrina de San luis de Talimali. Septiembre 23, 1676.” Archivo General de Indias, Escribanía de Cámara ramo, legajo 156, número 88, folios 568–583. There is a photostatic copy of the original in the Stetson Collection, P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, Gainesville, as well as a microfilmed transcript in the Jeannette Thurber Connor Papers, Library of Congress, reel I. Hereinafter, primary material is cited by date, AGI number, abbreviation for the documentary collection used (as JTC for the Connor Papers, ST for the Stetson Collection, WL for the Woodbury Lowery Papers, which are also in the Library of Congress, and NC for the Spanish Records of North Carolina), and the microfilm reel number, if any.

2 Sauer, Carl Ortwin, Sixteenth Century North America: The Land and the People as Seen hy the Europeans (Berkeley, 1971), p. 25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Ustaqua was that part of Timucua between the Aucilla River and the Suwannee. The language was Timucuan but many of the customs were like those of Apalache. In 1657 and 1659 Ustaqua was referred to as a separate province from either Timucua or Apalache, but by 1675 it was considered part of Timucua. Utina was in the bulge of land between the Upper Suwannee and the Santa Fe. Together Utina and Ustaqua were known as Timucua Aha.

4 Information on the Florida Indians by tribe has been compiled by Fairbanks, Charles H., Ethnohistorical Report on the Florida Indians, Commission Findings, Indian Claims Commission (New York, 1974).Google Scholar Fairbanks builds upon the voluminous work of John R. Swanton. The missions have been studied by Geiger, Maynard O.F.M., The Franciscan Conguest of Florida (1573–1618) (Washington, 1937)Google Scholar; Boyd, Mark F., Smith, Hale G. and Griffin, John W., Here They Once Stood: The Tragic End of the Apalachee Missions (Gainesville, 1951)Google Scholar; Gannon, Michael V., The Cross in the Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida, 1513–1870 (Gainesville, 1965)Google Scholar; and Matter, Robert Allen, “The Spanish Missions of Florida: The Friars Versus the Governors in the ‘Golden Age,’ 1606–1690,” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, 1972).Google Scholar

5 One company was of Spanish infantry, one of Indian archers and the other of Indian arquebusiers. Wenhold, Lucy L., trans1., A 17th Century Letter of Gabriel Díaz Vara Calderón, Bishop of Cuba, Describing the Indians and Indian Missions of Florida, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 95, No. 16 (Washington, 1936), p. 3.Google Scholar

6 For information on the economic consequences of these rebellions and of demographic decline see Bushnell, Amy, “The Menéndez Marquéz Cattle Barony at La Chua and the Determinants of Economic Expansion in Seventeenth Century Florida,” appearing in the Florida Historical Quarterly 56 (April 1978), pp. 407–431.Google Scholar

7 For examples of the power of Indian chiefs see Milanich, Jerald T. and Sturtevant, William C., Francisco Pareja’s 1613 Confessionario: A Documentary Source for Timucuan Enthnography (Tallahassee, 1972), p. 34.Google Scholar

8 Boniface, Brian George, “A Historical Geography of Spanish Florida, circa 1700,” (M.A. thesis, University of Georgia, 1971),Google Scholar provides an introduction to the little known economic life of the provinces in the late seventeenth century.

9 Boyd, Mark F., “Enumeration of Florida Spanish Missions in 1675,” Florida Historical Quarterly 27 (October 1948), p. 184.Google Scholar

10 Matter, “The Spanish Missions of Florida,” pp. 24, 25; Governor Hita y Salazar to the Crown, St. Augustine, 15 June 1675, Contratación 3309, WL 8; Covington, James W., “Apalachee Indians, 1704–1763,” Florida Historical Quarterly 50 (April 1972), p. 367.Google Scholar

11 Much of the documentary material for this article is found in the voluminous residencia of Governor Pablo de Hita y Salazar, Escribanía de Cámara 156. This residencia contains the “Auto on the rebellion of the Chiscas and Chacatos in 1675 in Apalache,” document 86, folios 123–130; the “Visita of Captain Antonio Argüelles to Guale and Mocama, November 1677,” folios 519 and 530 of documents 76 and 85; and the “Visita of Timucua and Apalache by Sergeant Major Domingo de Leturiondo, December 1677 to January 1678,” documents 87 to 90, folios 531–615. These are all in JTC 1. The Leturiondo Visita papers include the aforementioned Pelota Manuscript, folios 568–583. This Visita is also to be found in the ST Collection. The residencia for Governor Laureano de Torres y Ayala, Escribanía de Cámara 157, document 91, in JTC 1, contains in a single folio the papers for the visitas of Captain Juan de Pueyo to Guale and Mocama and of Interim Treasurer Captain Joachin de Florencia to Apalache and Timucua, November 1694 to January 1695. A portion of one of the visitas was the subject of Pearson, Fred Lamar Jr., “The Florencia Investigation of Spanish Timucua,” Florida Historical Quarterly 51 (October 1972), pp. 166–176.Google Scholar

12 Marquez, Thomás Menéndez, St.Augustine, , 15 April 1697, “Report to the Governor on the royal order to close the River of San Martin in the Province of Timucua,” Santo Domingo 228,Google Scholar NC 9–17.

13 Chatelain, Verne E., The Defenses of Spanish Florida, 1565 to 1763, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 511 (Washington, 1941), pp. 59–75 Google Scholar and 148–157.

14 Boyd, , “Enumeration of Florida Spanish Missions in 1675,” pp. 181–185,Google Scholar is a translation of census estimates by town (not mission) made by Pedro de Arcos and Juan Fernández de Florencia early in the governorship of Hita y Salazar. The figures may be low; Arcos and Florencia thought they were. Shortly before, Bishop Calderón confirmed 13,152 Indians in the first episcopal visit to Florida in sixty-eight years. (Wenhold, transi., A 17th Century Letter. ) The two tallies might be more comparable if we could add to the Arcos and Florencia figure the Indians on ranches or in St. Augustine, and perhaps the placeless persons of mixed blood. Boniface, using a 1689 census of 2,796 doctrina families and working forward, estimated that there were 14,000 mission Indians in 1700. (“Historical Geography,” p. 85.) For the problems of estimating population for Timucua and Apalache, and the effects of diseases, forced labor, rebellions and slave raids, see Fairbanks, , Ethnohistorical Report, pp. 23–34,Google Scholar 74–82. Also see Swanton, , Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 73 (Washington, 1922), pp. 109–129 Google Scholar and 321–338.

15 Posts of this type were seen at Coosa in present Alabama in 1560, and near Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns in 1564. ( Priestley, Herbert Ingram, The Luna Papers, 1559–1561, Vol. 1, Publications of the Florida State Historical Society, No. 8 [Deland, 1928], xlii;Google Scholar; Bennett, Charles E., comp., Settlement of Florida [Gainesville, 1968], pp. 74,Google Scholar 75.) See the section on games, pp. 674–686, in Swanton, , The Indians of the Southeastern United States, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 137 (Washington, 1946).Google Scholar

16 For a codex description read Gillmor, Frances, transi, and comp., The King Danced in the Marketplace (Tucson, 1964), pp. 177–178.Google Scholar

17 Except where otherwise indicated, all information on pelota in this article comes from the Pelota Manuscript. The writer worked from the JTC transcript, after checking and correcting it against a Stetson Collection photostat of the original.

18 “Visita of Governor Diego de Rebolledo to the Provinces of Apalache and Ustaqua, January and February 1657,” Escribanía 155–18 in ST. This Visita and some other lengthy documents have been translated by Dr. John H. Hann for the Division of Archives, History, and Records Management, Florida Department of State. Dr. Hann pointed out to the writer this earliest known reference to the Indian game and the Spanish attitudes about it.

19 Boyd, , “Enumeration of Florida Spanish Missions in 1675,” p. 184.Google Scholar

20 Geiger, gave the name as “Paina” in his Biographical Dictionary of the Franciscans in Spanish Florida and Cuba (1528–1841), Franciscan Studies, Vol. 21 (Paterson, N. J., 1940), p. 84.Google Scholar The “Auto on the rebellion of the Chiscas and Chacatos,” however, gives variant spellings of “Payba” and “Paiba.” In 1680 Father Paiva was still living in Florida, on another assignment. ( Cabrera, Governor Márques to the Crown, Augustine, St., 8 December 1680, “List of religiosos,” Santo Domingo 226,Google Scholar WL-9.)

21 All quotations from the Pelota Manuscript were translated by the writer. Two complete translations the writer has seen, one by Julian Granberry and the other by Evelyn K. Peterson, await publication.

22 Leturiondo Visita, 1677–1678; Rebolledo Visita, 1657.

23 “Auto on the rebellion of the Chiscas and Chacatos”; Juan Fernández de Florencia to Governor Hita y Salazar, [San Luis], 25 May 1675, Santo Domingo 839, JTC V.

24 Juan Mendoza and other caciques, San Luis, October 1677, “Report to Juan Fernández de Florencia about the raid on the Chiscas, September 2 to October 5, 1677,” included with Hita, Governor y Salazar, to the Crown, Augustine, St., 10 November 1678, Santo Domingo 226,Google Scholar WL-9.

25 In later Creek society, putting up a ballpole was tantamount to founding a town; regular games took place between towns of different moieties, Red or White; and a ceremonial game was played at the annual Busk. ( Swanton, , Modern Square Grounds of the Creek Indians, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 85, No. 8 [Washington, 1931], pp. 1–8,Google Scholar 38–46.)

26 Marquéz, Thomás Menéndez Augustine, St., [March or April 1696], “Affidavit on the reales derechos paid on my imports to St. Augustine, to Apalache and up the San Martín to my ranch,” Santo Domingo 228,Google Scholar NC 9–17.

27 Bushnell, Amy Katherine, “The Peyote Cults: Historical Examples of Non-White Adaptation to White Dominance,” (M.A. thesis, University of Florida, 1971), pp. 17–24,Google Scholar 45–49.

28 Casina was the non-alcoholic “black drink” made from the holly Ilex emeticus or vomitoria. Bishop Calderón said it was very bitter and “worse than beer.” ( Wenhold, , trans1., A 17th Century Letter, p. 12.)Google Scholar When Paja, the cacica of Asile in Timucua, asked to make casina at home medicinally, Visitador Leturiondo granted permission for her alone (Leturiondo Visita, 1677–1678); but at the same time casina was an item of tribute for the presidio at Santa Catalina in Guale. (Argüelles Visita, 1677.)

29 Paiva explains that Nicoguadca meant “Lightning Flash,” Ytonanslac was “Old Man of the Council Fire” (“persona vieja de candela”), Oclati was “Water Boy,” and Nicotaijulo was “Woman of the Sun.” Meanings of the other names no one would reveal. According to Ehrman, W.W., “The Timucua Indians of Sixteenth Century Florida,” Florida Historical Quarterly 18 (January 1940), p. 189,Google Scholar concubines of the native priests were called “daughters of the sun.”

30 The first two tasks appear in the “Panther Child” story of the Koasati. ( Swanton, , Myths of the Southeastern Indians, Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 88 [Washington, 1929], pp. 234–239.)Google Scholar

31 Common departure ruses of the “trickster” figure, who in Southeastern stories is usually Rabbit. (Ibid., passim.)

32 Apalachicola and Coosa were “White” cities of refuge for the Creeks. ( Swanton, , Modern Square Grounds, p. 6.)Google Scholar

33 Tascaias were warriors who had taken a scalp and could carry it on a staff or dance with it as a crown. Christian Indians took scalps, as is evident in the Mendoza, et al, “Report about the raid on the Chiscas.” Governor José de Zúñiga y Cerda tried to discourage scalptaking on 14 March 1701.Google Scholar ( Boyd, , Smith, and Griffin, , Here They Once Stood, pp. 76,Google Scholar 82, 35.)

Unclear pronoun references make any interpretation of the pursuit passage conjectural. In the original it reads: “Entonces nicoguadca fue en su busca con sus tascaias y el, dizen, le formo muchas nieblas, frios, yelos, etc., mas con todo lo bencio y lo mata a el y a sus tascaias, y sus basallos le formaron el palo de pelota.”

34 Dr. Fairbanks, in a conversation on 16 June 1976, suggested that Nicoguadca was a title rather than a name. The parishioners at San Luis once told Paiva that a certain Indian who carried a staff with scalps was an Ita tascaia. But after the Indian died they confessed he was a Nicoguadca and had promised to return and burn the goalpost. Subsequently, lightning struck the posts at San Luis, Patale and Bacuqua.

35 A recipe for weakening enemies: Take one stick the size of your finger for each player on the opposite team. Bind the sticks together and stand them in a pot of fresh casina. Cover and steep until the game is over. Do not lift the lid!

36 Mendoza, et al, “Report about the raid on the Chiscas.”Google Scholar

37 Leturiondo Visita, 1677–1678.

38 Father Pareja had been of a different opinion as to how Timucuans played games. His confessor was to ask, “Have you lied in games? Did you count more points than there were? Have you played so long that you have lost all that you had in your house?” ( Milanich, and Sturtevant, , Francisco Pareja’s 1613 Confessionario, pp. 32,Google Scholar 33.)

39 Argüelles Visita, 1677.

40 Governor Marques Cabrera to the Crown, St. Augustine, 14 June 1681, Santo Domingo 226, WL-9.

41 Gannon, , The Cross in the Sand, p. 69.Google Scholar

42 Florencia Visita, 1694–1695.

43 Patricio Hinachuba of Ivitachuco and Andrés, Cacique of San Luis, to the Crown, 12 February 1699, in Boyd, , Smith, and Griffin, , Here They Once Stood, pp. 24,Google Scholar 25.

44 This is on the authority of Governor Antonio de Benavides, 28 November 1721, “Auto Against Ygnacio Rodriguez Roso and Bernardo Nieto de Carvajal,” Escribanía de Cámara 153, documents 46 and 47, JTC 1.

45 Covington, , “Apalachee Indians, 1704–1763,” pp. 371–384.Google Scholar