Rae-Edzo (Mar 13/06) - Although a team from Deline took home the $20,000 in first-place prize money from the recent hand games tournament in Rae-Edzo, everyone who attended had a sense of tradition and togetherness.

"This event is all about aboriginal culture," said Tlicho Grand Chief George Mackenzie.

Mackenzie was there to support the players during the tournament and put down the drum temporarily to talk about the purpose of the event, which offered $50,000 in cash.

Mackenzie said bringing elders and youth together is always beneficial to aboriginal people.

"Instead of uniting people with politics, we use traditions."

People from outlying communities flocked to Rae-Edzo for the tournament, which started on the afternoon of March 2.

The prize money was donated by the Tlicho government.

Gameti came in second place, winning $10,000, after losing the final game to Deline. Tulita came in third place after beating Whati, and took home $8,000.

Mackenzie said the prize money is a small price to pay for bringing so many people together for one event.

"You can feel the respect, hospitality and sharing in this room," said Mackenzie.

"It's what draws the people together."

Tony Rabesca was the main co-ordinator for the tournament and works for the Tlicho government.

Rabesca said this is the first time the Tlicho have sponsored the tournament and they hope to do it again because of the positive response.

"People have told me that it has been fun and they want to see it again," said Rabesca.

Rabesca started planning the event a few months ago and said it was great dealing with people from different communities.

"The elders are playing with the youth and giving them needed direction," said Rabesca.

"They are learning from each other."

Jerry Antoine of Fort Simpson

was in attendance, cheering on the men as they played the hand games that were taught to them by elders.

Antoine explained the rules of the game, which basically consist of two teams facing off in a guessing game.

One team hides the object in their possession and the other team has to guess which hand the object is in.

For every correct guess, a stick is given to that team. The game is over when all 21 sticks are in possession of one team. More than 15 teams competed in the tournament this year.

Antoine was part of a team that was eliminated in the middle stages of play.

Young Team

"We had a young team. Half of them had never played in tournaments like this before," said Antoine.

"It was a good way for them to be initiated into competing like this."

Antoine hopes to be involved with hand games for many years to come and currently holds workshops in Fort Simpson for the youth.