Ethnology Collection - Waltes Dish and Counters

A Game Filled with Meaning

The Waltes dish lies at the heart of an important Mi’kmaw myth. The dish is filled with water and shaped wooden sticks, then left overnight. In the morning, the arrangement of the sticks, which symbolize different characters, can reveal knowledge of the past, present and future. The game of Waltes, based on the myth, is played with bone dice and wooden sticks on a circular dish, usually made of rock maple. The game you see here was made in Shubenacadie in the late 1800s.