NATCHEZ &8212; The sounds of a modern game born from an ancient one will ring at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians Saturday.

Teams will play two lacrosse games on the Grand Village grounds Saturday, likely the first time modern lacrosse has been played in southwest Mississippi, organizer Tom Scarborough said Thursday.

Scarborough, director of educational programs at the Grand Village, said the present-day game, in which the ball is thrown, caught and carried with a netted stick, was adapted from a game many Native American villages played.

&8220;Like most southeast Indian tribes pre-European contact, the Natchez played stickball,&8221; Scarborough said. &8220;Southeast tribes played using two sticks, and northern tribes used one. Out of this came the modern game of lacrosse.&8221;

The biggest difference between Native American stickball and lacrosse was the significance the former held. For the Native Americans, it was not only an athletic pursuit, but also a social, political and possibly religious one.

&8220;It was used to resolve boundary disputes or just for the sheer love of competition,&8221; Scarborough said. &8220;It was a layered game in terms of meaning.&8221;

Players would take great pains in preparing for games weeks in advance, he said, including purification rituals and a special diet.

&8220;They might eat only certain types of animal, the qualities of which would come out in their play,&8221; he said. &8220;So they wanted to eat something that would make them fast and strong.&8221;

One of the most unusual rituals performed was called scratching.

A medicine man would use a comb made from turkey bone to scratch the body of players so they would bleed.

&8220;They believed it would sharpen their focus and strengthen their concentration.&8221;

The night before a game, players would not sleep, but instead would stay up dancing and singing songs.

Today, as then, athletes have rituals of psyching themselves up for games, but not to the same extent, Scarborough said.

&8220;We have something similar, but it&8217;s not as well-defined as in Native American culture,&8221; he said. &8220;Modern American sports culture is all about entertaining spectators and for playing for the love of the game. We value them far more for their entertainment.&8221;

The Grand Village will host two exhibition lacrosse games Saturday. St. Thomas More Episcopal High School of Lafayette will face off against New Orleans&8217; Jesuit High School at 12:30 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., St. Thomas More will play Ocean Springs Lacrosse Club. Admission is free.

&8220;It&8217;s something I would like to develop into an annual event or tournament,&8221; Scarborough said.

&8220;And I hope to get a youth league started or get the schools playing. It&8217;s a wonderful game.&8221;