Ballgame Court (Juego de Pelota)

The ballgame court lies between the platform of the Women's Monastery to the north and the governor's palace to the south. Like other Late Classic stadiums, it is framed by two blocks of walls and elevations. The actual playing space measures 54 meters in length and 10 meters in width. The side blocks are 7.4 meters high. They served to reflect the ball, which is why they bear no decorations. In the middle on each side there was a ring. In Uxmal, only fragments of these remain. Possibly, the goal of the game was to get the ball through such a ring. Each ring bore a hieroglyphic inscription. These inscriptions have only partially survived. From them, the date January 9, 905 AD was reconstructed. The side platforms were decorated along the edges with images of rattlesnakes. There were stairs on the side walls, but they are heavily damaged.

The ballgame was recorded in numerous artifacts left by ancient Mesoamerican cultures—in drawings, bas-reliefs, figurines, and frescoes. Scenes of the ballgame appear in every Mesoamerican codex and in many indigenous myths. The episode of the ballgame opens the main plots of one of the principal mythological works of the Maya—the epic "Popol Vuh." The "Popol Vuh" consists of three parts. The first part describes the creation of the world; the other two tell the story of the twin brothers Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu and their ballgame. The brothers were the second generation of gods, children of seers who invented how to make humans. They spent all their time playing ball. One day, unable to find a place to play, they saw an unfamiliar empty road, unaware that this road led to the underworld—Xibalba. The demons of the underworld, gods of all diseases, fears, and death, were greatly disturbed as to why someone was kicking a ball above their heads without fear or respect. They looked out to see who it was and saw Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu. The brothers wore very good gear: leather knee pads, gloves, helmets, and masks; nothing like this existed in the underworld, and the lords of Xibalba became very envious. They approached the brothers, spoke sweetly to them, assuring that the game "would make the underworld gods happy." The brothers did not realize they were to be killed, said goodbye to their mother, and went to the underworld, where, after many trials, they were sacrificed by demons. Another part tells about the children of Hun-Hunahpu—the brothers Xbalanque and Hun-Ahpu. The story begins similarly: the brothers come to play on an unknown road, which turns out to be the path to the underworld. They too are invited to the underworld to play a match. Xbalanque and Hun-Ahpu did not refuse, but unlike their father and uncle, they passed all the trials successfully, killed monsters that blocked the dawn, and avenged the death of their relatives by defeating the demons of Xibalba.

The ballgame had no fixed rules established once and for all—they could vary from place to place and from era to era. It is more accurate to consider the Mesoamerican ballgame as a whole family of similar games. Types of the game: "hip-ball," "elbow-ball," "stick-ball," and "hand-ball" differed not only in rules but also in ball sizes, stadium appearances, and the nature of the equipment. The earliest and most popular version of the game can be called "hip-ball." It is impossible today to reproduce the ancient game's rules in full detail, but much can be learned from images and descriptions of games witnessed by the Spaniards in the 16th century. Some details can be reconstructed by observing the game "ulama," played by modern indigenous people.

Apparently, the game looked something like this: two players or two teams of two or three players participated in a match. Each team was positioned on its half of the field, and the ball was passed between players until it went out of bounds or fell to the ground. The team that caused the opponent to drop the ball earned points. The winner was determined by the total points. Later, an innovation appeared: stone rings were placed on opposite sides of the stadiums. Many additional rules appeared in the game, which are also applied in many modern team games. These rules are mentioned in the texts of the Spanish monk Toribio de Benavente (nicknamed Motolinia), who described Aztec life in the 1520s–30s. A team that threw the ball through the ring immediately won. But this happened very rarely, so usually the winner was determined by the total points earned.

A player could earn points for their team if, after their strike, the ball hit the wall behind the opponent. If a player had to hit the ball twice before returning it to the opponents, or if they hit the ball at the ring but missed, or if the ball went out of bounds after their strike, their team lost points.

Despite numerous testimonies, we know very little about the ritual significance of the ballgame. Probably, it represented a battle to which sacred meaning could be attributed. Teams might have symbolized two opposing elements, such as fire and water, or two opposite worlds, such as the underworld and the upper world. In Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions, it is mentioned that ballplayers acted as deities.

Starting from the Classic period (1st millennium AD), evidence appears linking the ballgame with human sacrifices. In different areas of America, the sacrificial ritual varied. Most often, victims were beheaded.

This feature of the game was most strongly manifested in Classic Veracruz and in Maya culture, which left the most complete depictions of sacrifices. Among the latter are frescoes on stadium walls and a stone slab depicting a beheaded player. Another variety of the ballgame known among the Maya was connected with war. Captured prisoners had their arms and legs twisted behind their backs and were thus rolled into a ball, which was then thrown down the steps. The triumphant king stood below, receiving this "serve" and delivering the decisive blow to the defeated. Drawings, stone reliefs, and figurines are the main sources of information about how ancient ballplayers dressed. Clothing and equipment were quite diverse: for example, on the reliefs of Dainzu, players are depicted in cloaks and masks; in Aztec codices, players' hands show gloves.

The basic set for a player in the hip-ball game consisted of a loincloth, sometimes with leather thigh protection. In many cultures, a corset belt was used for additional protection. A "yoke" weighing up to 30 kilograms was also attached to the belt, used for stronger strikes on the ball. Many players also used knee pads. Judging by surviving images, players could be equipped with protective helmets and elaborate headdresses (these are especially common on Maya vases and figurines from the island of Cozumel). The size and weight of the balls used in the game are unknown: scholars have found several dozen balls placed in sacred swamps and springs as offerings, but it remains unknown whether they were used in the game. Based on the parameters of modern balls used in the game and archaeological evidence, it can be assumed that ancient balls were about 20 centimeters in diameter and weighed four kilograms or more, as they were made of rubber. That is, they were solid pieces of rubber: the Spanish chronicler Diego Muñoz Camargo testified that injuries sustained after contact with the ball were so severe that they required surgical assistance, and if the ball hit players in the head or stomach, it could even be fatal.

The sizes of stadiums vary greatly, but their shape is always the same—a long narrow space between horizontal and sloping walls (rarely vertical). The walls were plastered and brightly painted. The first stadiums were open on all sides; later, closed spaces were added on two sides, making the stadium resemble the letter I from above. The ratio of the stadium's long side to its width almost always is 4:1.

Stadiums were part of ritual complexes. They included pyramids, temples (often funerary), platforms for human sacrifices, and tzompantli—special structures where the skulls of the sacrificed were displayed (sometimes called "walls of skulls" or "places of skulls").

For the indigenous peoples, it was important that stadiums were oriented either along the north–south axis or the west–east axis. Scholars suggest that in the first case, the courts pointed north, where, according to some indigenous peoples' beliefs, the realm of the dead was located. In the second case (east–west axis), the orientation of the stadiums possibly indicated a connection of the game with the movement of celestial bodies, primarily the sun.

Besides games, other ritual events, as well as musical performances and festivals, took place in the stadiums. Scholars cannot precisely answer when and where the ballgame first appeared. The oldest stadium found by archaeologists is in Paso de la Amada, about 3,400 years old: it was built around 1400 BCE. Several rubber balls found at the Olmec religious center El Manatí are even older: they date to 1700–1600 BCE.

Sources

Berezhkin Yu. E. "Popol Vuh." How "Mayan" is the best source on Maya mythology? Kunstkamera: Ethnographic Notebooks. Issue 13. 2003.

Borodatova A. The Ballgame as a Path to the Ancestors' Cave. (On the Semiotics of the Ritual Ballgame in Ancient Mesoamerica). History and Semiotics of Indigenous Cultures of America. Moscow, 2002.

Kirill Kulagin: The Ballgame

https://www.indiansworld.org/igra-v-myach-u-mayya.html#.Y8LLC3ZBxnI

Dida S., Priymak E., Stuflyaev M.: Mesoamerican Ballgame: Sport and Ritual