The Maya Ballgame

CHW-3M1

Take general noteson the subject

matter. Don’t copy everything.

Mesoamerican Ballgame

• Exhibit in the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2002

• “The Sport of Life and Death”

• Ballgame: sport, politics, and ritual

Ball Game

• First ball court ~1400 B.C. (Pacific Coast of modern Chiapas, Mexico)

• First rubber balls from the spring El Manatí (Gulf Coast)

Religion: The Ball Game

• Mayans inherited a ball game from the Olmecs that was an important part of Mayan political and religious festivals

• High-ranking captives were forced to play the game for their very lives– The losers became sacrificial victims and faced torture and

execution immediately following the match• Object of the game was to propel an 8 inch ball of

solid baked rubber through a ring or onto a marker without using your hands

Pok-a-tok (Ball Game)

Maya ballgame

• The ball court was an integral part of the ceremonial centers– Stone buildings– Two parallel structures – (I-shaped playing alley)– Sloping walls– Some ball courts have end zones (I-shape)

• Target: ball court ring, upright post, or flat markers

Rules• Two teams played each other

– Sometimes only two men – (e.g. two kings or a king and a captive)– Headdresses identified teams

• Balls bounced back from the side walls• Scoring: Rubber ball had to hit a target

Ballcourt Markers

Ballcourt goal, Chichén Itzá

CopanBall court II-BCenter Marker

Ball court at Chichen Itza

Mayan Ball Court

Ball Court

Ballcourt at Monte Alban

Protective gear

• Solid rubber balls are heavy!

• Equipment:– knee pad (only on one

knee)– hip yoke – breast shield

• Made of leather

Ceramic figurine from Jaina

An elite affair• Ballgame very important to the Maya kings

and nobles– Titles: pitsal “ballplayer”– Ballgame appears often in Maya art

• Social prestige and probably manly honor• Likened to the hunt of deer

Players

Ballplayer Wearing Deer Headdress, Late Classic Period, Maya, A.D. 700-900

Monument With Decapitated Ballplayer, Early Postclassic Period, Veracruz, c. A.D. 900-1200

Political ends• Political landscape of the Maya: competing

city states• Ballgame as means of competition among

nobles– Emblematic teams for each site– Substitute for war?

• Sacrifice of war captives in set-up games

Sacrifice• Sacrifice of captives

– Rolling them into a ‘ball’– Tossing them down a stairway to fall to their death

• Stairways as ‘one-sided ball court’

Sacrifice of the Player

One of a series of murals from the South Ballcourt at El Tajin, showing the sacrifice of a ballplayer.

TikalAltar 8

War Captive

GAME

Decapitation scene at a ball court

Not only a game …• Ballgame was accompanied by wagering• Huge crowds attended

Modern Survivors

• The ballgame is still played today– 3500 years later!

• Rural areas of Mexico• Several variants

Modern Ulama

Not one but many ballgames

• Several ballgame variants:– Hip-ball– Stick-ball– Hand-ball

• Variants in different regions and different time periods

• Targets vary: rings, posts, markers, etc.

Mythological and Religious Aspects

Sacrifice• Was the winner or looser of a ballgame

sacrificed? – We don’t know• Ritual embedding of the ballgame:

– Skulls inside the rubber balls– Sacrifice, decapitation

Ballgame and creation• Ballgames commemorate ballgames that took

place at the time of creation• Sacrifice/death and creation/life as two sides

that balance each other for the Maya

Gods• The Maya thought their deities and the

netherworld very much as mirror images of earth and humans

• Ball playing gods• Recall Hero Twins story

Ballgame & Underworld• The ballgame was thought to connect to the

underworld– Entering the underworld through the ball court

cleft (or caves, or water surfaces)– Ball court as transitional zone

• Ball court as ’ohl “portal” • Transitional persons like

dwarfs as ballplayers

Palenque “dwarf” figurine

Gods and Ancestors• Maya concept of person

– Rulers had the capability to morph themselves, go through the portal, and return

• Ballgame as means of communication with ancestors and gods– Other means: blood sacrifice

Ballgame in Codices

http://www.ulama.freehomepage.com/

http://www.ballgame.org

Go to this website to learn more aboutMayan ball games.

Watch a Ballgame

http://www.ballgame.org/sub_section.asp?section=3&sub_section=1