The Ball Game

Which gods like a good ball game?

 

This a myth (and history lesson) that sports fans may appreciate.  Think your games are high stakes, well they really don’t compare to the Maya game, known simply as “The Ball Game” (pictured below, top).

 

It probably originated during the times of the Olmec, the Aztec word Olmec meaning “the people who use rubber”.  The game is played in a court about 153 by 38 yards, the largest of these at the ancient ruins of Chichén Itzá (below, middle).  At each end is a steeply sloped wall inset with disks.  You compete (two teams; player illustrated below, bottom) to knock a rubber ball through.  Other styles of the game included markers that could be hit to score points.

 

It may sound easy, but there are two twists.  One is that you cannot use your arms or feets, so you have to use your knees, hips, or elbows to bounce the ball off the walls.  The second is that the ball touching the ground usually ends the match.  Playing may be difficult, but losing is harder.  Losers were often sacrificed.

 

Although there is an obvious overtone of viciousness and brutality, underscoring the general mindset is a dramatic and epic reenactment of an ancient battle between two sets of twins and the Mayan lords of the underworld.  The story (abridged) goes something like this:

 

The first set of twins was playing the ball game one day, when the noisedisturbed the gods of Xibalba, or Mayan Hell.  The demon deities invited the brothers down to the underworld to play the game with them.  The gods flat out cheated, killing the two boys, and placing the head of one in a tree as a warning to other disrupters.

 

One death-goddess became fascinated by the head and, after further examination, discovered it could speak.  It commanded her to reach out her hand, and the head subsequently spat on it, impregnating her.  She gave birth to two, semi-divine hero-boys.

 

Their godly heritage was apparent during their growth.  They grew abnormally rapidly, hunted exceptionally well, and performed miracles.  One day they discovered their father’s sport equipment, and decided to play.  Again, they disturbed the netherworld gods and were invited down to Hell to play with the demons there.  This time, the twins outsmarted the divinities, and after a series of elusions of the gods’ schemes, they tricked and killed the demons.

 

The twins were rewarded with immortality, becoming the Sun and the Moon.

 

Every time the game is played, it’s a drama, simulating the epic combat between the twins and demons, or metaphorically speaking – Death itself.  A story of humans conquering Death can be moving and inspiring thousands of years ago.

In all fairness, however, the Maya weren’t all about sacrifice - just as all other cultures also have a deeper, more modernly acceptable culture.  The Mayahad a system of writing, advanced astronomical knowledge, and an intense understanding of the cycles of Nature.  They believed that their pantheon of deities needed sustenance – human flesh.  The sacrifices, they believed, fed the gods and allowed Nature to stay in balance.  Should it fall out, then that would mean certain death.  I’m not trying to defend human sacrifice, but really, if you lived back then, and that’s what had been happening for as long as anyone knew, you’d probably agree with it too.  You thought that you’d be doing someone a great honor, because dying by sacrifice was one of the few ways the Maya believed you could get to heaven.

 

 

Tags: Life, History, Religion, Entertainment