Ancient Mayans
Mesoamerican Ballgame
Ballcourt
Ballcourt at Monte Alban
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
Mayan Ball Court
Player and Uniform
A ball player from a Maya vase,
650-800 CE. This well-dressed
player is wearing a large yoke,
painted and fringed deerskin hip
guards, and an extremely elaborate
headdress. He is dropping onto his
knee(pad) to strike the ball
A yoke carved into a fanciful
representation of a frog. This
40 lb (18 kg) stone carving is
considered too heavy for
actual play, and was probably
worn about the waist only on
ritual occasions.
The Hero Twins
• The earthly ballcourt is also the path to the
gloomy netherworld realm of Xibalba.
• Infuriated by incessant pounding on court above
their heads, the lords of Xibalba send owls to
summon Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the younger
sons of Hun Hunahpu, to the underworld.
• A monster beheads Hunahpu and the death
gods challenges Xbalanque to a new ballgame
with the head. Xbalanque manages to replace
the head and the brothers defeat the gods.
• In underworld the twins play ball with the death
gods, and allow themselves to be beaten.
Sacrifice of the Player
One of a series of murals from the South Ballcourt at El Tajin,
showing the sacrifice of a ballplayer.
Ballgame in Codices
http://www.ulama.freehomepage.com/
How the game was played…
The game is played between two teams of two or three players
The ball can only be passed using the hips, knees & elbows (some pictures
show players using a form of bat too)
The court is I-shaped with a line across the middle
A hoop (or stone projection) is placed at each side of the court by the middle
line
If the ball touches the ground on one side of the line, the opposing team scores
a point
The game ends if one team manages to hit the ball through the hoop (on the
ground in this case) and that team wins
Otherwise once the agreed time is over the team who has scored the most
points wins
Perhaps other rules would be useful to make your game better? The original
game courts had high, usually sloping walls that the ball could bounce off –
what will happen if the ball goes over the side lines in your game? What can
the ends of the court be used for?
http://www.ballgame.org/sub_section.asp?section=2&sub_section=4