mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== [1]Tlachtli (.WAV) - the Ball Game Kneeling Olmec Figure [2][LINK] The Olmecs are attributed as the inventors of the ball game. They were the first people to cultivate the rubber tree, which led the name "people who use rubber". (However, no one knows what they called themselves; "Olmec" is a Nahuatl name. In Nahuatl, the word for rubber, "olli", and the word for motion, "ollin", are not surprisingly derived from the same root - since rubber was found to be so bouncy.) From the tree's extract the Olmecs produced a ball of hard rubber which came to slightly smaller than a human head. The statue here had originally portrayed an articulated figure, maintaining a kneeling posture while its wooden arms and head could be rotated on stone sockets. It may be a ball-player, based on its apparel. The first balls, rules and rituals for the game all began with the Olmecs around three thousand years ago. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Maya Disk [3][LINK] This small stone disk comes from the Maya city of Chinkultic; its calendrical glyphs (9.9.17.12.14) correspond to a date in 591 CE. The man is assuming a defensive position as he deflects the ball, the exaggerated circle to the left, off his hip. The ball game was a spectator sport, an astrological study and a political engagement all at once. As the ball bounced off the players and the courtside walls, priests analyzed the path of the ball and tried to discern how the path reflected the motion of the sun or Venus. The court was then the heavenly sky or even the underworld as the celestial body leaped around. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Player in Motion [4][LINK] Lunging for the ball, the man makes sure to have his elbows ready to strike. The ball was allowed to bounce off a player's elbows, hips, knees and head. But the ball was a fast-flying piece of hard rubber!- sometimes headgear was required. In addition, touching the ball with the hands was an illegal move. This is a small clay Maya player. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ The Court [5][LINK] The court or tlachco is framed by two parallel walls, built at a low slope at the bottom so that the ball would bounce upward to keep the ball airborne. The ball was not permitted to touch the ground. Two opponents or opposing teams faced each other from opposite sides of the open court; the ball was bounced off the players and off the stone walls, all in a fast-paced action that made the game exciting for the townspeople to watch. U _________________________________________________________________ Court Hoop in situ [6][LINK] This is a detail from the court shown above. In many courts, a single hoop extends from each of the two walls' centers. Points were scored by sending the ball through this stone hoop, much like a goal post or a basketball hoop. U _________________________________________________________________ Toltec Hoop and Court [7][LINK] [8][LINK] Another ballcourt hoop, made by Toltecs for Tula Ballcourt I, featured at right. The relief on this hoop shows zoomorphic images on both sides. The photo on the right was taken from the eastern end of the court, which lies on the southern end of the Tula center. Ballcourt II lies at the east side of the central plaza. The Aztecs had taken some of Tula's ballcourt paraphernalia for their own courts. NMAH, TULA _________________________________________________________________ Chichén Ítza Court [9][LINK] [10][LINK] The Toltec-influenced ballcourt at Chichén Itzá at right is exemplary of many game aspects here: an enormous playing field (the largest in Mesoamerica), two intact hoops, "box seats" for the kings, and reliefs of winning and losing players along the walls' slopes. The decapitation relief at the Chichén court is very similar to the Huaxtec relief below, even to the number of serpents. On the left is a detail from one of the wall's inner slopes, with the ball stylized with a human skull facing to the left, in the direction of the decapitated player. In the Maya creation myth of the Popol Vuh, the Lords of Death play the ball game with the hero Hunahpu's head before he regains it. CI _________________________________________________________________ Players on the Court [11][LINK] This comes from a detail of a [12]Mixtec codex, the Codex Colombino-Becker. The court is shaped like an "I" on its side, with two major participants facing each other off on the court. One of the players here is the ruler 8 Deer (1063-1115), whose exploits form the narrative for the codex. Rival individuals or teams usually hailed from different cities; when a team visited another city, the ruler followed to watch the game. The games were used to satisfy political demands and bring about negotiations. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Teotihuacan Court Post [13][LINK] The exact use of posts and markers around the court is uncertain, but hitting them with the ball may have earned points. This is the Stele from La Ventilla, which was cut from a single stone into a free-standing post shaped like a flat lollipop. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Xochicalco Court Marker [14][LINK] The large macaw head is from Xochicalco and serves as a marker piece like the hatchet below. Notice the wrinkling around the eye socket, much like those of a real macaw. Xochicalco was at its peak during the tenth and eleventh centuries CE, during which time it had contact with central Mexico, the northern Yucatán and the northern Gulf coast. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Hatchet [15][LINK] [16][LINK] The Huaxtecs used flat court markers called "hachas", Spanish for hatchets because of their thin, bladed shapes. These stone hatchets come in a variety of animal and human designs, but the human face is the most common, like this one. The image on the right shows the human face; the left image shows how thin most of the hatchets are made. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Palm [17][LINK] Before a game, the players dress in full regalia, as splendid as warriors. In some regions like the northern Gulf, the players wear a palm-like object that either stands or hangs from the waist. If the palms were all stone like this one, then they must have only been for pomp; playing with such a heavy stone piece hanging from the waist would have made the game extremely difficult. This palm is shaped like a man. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Yoke [18][LINK] Another item in the player's regalia is the yoke, which is worn at the hips. Though something this sturdy would have been ideal to protect the player from the ball's impact at the waist, it seems too bulky to run with. Consequently, the yoke must have also been for show prior to a game. Wooden yokes may have been used during the actual game. This yoke has a frog's face pointing to the left. NMAH _________________________________________________________________ Decapitated Player [19][LINK] The term "sudden death" could become more dangerously literal. The coach of the losing team, by the fate of the gods, is chosen to die; in the tradition carried from the Olmecs, the loser is decapitated in sacrifice. The Maya, Aztecs and the Huaxtecs (the latter producing this stela) all performed a ritual decapitation of losing coaches. (Other interpretations argue that the winners were in fact the ones worthy of this highly esteemed ritual death.) The streams of blood emerge from the severed neck as serpents. This is an interesting metaphor because the serpent has a profound association with its embrace with the life-giving earth, and here the serpent is also compared to the streams of life-blood that return from Man to the earth. NMAH [20]Back to the Main Page [21]Back to Special Topics Index References 1. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/tlachtli.wav 2. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/olmkneeb.htm 3. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/ballstlb.htm 4. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/ballguyb.htm 5. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/courtb.htm 6. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/mayhoopb.htm 7. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/tolcrtb.htm 8. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/tolhoopb.htm 9. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/itzballb.htm 10. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/chballb.htm 11. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/codexb.htm 12. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/mixtec.htm#codex 13. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/teopostb.htm 14. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/tolmacwb.htm 15. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/hach2b.htm 16. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/hach1b.htm 17. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/palmb.htm 18. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/yokeb.htm 19. http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/decapb.htm 20. http://members.aol.com/emdelcamp/edgar2.htm 21. http://members.aol.com/emdelcamp/special.htm