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Maya
Ball Game
Motul de San José (Petén) Vase
The Maya ball game (named
Pitz,
and the action of play was Ti Pitziil in Classic Maya and
Chaaj in
K'ich'é in the
Highlands), and its associated mythology were not only
central to religious Maya belief. It was the first sport in the History
of the Humanity, dating at least from 2500 BC, The oldest court
accurately dated have
been found in Nakbé, Petén Guatemala, dating from 500 BC.
 (Below)
 There are
more than 500 ball courts (Halaw) in Guatemala alone, in
Tikal for example there are 7,
even in smaller sites such as
Vega del Cobán there are 4. In
Tikal's Plaza of Seven Temples, so called because of the seven Late Classic
Period temples, there are three ball courts in the
same Plaza, unique in the entire Maya
World architecture. Ball courts have been found
from Arizona to Nicaragua and also in various Caribbean Islands such as
Cuba, this emphasizes the popularity of this American Sport.
While the game was played casually for simple
recreation, including by children and women, the game also had
important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames would be held as
ritual events.
A wooden bat may also have been used. The
ball game was taken very seriously and was often used to settle disputes
between rival communities. On occasion, it is thought, that the captain of
the losing team was punished by execution.
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Reenactment
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The number of players Pitzhil  
(Glyph) varies between 2 and 5 in each
Team, they use protection in the Head Pix'om, Hips (Tz´um)
made of deer or jaguar skin, Knees and elbows Kipachq’ab’,
and a Yoke as a belt, this
were the only parts of the body allowed to hit the ball (Ol),
that was made of a mix from rubber or
Kik, and the Guamol tree (Calonyction aculeatum), the size
varied between 10 and 12 inches (measured in hand spans) and weighted 3 to 6 pounds.
The court, Halaw
(Glyph) had the shape of an "I" or double "T",
it's size varies but the average
was 30 Mt. long and 8 mt. wide, and the goal was obtained by hitting the
Marker with the ball. It also had 3 carved stones in the surface, to
reenact the Creation
Myth. The Truly Maya ball courts had sloping walls,
with flat markers in the playing area, and used a large rubber ball.
(The ring was used by the Toltecs in Yucatán in the Post Classic, that
used smaller balls and vertical walls, and named the game Pok A Tok,
that is the one most people know about). If a player touched the ball with the foot the other team
obtained a goal and kept the ball. there also was a referee.
The players
prayed to the god Hukte’ Ahaw (Vukub Hunahpú).
The ball when depicted in
Classic Maya Art, has a number and a Glyph that indicates its
size, ie: Baluun Nahb or 9 handspans ball.
(see below), that is represented as a right hand shown palm down and
with thumb and forefinger spread; Also The
Jatz'
 (Hatz') Glyph, meaning "to
strike" is associated with the game, it is represented as a left hand
tightly grasping a semi-spherical stone object . The god has been
identified as Huk Ajaw or
Hukte’ Ajaw “Seven
Ajaw”, perhaps the Classic counterpart of
Vucub Hunahpú of the K’iche’s
Popol Vuh (Tedlock 1996:91-98). As the
brother of Hun Hunahpú and a ballplayer of
no mean skill, Vucub Hunahpú is a suitable
patron of the Classic ballgame. another name is proposed as
Huk Sip
or
Hukte’
Sip,
the deer god, but there is no reason
for a deer being a patron of the ball game. (Marc Zender, Peabody
Museum, Harvard University, in PARI Online Publications)
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Baluun
Nahb, Glyph, indicates that the size of the ball, is 9 handspans |
Jatz' Glyph meaning "To Strike", is associated
with ballgame and boxing scenes |
Boxer in
Altar de
Sacrificios vase, showing tha Jatz'
glyph |
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Cancuén
Marker |
Mixco Viejo Marker |
Mixco
Viejo Ball Court |
The game between competing teams of players could symbolize the
battles between the gods in the sky and the lords of the underworld. The
ball could symbolize the sun. In some of these ritual games, the leader
of the losing team would be decapitated, and His skull would then
be used as the core around which a new rubber ball would be made.
A common interpretation would emphasize the
Venus cycle and the Maize
God death-and-resurrection myth as core religious aspects of the game.
The ancient Maya are believed to reenact, through the ball game,
the
mythic Underworld contest between the gods of life or fertility and the
gods of death. This may have been an
agriculture-related ritual or an
apotheosis of the military conquest. Archaeologically, that two fold
symbolism may be represented by the so-called ‘creation’ and
"hux-’ahaal" or ‘three-conquest’ ball courts,
such as the one in
Naranjo.
Some myths have survived in the
Popol Vuh (Click
link to download), a text that
recounts the Maya story of creation. It was translated into Spanish in
1697, in Chichicastenango, Guatemala, but the stories it tells are much
more ancient. The Hero Twins, Hunahpú and
Xbalanqué (pronounced “shawbal
an kay”), were excellent ballplayers. Unfortunately, the noise of their
incessant games disturbed the gods of the underworld. Irritated, the
gods sent a messenger owl to summon them. Every day the twins played
ball against the gods, just managing to hold their own. A good thing,
since a loss would cost them their lives!. Each night they faced other
dangers in the houses where they slept: the Dark House, Razor House,
Jaguar House. They escaped with cunning and the help of forest
creatures—until the night in the
Bat House, where snatcher bats flew.
The boys slept inside the tubes of their blowguns for protection, but
Hunahpú stuck his head out too soon and was decapitated. The next day,
the gods used Hunahpú’s head in place of the ball.
Xbalanqué was able to
trick them, however, and reunite his brother’s head and body. In the end,
it was the gods who lost that game. This Maya myth has been proven to be
the original as depicted in the Preclassic
San Bartolo
Murals.
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