Pok-ol-pok a mayan game

We know comparatively little about the Olmec language, written or spoken. Although this is gradually improving. And hence invented this game. But like I said, mostly guesses. I should also note as further confirmation of the wealth of interest in the ball game, by the peoples then and scholars now, that there is a second book beside the one Ian found called Mesoamerican Ballgame published in , but in Leiden, with what looks to be an informative paper on the Mayan glyphs.

In: Mesoamerican Ballgame. Gerard W. Leyenaar, eds. Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden. The BPL also had the first but not this second, but I was running out of time. The update certainly explains why on-line searches were going in circles! The entry online at oed. Is there a publication delay? Or do libraries subscribe to a more stable site? Or is the change still being vetted?

On the slightly blushing grounds that if you never ask.. Certainly, modern cultural arts staged recreations of the ancient game use the stone circle as a sideways basketball hoop. Yet at Chichen Itza, home of the excavated mother of all pok-ta-pok courts, this ignorant visitor thought it more likely, surely, that the stone hoops were used as permanent anchors for a rope; with maybe a banner flung over it — so the game would have been more like volleyball?

There are so many details recommending the volleyball theory over the sideways basketball hoop theory that I assume it MUST be wrong for a reason? The tourist information boards at Chichen Itza are notoriously underwhelming. The players took positions like modern soccer players when they controlled the ball with the lower leg or upper arm. To keep the ball from hitting the ground they lunged in front of it, intercepting it with arm, waist or thigh. Since thighs, torso and arms took the brunt of the blows, players wore small protective garments on their arms and legs.

However, some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, or bats. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kilograms or 9 pounds. The ceremony is widely believed to be metaphorical for the constant battle between the forces of good and evil — life and death. From time to time ritual sacrifice was a component of the ceremony, with war captives being the most common victims. Mesoamerican ball courts have been found as far north as Arizona and as far south as Nicaragua.

Over the past few decades, the Pok Ta Pok has become a popular tourist spectacle, but the ceremony is still practiced by a handful of communities in Mexico, including the Ulama of Sinaloa.

Sign in. Log into your account. Musical Theater. Circus Arts. Tabletop Gaming. Metal Detecting. Outdoor Hobbies. Model Trains. Matchbox Restorations: Restoring a Lesney No. Review: "The Death of Superman". Interesting Paradoxes: Achilles and the Tortoise. Related Articles. By Leah Lefler. By Live N Learn. By James Kenny. By Rik Ravado. By Tricia Deed. By Ankita B. By Patty Poet. The ball game goes back 3, years, making it the first organized game in the history of sports.

Mayans loved the game and everyone played at various times, but it also held deep religious, ritual meaning as well. For that reason, it was sometimes played just as a game, with lots of gambling on the teams.

At other times, the game became spectacle and ritual, with the city rulers playing captive warriors in rigged, ritual games. The captives would lose the game and then be sacrificed. Most, but not all, Mayan cities had ball courts, many more than one.