At the beginning of History, there was a ball game. Game, Power and Religion among the Mayas

Abstract

The ball game (juego de pelota) was a constant practice in a vast part of Mesoamerica, played by civilizations as ancient as the Olmecas (1200-400 B.C.), or in times of the Spanish Conquest, the Mexicas. The main idea of this article is to demonstrate how the ball game fulfilled different functions among the Maias, depending on the conditions in which it was played, and the teams’ meanings and participants. Thus, the ball game could be a ludic activity, a sport, a theatre where the actors were the triumphant kings and the defeated ones, a representation space of wars and alliances, a ritual that repeated the cosmic antagonism of the beginning of times, and a way of selecting the victims who were to be offered to the gods in sacrifices. These functions are going to be configured here based on the Popol Vuh and the references to the visual language of the game, which we can see in the bas-relieves and the panels of the courts, as well as in the ceremonial pottery.