Essay On The Mayan Ballgame Sacrifice

“In the Western Hemisphere, no early culture was more remarkable than the Mayans” (Background Essay). The Mayans were an adept civilization and accomplished many exceptional things during their time. Their deeds include things such as a number system, immense cities, and a vast trade network but there is no Mayan achievement more remarkable than their calendars. The Mayans created three calendars: a sacred calendar called tzolkin, a solar calendar called haab, and a long cycle calendar.

The ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central America. Their civilization inhabited an area that encompasses Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and parts of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, as well as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. "From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphics, and a complex social and political order" ("Collapse..." 1). Urban centers were important to the Maya during the Classic period; they offered the Mayans a central place to practice religion.

The collapse of the Mayan Empire is one of history’s greatest mysteries. It was one of the most advanced and developed civilizations of its time period, reining during the Pre-Classic period and into the Classic and Post-Classic Periods (2000 B.C. – 900 A.D.). The territory stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, down to modern day El Salvador in Central America. Its achievements were monumental for the era, being the first empire communicating with the use of a written language having over 800 symbols and producing the first 365 day calendar. They maintained an in-depth understanding of astrological cycles that would assist in planning harvesting cycles and predicting solar eclipses. The Mayan’s

“Both the Aztecs and the Mayans had a version of the game of basketball. The Mayans played the first basketball game around 500 years ago, although their ball was a human skull of a conquered foe!” (Faurschou, “History of basketball”). Aspects of the games included today’s basketball, American football, and

The Maya of Mesoamerica, along with the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru, made up the high civilizations of the American Indians at the time of the Spanish conquest. Both the Aztecs and the Incas were late civilizations, between 1300-1533 AD, but the Maya of the Yucatan and Guatemala exhibited a cultural continuity spanning more than 2,000 years, 1000 BC-AD 1542. Many aspects of this culture continue yet today. The Ancient Maya in their time had actually refined writing.

The ball game was played “for many reasons, including entertainment and competition. Because the losers were frequently sacrificed, ball games also served as a way to reenact wars with enemy peoples” (Foster, 2002, p.195). To play, the ball is kept in the air by hitting it with the hips, thighs or upper arms and bouncing it of the side walls. The use of the hands or feet was forbidden. The solid rubber ball was extremely hard and causes serious injuries. The ball game “participants wore padding on their forearms and knees as protection against the hard ball and even harder masonry surfaces of the ball courts” (Foster, 2002, p.195). To protect ribs and the torso players would wear a U-shaped belt or yoke. They were made out of leather or wicker. Hachas “were axlike stone implements shaped like animal, bird, or human heads and worn inserted in the belt” (Foster, 2002, p.195). It’s also said that “the motions of the ball were thought to parallel the motions of the sun, moon, and Venus as they rose through the sky and sank in the Underworld” (Foster, 2002, p.195). There’s a spiritual story associated with the ball game about the Hero Twins from the Popol

The ancient Mayan civilization settled in the Yucatan Peninsula in around 900 AD. This civilizations was one of the most advanced of its times. They created their own religion, language, mathematical structure, a very precise calendar, and many other things.

Sports, especially ones that involve a ball, are modern America’s favorite pastimes. Well, this was also true for the Mesoamerican people of the ninth century. While the event does not have a specific name, it is referred to as the Mesoamerican ballgame. Like basketball, this game was played on a long, rectangular court (Stokstad 405). The ball itself is said to be pretty heavy and rubber. Unlike basketball, the players wore protective gear because the actual sport of the game was to use everything but your hands to hit the ball. The object was to make it into the protruding stone goal, in which the ball would enter horizontally and not longitudinally. Some scholars suggest that perhaps the Mesoamerican ballgame was used in times of warfare,

The ancient Maya were a group of American Indian peoples who lived in Southern Mexico. Their descendants, the modern Maya,live in the same regions today.

Every living human being has and is sacrificing in their own way. Bliss is what a person gets back from experiencing that sacrifice. Like sacrifice, bliss can be achieved in multiple ways. A mythological example of sacrifice can be expressed in the form of self-sacrifice with the bliss being the creation of a species of mortal beings. This is the case with the mythological story of creation as told by the ancient Mayans. In this mythological story, there are two important types of self-sacrifice that are blended together, eventually creating bliss, the creation of human beings. These two types of self-sacrifice are essential to the mythological creation of humans and death coupled with the passage into heaven.

There were benches raised at the top of the slopped walls for spectators to watch the games, also there were a few benches for them to sit on at the open ends of the court. Some of the courts were placed in ceremonial centers, this proves that the game meant a lot to the players during this time. Over 1,500 ball courts have been discovered and identified in just the last 20 years in Mesoamerica. Archaeologist have found that the courts if also used for more than just the games. Sometimes, depending on the culture they were used for ritual activities, such as musical performances and festivals, also the court was used for different sports like

The Mayans were a society filled with many athletes/sportsmen. They had large ballcourts to play different games in. The Chichen Itza was one of the ballcourts used for the various activities in the Mayan lifestyle. One of the sports played by the Mayans was called Pok-a-tok. The objective of the game was to hit a ball into a stone hoop. That may sound pretty simple , but players had to bounce it with leather shields that were attached to that players arms, legs, and chest. The ball could not be physically touched by the player or touch the ground. Players wore yokes which, was a heavy deflector worn around the players waist to help direct the ball. Sometimes it did not matter if you won or lost. The winners or losers of the game could both

The most remarkable achievement of the Maya is their number system. However from all of their achievements I feel the less but still important ones was the cities and buildings they built, their trade network, and their calendar.

Almost every aspect of Maya life was centered on religion. These ancient Mesoamerican peoples worshipped many gods and goddesses; this was part of their daily lives, despite class differences in their sophisticated society. Religion served as a basis for the government and social life. Priests and shamans played an important role in their government, conducted religious ceremonies, and made sacrifices to the gods. The Maya believed in the supernatural, and used this belief to explain life and their universe. Every object, whether it is part of nature or man made, was considered sacred and worshipped.

     The ancient Mayans were a very well developed society with a very accurate calendar, skilled architects, artisans, extensive traders and hunters. They are known to have developed medicine and astronomy as well. All of this was developed while the Europeans were still in the Dark Ages.