Ulamathe Ancient Ball Game

by Tabatha Blacksmith

Ulama was played by *Mesoamerican civilizations for 3,500 years

*Mexico, Guatemala & adjacent territories

Ulama facts• The oldest sport in the world• Not just for men. Women played routinely in pre-Columbian times• Versions of game played in Mesoamerica for 3,500 years• Played w/a solid rubber ball (9-15 lbs.)• Players wore a (leather) U-shaped yoke over the hips to deflect ball• Protection included: padding around the waist, on arms and knees, and

gloves • Official games played in stone ball courts w/sides & end zones• Balls could travel upwards of 30 mph• Games could go on for hours or even days• Early on, games had religious significance• Ritual games concluded with human sacrifice (decapitation)

Ulama Ball Courts

Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza, Mexico

Ballcourt at Monte Alban, Mexico

BALL COURTS

Ballcourt at Taxtle, Cantona, Mexico

Ballcourt w/Ring, Xochicalco, Mexico

Goal & BALL

Ballcourt goal, Chichen Itza, Mexico

3.2 Kg. rubber ball

Sinaloa, Mexico

Rules of the Game Players could strike ball w/hips, legs or elbows

Ball could be bounced against sloping benches & vertical walls of ball courts

A point (raya) is scored when a team fails to return the ball or it is driven past the end zone (line)

A raya is lost if the ball touches the paved court

The first team to score 8 points wins

Complex scoring system awards points and takes them away

Ballcourt walls sometimes held stone rings for scoring

Artifacts

Hacha, Vera Cruz, Mexico Stone Yoke (for ritual) – Yugo, AD 600-900, El Tajin,

Mexico

Game Over for one ballplayer…

One of a series of murals from the South Ballcourt at El Tajin, showing the sacrifice of a ballplayer.

Cultural & Religious Significance (during ancient times)

• Was more religious ritual than team sport

• Had political and military overtones

• Ritual games enacted at key religious festivals helped to ensure the continuous cycles of the cosmos & nature (agricultural fertility)

• Some ball courts adorned with sculptures depicting local gods & other supernatural beings (e.g. Aztec capital Tenochtitlan – now Mexico City)

• Some players gambled their homes, fields, sold their own children or offered themselves up as slaves to be sacrificed later (if not ransomed)

• Ulama balls were used as a de facto currency

• Aztecs grew rubber & produced balls extensively (important economically)

Religious symbolism

• Ball represented sun & moon/was

kept in motion constantly

• Ritual game sacrifices believed to aid

the sun’s journey from day to night &

help it defeat lords of the underworld

so it could reappear at dawn

• Sacrificed players metaphorically

transformed & reborn (like the sun)

• Game’s symbolism dualistic: sky

underworld, day-night, sun-moon, death

rebirth

ULAMA TODAY• Ulama is still played in Sinaloa, Mexico (without the sacrifice)

• Scholars have documented about 1,500 ballcourts and excavated about 450

• Ulama faces extinction due to player’s poverty, geographic isolation, lack of natural rubber & competition from newer sports

• The Ulama Project – comprised of academics, athletes & local businessmen – seeks to preserve & study ulama for clues about how ancient Mesoamericans lived

• Rubber trees wiped out by development so people have to travel hundreds of miles to milk trees

• Cost of ulama ball is currently $1,000 due to scarcity of rubber

• Rubber balls donated to players in Los Llanitos, La Sabila, La Mora Escarbada, Villa Union, El Habal, Puerto de Canoas, Rosario and El Quelite

Vocabulario/Terms

Espanol

• Ullamaliztli (ulama + ulli)• Taste (pronounced TAS-TAY)• Raya• Fajados• Analco• Chichi or chivo• Male por arriba• Male por abajo• Ulama de cadera• Ulama de brazo (or antebrazo)• Ulama de palo (or mazo)• Veedor• Manopla• Maxtlatl

Ingles

• Playing game w/rubber ball• Playing field• Point• Leather girdle (protection)• Center line• End Line• (to throw the) ball high• (to throw the) ball low• Hip ulama• Forearm ulama• Ulama w/wooden paddle• An elder to settle disputes• A handstone used to bat ball• Loincloth

BibliographyParsons, Lee Allen. "Ball Game, Pre-Columbian." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Ed. Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 456-457. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 27 May 2012.

Fox, John. “Students of the Game.” Smithsonian. Smithsonian.com , Apr 2006. Web. 27 May 2012

"Science and Technology: Take Me Out to the Ballgame; Sports Anthropology;" The Economist Apr 24 2004: 93-82. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 6 June 2012 .

Mesoamerican Heritage Chapter of the Asociacion de Gestores del Patrimonio Historico y Cultural de Mazatlan (AGPHCM) http://www.ulama.freehomepage.com/about.html

Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) http://www.famsi.org

Mesoamerican Heritage Chapter of the Asociacion de Gestores del Patrimonio Historico y Cultural de Mazatlan (AGPHCM) http://www.ulama.freehomepage.com/photo.h tml

Wikipedia encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_ballgame