GREAT BALL COURT
The sacred ball game was famous all over Mesoamerica,
in pre-Columbian days. It was a game with, from our standards, no
real winners, if some experts are to be believed. Two teams were
pitted against one another for the wondrous privilege of winning the right
to be sacrificed to the gods. It isn't known for certain if the winners
or losers were given this "rich" ritual reward.
Temple of Jaguars
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This building is sometimes thought of as an entrance
to the Ball Court and faces the pyramid, El Castillo. It is, in
effect, part of the Ball Court wall.
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These two views of the impressive Temple of Jaguars (front &
side).
Walking into the Ball Court
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Behind the wall is the Temple of Warriors
and a part of the magnificent Pyramide del Castillo, as it was called
by the Spaniards--note the "ants" crawling up its side; tourist struggling
to make it to the top!
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This is the famous
Grand Ball Court
in all its glory!
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I combined three separate pictures to create this panorama!
Note the two hoops on the opposing walls, facing one another
across the playing field (309 feet long by 114 feet wide). The name
of the game was to get a hard rubber ball through the hoop, without use
of hands or feet--all other body parts were valid tools to keep the ball
in the air (touching the ground was, apparently, a no-no). Winners
were, perhaps losers, or was it the other way around? Nobody knows
for certain who was offered up to the Mayan-Toltec Gods after the game
was played to its end. They did, though, it seems, lop off the head
of a losing player, as shown in picture graphs. The end result of the game
was considered a message from the Gods. Seldom was a ball actually
shot through the hoop.
On the right notice the serpent stretched out
along the wall, staring at us with its mouth opened to "gobble you up"!
Though not intended, of course, the young man
standing on the left almost looks like the "ghost" of some ancient Mayan
ball player.
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