My contribution to this topic during the world championship is about the ancient ballgame. (Maybe I'll also write about recent Mexican football but first let's see how far they get in that match).
The ancient ballgame is the world's first team-sport. In pre-Hispanic times it was played in several variations all over Mesoamerica.
The ball was made of rubber and wighted several kilos. The players were only allowed to touch it with shoulders, elbows, hips, thights and knees. Those parts of the body were protected with leather protectors. However, when the game was over the players were bleeding everywhere because of the weight of the ball.
The ball was not allowed to touch the ground but the walls on each side of the field (sometimes they were sloping) could be used. The aim of the game varied depending on the region where it was played. In Xochicalco - where I was last weekend - the ball had to be thrown through a kind of rings on the walls (see picture: the two things on the ground used to be attached to the wall) while in other regions the aim was to move the ball to the other side of the field (similar to modern football).
In most cases the game had a religious meaning. Sometimes the ball represents the sun which has to make its way on the horizon and is not allowed to crash (fall on the ground). In other parts it was related to the fertilization of the ground somehow representing sun and rain.
After the game players were often sacrificed. And now the surprise: not the losers but the winners (at least that's the conclusion of some sources). It was an honour for the best team to be sacreficed because they believed that by this they gained a "better life" after death while "normal people" would have a "miserable next life". As our tour guide in El Tajin said: "Modern people will never really understand this thinking."
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