Mesoamerican Sports
"We can judge how popular this sport must have been among the peoples of Anahuac, by the tribute of balls which the cities paid the king..."
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From The Aztecs: Their History, Manners, and Customs by Lucien Biart, 1900.
The theatre and the dance did not constitute the only amusements of the Mexicans. They had instituted public games to enliven certain solemnities; they also had private sports. In the first class must be placed the foot-races and the sham battles. These sports were useful, for besides the pleasure which they afforded the crowd, they gave the soldiers a chance to exercise their agility, and to inure themselves to the dangers they would have to face.
A pastime less useful but more celebrated was the sport called by the Spaniards “volador,” which means “a flyer.” For this sport a very tall, strong, and straight tree was procured, and having been stripped of its bark was planted in the middle of a square. On its top a cylinder of wood was placed, from which hung four ropes, intended to hold up a square wooden frame. Between the cylinder and the frame four other ropes were attached, which were wound around the pole as many times as the flyers had, according to rule, to encircle it; they were then passed through holes made in the corners of the frame. Indians, dressed to represent eagles or other birds, climbed agilely to the cylinder. After dancing on its small platform to amuse the crowd, they took hold of the ropes, then spreading their wings they threw themselves into space. This impulse made the cylinder and the frame revolve together. The former in its motion unrolled the ropes to which the flyers were attached, and made them describe a larger curve at each revolution.
During this descent an Indian, standing on the moving cylinder, waved a banner or beat a drum, undisturbed by his dangerous position. At the same time other Indians danced on the frame, and when the flyers were about to touch the ground, these bold acrobats slid down the ropes which held them, in such a way as to reach the ground at the same time with them. In their descent these men often daringly passed from one rope to another.
One of the important points of this sport consisted in exactly proportioning the length of the ropes to the height of the pole, in order that the flyers might touch the ground at the thirteenth turn, a number which represented quarter of the Aztec cycle. This dangerous pastime, prohibited by the Spaniards, is nevertheless one of the favorite amusements of the modern Aztecs; but the religious ideas that formerly dictated it are now forgotten.
Among their sports, the game of ball must be given a high place. According to Torquemada, the place where this diversion was indulged in was an immense quadrilateral, enclosed by walls thicker at their base than at their top, and lower at the ends of the field than at its sides. These walls, which were whitewashed, were smooth, and were crowned with battlements. Two idols, probably those of Omecatl, god of mirth, were brought at night and placed at the foot of certain small walls, with superstitious ceremonies.
The ball used was made of rubber, and had great elasticity. The contestants were divided into sides, each of which numbered two or three players; they removed all their clothes but their girdles. The rules of the game required that the ball, thrown from one end of the field, should strike the wall at the other, either at one throw or by bounding. But the players were allowed to touch it only with the wrist, the knee, or the elbow, under penalty of losing a point.
At this sport the people wagered ears of corn, clothes, and sometimes even their liberty; the wealthy, jewels of gold, silver, or feathers. In the middle of the enclosure stood two stones, like our mill-stones, with a hole in the centre a little larger than the ball. The player whose ball went through one of these holes — a rare feat — won not only the game, but the clothing of all the people present. This was also regarded as a brilliant action.
We can judge how popular this sport must have been among the peoples of Anahuac, by the tribute of balls which the cities paid the king. Tochtepec and Otatitlan sent as many as sixteen thousand to the royal treasury. At the present time the Indians are ignorant even of the name of this game which delighted their ancestors.
Another game, called “patolli,” consisted in drawing upon a fine mat made of palm-leaves, a square crossed by two diagonal and two transverse lines. Large beans marked with points were thrown as dice, and according to the number thrown, the players removed small stones placed in the angles formed by the lines, or placed others in them. The person who first placed the stones in three rows won the game.
Bernal Diaz mentions a game with which Moteuczoma, during his captivity, amused himself in company with Cortez. This pastime, which according to him was called “toloque,” consisted in throwing small golden balls at a plate of the same metal, used as a target. The person who hit the plate of gold five times won a jewel.
Among the Aztecs there were acrobats of extraordinary agility. For example, one of them lay on the ground, and raising his legs, held a beam balancing on his feet, then made it dance, and turn rapidly, without letting it fall. Sometimes two men placed themselves astride the ends of this beam, and followed its evolutions. Others rested a pole on their shoulder, and one of their companions, climbing to its top, balanced himself there.
Biart, Lucien. The Aztecs: Their History, Manners, and Customs. Translated by John Leslie Garner, A.C. McClurg & Co, 1900.
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