Current interpretations of the ball game

Previous interpretations of the ballgame can be grouped into either religious cosmological-agricultural-fertility and sacrificial themes, or secular political-economic-conflict metaphor/avoidance themes (Day Reference Day and Whittington2001; Fox Reference Fox, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Fox Reference Fox1996; Gillespie Reference Gillespie, Vernon L. and Wilcox1991; Hill and Clark Reference Hill and Clark2001; Taladoire Reference Taladoire2000, Reference Taladoire and E. Michael2001; Taladoire and Colsenet Reference Taladoire, Colsenet, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Whalen and Minnis Reference Whalen and Minnis1996; Wilkerson Reference Wilkerson, Scarborough and Wilcox1991). In either interpretation, violence of different forms is strongly associated with the game. Secular interpretations link the ballgame with rites of accession and the legitimation of authority between elites. It is also seen as an outlet for inter-elite competition, a substitute for warfare, and a way to avoid or terminate interpolity conflict (Joyce and Winter Reference Joyce and Winter1996:38; Kowalewski et al. Reference Kowalewski, Feinman, Finsten, Blanton, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Stern Reference Stern1948:96–97; Taladoire and Colsenet Reference Taladoire, Colsenet, Scarborough and Wilcox1991:174). Some scholars propose that idle warriors played when not at war to maintain fighting readiness (Kowalewski et al. Reference Kowalewski, Feinman, Finsten, Blanton, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Redmond Reference Redmond1983). Formal court structures appearing right as social hierarchies were emerging suggests that games were connected to developing stratification and a rising elite class (Hill Reference Hill1999; Hill and Clark Reference Hill and Clark2001; Hill et al. Reference Hill, Blake and Clark1998).

Ballcourt construction increased in times of intense political competition, particularly in situations where there are multiple polities in a region, heterarchical settlement systems, or a centralized power is breaking down (Feinman and Nicholas Reference Feinman and Nicholas2011). Moreover, the simultaneous use of multiple ballcourts signaled regional political decentralization with elites in constant competition (Santley et al. Reference Santley, Berman, Alexander, Scarborough and Wilcox1991:4; see Stark [Reference Stark, Daneels, Donner and Arana2018] for a contrasting opinion). While the sociohistorical meaning of ballgames varied, the central objective was always the same—economic and personal gain by ruling elites who either participated themselves or sponsored teams (Santley et al. Reference Santley, Berman, Alexander, Scarborough and Wilcox1991:15; Whalen and Minnis Reference Whalen and Minnis1996, Reference Whalen and Minnis2001).

Religious interpretations posit that games were primarily cosmological and/or agricultural fertility rituals involving acts of sacrifice that were exclusively controlled by elites. Games represented the fight between contradicting and opposing forces such as lightness and darkness, the forces of the underworld, or between the sun and the moon (Berger Reference Berger2009; Day Reference Day and Whittington2001; Fox Reference Fox, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; de la Garza Reference de la Garza2000; Gillespie Reference Gillespie, Vernon L. and Wilcox1991; Uriarte Reference Uriarte2000). Uriarte (Reference Uriarte2000:30–31) points to Venus and solar imagery in pre-Hispanic art as evidence of the game's celestial character. The central Mexican Codex Borgia depicts sacrificed ballplayers painted with red stripes associated with the deity Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli-Quetzalcoatl, or Venus in its cycle as the Morning Star. Xolotl, or Venus as the Evening Star, was another central Mexican patron deity of the game (Uriarte Reference Uriarte2000:30). Several authors also suggest that games likely represented the cosmos, the ball traveling across the court a symbol of the sun passing through the sky and the underworld (Day Reference Day and Whittington2001; de la Garza Reference de la Garza2000; Gillespie Reference Gillespie, Vernon L. and Wilcox1991). In addition to solar and cosmic images, liminal creatures such as butterflies, frogs, turtles, and crocodiles also appear in ballgame iconography, evidence that the ballgame ritually symbolized “unification through opposition” (Uriarte Reference Uriarte2000:31–33).

The ballcourt's morphology is said to represent either the entrance to the underworld, the underworld itself (de la Garza Reference de la Garza2000; Schele and Freidel Reference Schele, Freidal, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Taladoire Reference Taladoire2000:27, 2001; Uriarte Reference Uriarte2000), or the channel for the birth of the sun and cosmos (Uriarte Reference Uriarte2000:33). In the codices, ballcourts and games are paired with symbolically valued animals such as jaguars, coyotes, eagles, and quetzals. The jaguar and coyote themselves are linked to the earth, night, and war; while the eagle and the quetzal are associated with the daytime world, the heavens, dryness, and the warrior. The codices also depict the court both as a symbol of fertility and a place of confrontation between opposing and complementary forces (Taladoire Reference Taladoire2015).

These interpretations are by no means incorrect as the material evidence does generally support them. Even more so, they demonstrate the multivalence of game meanings. The exclusive focus on elite expressions of ballgame participation or only viewing the game as an elite political strategy or ritual tradition, however, means that we may be missing the larger picture (Stoll and Anderson Reference Stoll, Anderson and Voorhies2017). Contrasting with these either/or interpretations, recent research incorporating poststructuralist perspectives and theory from the anthropology of sport (Baron Reference Baron2006; Fox Reference Fox1994, Reference Fox1996; Hill Reference Hill1999; Ramos Reference Ramos2012; Stoll and Anderson Reference Stoll, Anderson and Voorhies2017) demonstrate that as competitive sports involving some degree of cooperation between opposing teams/social groups, ballgames were integral to community- and network-building for Mesoamerican societies (Stoll and Anderson Reference Stoll, Anderson and Voorhies2017).

Ballgames and ballcourts in Oaxaca

Investigation into ballgames and ballcourts in Oaxaca is relatively limited. The only regional studies published so far, from the Central Valleys (Kowalewski et al. Reference Kowalewski, Feinman, Finsten, Blanton, Scarborough and Wilcox1991) and Pacific Coast (Zeitlin Reference Zeitlin1993), and a small number of courts have been excavated. But what evidence we do have paints a complicated picture of ballgames, game ceremonies, and their role in intra- and intercommunity politics and relationships. Based on a ballplayer figurine (dated to 1399–899 b.c.; Blomster Reference Blomster2012) and a recently excavated ballcourt (dated to 1374 b.c.; Blomster and Salazar Chávez Reference Blomster and Salazar Chávez2020) at the Etlantongo site, ballgames were played in the Mixteca Alta by the Early Formative period. The games may have been present even earlier: the Archaic site of Geo-Shih features two 20-m-long parallel lines of stones placed seven meters apart that could possibly be a dance floor (Flannery and Spores Reference Flannery, Spores, Kent V. and Marcus1993) or a playing field (Blomster Reference Blomster2012:8022; Hill Reference Hill1999:6). Parallel stone alignments have been found at other similar Archaic sites (Lohse et al. Reference Lohse, Sagebiel and Baron2013). These stone alignments resemble the open ballcourts (parallel mounds instead of lines) that appeared later in the Formative. Masonry courts are first constructed in the Late Formative (300 b.c.– a.d. 300); around 100 masonry structures have been registered so far and more remain to be recorded.

There are not many artistic representations of ballcourts, games, and players. Ballplayer figurines are not very numerous and few ceramic vessels (de Borhegyi Reference de Borhegyi1980) and tomb murals that depict ballplayers (Urcid Reference Urcid2005) and Atzompa (García Robles y Cuatle Reference García, Andrade Cuatle, Nelly M. and Rivera Guzmán2011). Stone effigies of ballgame equipment such as yokes are known but few, hachas are slightly more common while palmas are completely absent.

Ballcourt sculptural art is also limited and includes some simple, undecorated, center-alley stone markers; free-standing stone figures (possible dead ballplayers), mostly at sites in the Costa Chica region on the Pacific Coast (Zeitlin Reference Zeitlin1993) and the Chontal Alta (Zborover Reference Zborover2014); and possible ballplayer monuments from Tlacochauaya and Dainzu in the Central Valleys and Tequixtepec in the Mixteca Baja (Taladoire Reference Taladoire2003:328). There is some debate over the identification of the Dainzu monuments. Bernal (Bernal and Seuffert Reference Bernal and Seuffert1979) initially identified them as ballplayers playing a handball game. While not disagreeing with this identification, Orr (Reference Orr, Koontz, Reese-Taylor and Headrick2001, Reference Orr2003) theorized that the carved figures are engaged in one-on-one ritualized combat using stone balls. Alternatively, they could be boxers fighting ritualized matches (Taube and Zender Reference Taube, Zender, Orr and Koontz2009) or warriors celebrating a successful military campaign or battle (Berger Reference Berger2011). Urcid (Reference Urcid, Winter and Santiago2014) disagrees, arguing that, while the figures are indeed ballplayers, the carvings actually commemorate either the death of two Dainzu governors or the sacrifice of important captives by Dainzu.

Two recent discoveries underscore the uniqueness of Oaxaca ballgame art. Three, large, clay ballcourt sculptures were recorded at the Late Formative Cueva el Rey Kong-Oy site in the Mixe region (just north of Nejapa). One court lies next to a life-sized, mud-sculpted human figure wearing ballplayer regalia, a small ball in each hand (Winter et al. Reference Winter, Ballensky, Ballensky, Guerrero, Winter and Santiago2014). Over in the Quiechapa region, Badillo (Reference Badillo2022) recorded 30 carved ballcourt icons, the largest number found so far in Mesoamerica. These icons represented actual courts and were likely loci for game-related rituals associated with fertility, death, and renovation (Badillo Reference Badillo2022:14–17).

Where we find the most game representations are the Mixtec codices (Joyce et al. Reference Joyce, Workinger, Hamann, Kroefges, Oland and King2004; Taladoire Reference Taladoire2015). Sections dealing with time immemorial show deities in and around ballcourts (Macazaga Ordoño Reference Macazaga Ordoño1982:64). Most of the court icons are parts of place names or represent physical spaces where important historical events occurred (Byland and Pohl Reference Byland and Pohl1994; Joyce et al. Reference Joyce, Workinger, Hamann, Kroefges, Oland and King2004; Pohl Reference Pohl2004).

Oaxacan communities utilized ballgames in different ways. Some argue that games played social mediating roles while ballcourts marked physical boundary markers different polities (Byland and Pohl Reference Byland and Pohl1994; Feinman and Nicholas Reference Feinman and Nicholas2011; Finsten et al. Reference Finsten, Kowalewski, Smith, Borland and Garvin1996; Gillespie Reference Gillespie, Vernon L. and Wilcox1991; Joyce and Winter Reference Joyce and Winter1996; Pohl and Byland Reference Pohl and Byland1990; Pohl et al. Reference Pohl, Monaghan, Stiver, Smithers, Sosa and Bracas1997). Zeitlin (Reference Zeitlin1993) proposes that games were integral to a widespread peer-polity network in the southern Isthmus and Costa Chica. Orr (Reference Orr, Koontz, Reese-Taylor and Headrick2001, Reference Orr2003) suggests that there was a ritualized combat handball performed in conjunction with pilgrimages to sacred hill centers. Yet others claim that games helped warriors maintain fighting readiness when idle while also reinforcing key state and elite ideologies (Kowalewski et al. Reference Kowalewski, Feinman, Finsten, Blanton, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Redmond Reference Redmond1983).

The ballcourt sculptures discovered in the Cueva del Rey Kong-Oy challenge some of our assumptions about ballgames of Oaxaca. Alongside the ballcourt models are life-sized clay jaguars and human figures with exaggerated genitalia. Some of the male and female figures are depicted in coitus, while other female sculptures are in birth positions with prominently displayed vaginas—images not frequently found in Mesoamerican art (Winter et al. Reference Winter, Ballensky, Ballensky, Guerrero, Winter and Santiago2014:312–313). These sculptures suggest other ideological meanings linked to the ballgame that remain to be explored.

Indigenous sports and games of the Americas

That Mesoamerican ballgames were also sports has often been dismissed or seen as secondary (Altuve Reference Altuve1997; Bernal and Seuffert Reference Bernal and Seuffert1979; Cohodas Reference Cohodas1975; Day Reference Day and Whittington2001; Fox Reference Fox, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Koontz Reference Koontz and John Edward2008; Leyenaar Reference Leyenaar1980; Miller Reference Miller and Whittington2001; Miller and Houston Reference Miller and Houston1987; Schele and Freidel Reference Schele, Freidal, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Uriarte Reference Uriarte2000; Zeitlin Reference Zeitlin1993), unnecessarily separating ballgames as sports from ballgames as rituals. As liminal phenomena, sports are easily ritualized and politicized (Bell Reference Bell1997). This explains why elites and other invested social classes would seek to engage in or align with friendly (and not) organized, competitive social activities. To better understand Mesoamerican ballgames, it helps to place them in their larger social context as autochthonous sports and games played by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, as there are significant differences between Western and Indigenous attitudes towards sports to be considered.

Indigenous sports and games (ISG) were often described in early seventeenth- and eighteenth-century colonial narratives (Barnett Reference Barnett2014), and they have been studied by anthropologists since at least the nineteenth century (see Mooney's [Reference Mooney1890] “Cherokee Ball Play” and Culin's [Reference Culin1907] Games of North American Indians for early ethnographies). Many of the pre-contact practices and meanings were still present during this latter period, even as there were ongoing efforts by settler populations to constrain or even wipe out games completely (Rocha Ferreira Reference Rocha Ferreria2014:51). These early ethnographies therefore capture a critical picture of ISG in their mostly original sociopolitical and cultural contexts.

ISG are typically divided into four general categories: kinetic competence, chance, games of representation, and strategy. Different games were emically related to diverse social processes such as sex role differentiation, group identity, decision-making models, symbolic identification, the development of important physical skills necessary in adult life, communal integration, and resource distribution through wagering (Cheska Reference Cheska, Norbeck and Farrer1979:229; Reference Cheska1984:250; King Reference King2006:32; Pesavento Reference Pesavento1974:3; Penz Reference Penz1991:54; Salter Reference Saltar1974:497–498). In this way, the meanings of ISG extended beyond physical activity to other important cultural beliefs and traditions (Cheska Reference Cheska1984:250; Delashut Reference Delsahut2018: 217–222; Krus 2011:139; Penz Reference Penz1991:47; Stoll and Anderson Reference Stoll, Anderson and Voorhies2017; Voorhies Reference Voorhies and Voorhies2017).

For instance, lacrosse was frequently associated with warfare by the Wendat, Iroquoian, Anishinaabeg, and other groups that played it (McGarry Reference McGarry2010), while Choctaw (Chahta) stickball or toli was known as the “little brother of war” (Vennum Reference Vennum1994). This connection to warfare has influenced some interpretations of the Mesoamerican ballgame and its function in pre-Hispanic societies (Redmond Reference Redmond1983). Lacrosse, however, also had different and changing social meanings through its connection to spirituality, medicinal practices, shamanism, warfare, and gambling (Salter Reference Saltar1974; Vennum Reference Vennum1994). Sports and games were also recreational activities (Cheska Reference Cheska1984:250; Krus 2011:138). Celebrations of annual corn harvests in Mississippi included feasting, and dancing, and toli games, with teams representing villages or moieties (Barnett Reference Barnett2014:12–14). Like lacrosse, toli was a competitive sport linked to spirituality and traditional ceremonialism (Barnett Reference Barnett2014: 16).

Gambling was and still is a common activity that accompanied nearly all ISG (Michelson Reference Michelsen1981; Williamson and Cooper Reference Williamson, Cooper and Voorhies2017:31; Yanicki Reference Yanicki and Voorhies2017; Zych Reference Zych2017) and can even be considered a universal aspect of pre-contact Indigenous societies (Cameron and Johansson Reference Cameron, Johansson and Voorhies2017:1–2). Gambling is popular because it acts as a social leveler, redistributing material wealth and creating some stability between social groups and nations— there is always the possibility that losses can be regained (Delashut Reference Delsahut2018:220; Williamson and Cooper Reference Williamson, Cooper and Voorhies2017:34). In contrast to Western and Christian views, for Indigenous societies gambling was both a religious behavior (Salter Reference Saltar1974:499; Walden and Voorhies Reference Walden, Voorhies and Voorhies2017:7) and a pleasurable activity that added drama to games (Cameron and Johansson Reference Cameron, Johansson and Voorhies2017:1–2; Evans Reference Evans and Voorhies2017). Gamblers bet property, clothes, family members, and even their own lives (Cameron and Johansson Reference Cameron, Johansson and Voorhies2017; Voorhies Reference Voorhies and Voorhies2017:22; Yanicki Reference Yanicki and Voorhies2017). The Blackfoot or Siksiká word for gambling is used interchangeably with the words for gaming and play (Yanicki Reference Yanicki and Voorhies2017:13).

Through their performance, sports and games create a shared sense of unity or communitas (sensu Turner Reference Turner1969) among members and opportunities for strengthening group affiliation (King Reference King2006; López von Vriessen Reference López von Vriessen and Gertude2004; Penz Reference Penz1991:46; Piña Chan Reference Piña Chan1969; Rocha Ferreira Reference Rocha Ferreria2014:49). This was especially true for Indigenous societies prior to and outside of contact/colonial situations (Cheska Reference Cheska1984). The Oldman River was the playing grounds for the Siksiká Peoples of Southern Alberta's Rocky Mountains (Yanicki Reference Yanicki and Voorhies2017:1), while Ute tribes gathered in the Provo River region to engage in various sports such as horse-racing, trading, gambling, foot racing, and wrestling (Janetski Reference Janetski and Voorhies2017:1). Going back further, there is evidence that ballgames in the Hohokam region of the Southwest were opportunities for social and economic interactions between communities (Abbot Reference Abbott2006).

ISG were often included in sacred ceremonies and other social celebrations; they were also tied to symbolic identification and cultural maintenance (Acuña Reference Acuña1978; Cheska Reference Cheska, Norbeck and Farrer1979:236–237, Reference Cheska1984:250; Gutiérrez Reference Gutiérrez and Voorhies2017; López Austin Reference López Austin1967; Pesavento Reference Pesavento1974:3; Salter Reference Saltar1974:497; Voorhies Reference Voorhies and Voorhies2017:3; Yanicki and Ives Reference Yanicki, Ives and Voorhies2017). With their highly stylized pregame and game procedures, ballgames like lacrosse and toli have been particularly highlighted as symbolic mechanisms for group identity (Cheska Reference Cheska, Norbeck and Farrer1979:232, Reference Cheska1984:252–253). Ballgames have always been integral to Chahta society and politics; in the eighteenth century, fields located adjacent to mound sites and depicted on historic shell gorgets (Howe Reference Howe2014:77, 84). Many game-related myths explain the earliest origin of things. Games themselves were divinely sanctioned because they were played by the gods first, then gifted to the people (Cheska Reference Cheska, Norbeck and Farrer1979:237; Penz Reference Penz1991:47).

Catlin's (Reference Catlin, Mead and Calas1953) descriptions of Chahta toli matches from the late nineteenth century provide rich descriptions of the game as it was played when stickball still retained many traditional practices and attitudes. Feasting, ceremonial activities, and other games such as handball and a version of jacks would take place before, during, and after the main event (Blanchard Reference Blanchard1981:23–43; Catlin Reference Catlin, Mead and Calas1953:290, 293). Matches were announced several months in advance, with arrangements made between the captains or champions of the respective teams. People would travel around 15–30 kilometers on average to attend these events. Officials or apisaĉi kept score using visual mnemonic devices, typically sticks that represented points for the competing teams inserted into the ground. Drummers played throughout the match and attendant ceremonies, keeping up the excitement of the game (Blanchard Reference Blanchard1981:35). Other key figures were doctors (ritual specialists), singers or italowa, clowns, and men who supervised the gambling (Blanchard Reference Blanchard1981:36). Although many of these traditional elements are not part of stickball matches today, the sport is actively played by the Chahta and Chikasha (Chickasaw) in Mississippi where it still has an important role in community integration and identity creation (Barnett Reference Barnett2014:17).

Many Indigenous peoples today participate in Euro-American sports (Aicinena and Ziyanak Reference Aicinena and Ziyanak2019; Blanchard Reference Blanchard1995; Cheska Reference Cheska, Norbeck and Farrer1979, Reference Cheska1984; Davies Reference Davies2020; King Reference King2006, Reference King2015). These sports, however, have been integrated into the repertoire of each specific community's cultural performance and group expression (Cheska Reference Cheska1984:250) and can therefore be a form of resistance against colonial culture (King Reference King2006:135-136). For example, the way the Diné (Navajo) play basketball echoes their ethos of cooperation among teammates in ways that contrast with more Euro-American playing styles (Cheska Reference Cheska1984: 253).

Es nuestra tradición: Modern ballgames in Mexico and Oaxaca

Because the focus of my dissertation research was the pre-Hispanic ballcourts in Oaxaca, I thought that an ethnographic study of modern ballgames would be a unique opportunity to observe these games in a living social context. There are very few areas in Mexico today that have both modern ballgames and pre-Hispanic ballcourts. Despite the immense research into Mesoamerican ballgames, however, there has been comparatively little investigation by archaeologists on their modern counterparts (see Taladoire Reference Taladoire2003) To address this gap, I directed an ethnographic research project in 2009 and 2010 on the pelota mixteca games of Oaxaca (Table 1).

Table 1. Location and dates of pelota game matches visited for the ethnographic field project.

Throughout the project's different stages, I worked constantly to manage any expectations about what I would learn and observe. Given both the passage of time and the violent impact of European colonialism on Indigenous cultural practices including ballgames, I could not assume that modern games were simply direct analogues of their ancient counterparts. This is especially true for ballgames, which were frequently denounced in missiological writings and by colonial authorities because of their “warlike” nature and the gambling that was integral to them (Delashut Reference Delsahut2018:216). Instead, I focused on what the players themselves had to say about pelota mixteca and what they felt was most important or meaningful about the game to them.

The primary method for recruiting participants was the chain referral or snowball technique. First, a colleague introduced me to one player, Don Quique, who then introduced me to several others. Those I interviewed would then tell me that I just had to speak to such and such other person, and so on. Sometimes while at games I would simply introduce myself to players. If someone expressed interest in doing an interview, I read them the project protocol that they would then sign if they agreed to participate, of which they received a signed copy for their own records. Only players who agreed to do so on the signed protocol are mentioned here by name. For others I use only their apodos or nicknames. Interviews were recorded when given permission; otherwise, I simply took notes. Some players did not want to sign the protocol but were willing to speak with me anyway. The information they provided is subsumed within the general descriptions of the game.

I interviewed retired and current ballplayers on the game's connection to community functions, whether ritual, political, or economic. Questions focused on technical aspects such as game rules, how often the players meet to play, and how games are organized, as well as more social aspects including how they learned to play, what playing meant to them, and if they knew the game's origins. During the interviews, other questions would come up in response to what players told me. I did initially ask about any mythology, rituals, or symbolism associated with pelota mixteca. These questions were rather unsuccessful: for example, when asked if the ball represented the sun, the men simply said no or were confused and would move on. Although some did tell me stories about the game's origins, mythic histories like the Popol Vuh (Tedlock Reference Tedlock1996) were absent. I later cut these questions entirely. Nevertheless, what I learned from the ethnographic data opened my perspective on Mesoamerican ballgames.

The traditional sports of Mexico today

Despite violent efforts by Spanish authorities to suppress ballgames, Indigenous and mestizo campesinos continued to play in secret throughout the Colonial and National periods. These games survived European colonialism to varying degrees, retaining some of their pre-contact rules and play techniques (Stern Reference Stern1948; Turok 2002:61). In 1988, the Mexican government officially recognized their cultural importance with the formation of the Federación Mexicana de Juegos y Deportes de Origen (Mexican Federation of Games and Sports of Origin). Ballgame associations in the Distrito Federal and the states of Sinaloa, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Michoacán were the initial participants. Today, the organization is now known as the Federación de Deportes Autóctonos y Tradicionales (Federation of Autochthonous and Traditional Sports [FDAT]). It includes 13 state associations and many groups playing a diverse number of Indigenous and syncretic physical sports and strategy games (Turok Reference Turok2000:59).

There are currently 13 surviving ballgames played today. Due to space limitations, I discuss only a few examples here. The game considered to have the most pre-Hispanic elements is ulama de cadera (hipball), a descendent of ullamaliztli (alternatively tlachtli or ōllamalīztli) or the hipball game described by sixteenth-century Spanish scholars. Although the Jesuit priest Calvijero (Reference Calvijero1945[1780]) recorded north and West Mexican groups such as the Nayarita, Opata, and Tarahuamra playing ulama, now it is predominantly played in the states of Nayarit and Sinaloa, although it is now being revived in Mexico City and among some Maya groups.

Ulama de cadera uses a three- to four-kg ball struck with the hips (Turok Reference Turok2000:62). Matches take place on a taste or field that is approximately 60 meters long by four meters wide, divided by a center line called the analco that represents the other side of a shore or river. The judges (the veedores or juezes) who keep track of the score and make decisions during rule disputes stand in the end zones or chichis (Ramos Reference Ramos2012; Turok Reference Turok2000). Two teams of three to five players, assigned to different playing positions on the court, try to keep the ball in motion and not let it hit the ground. If it bounces out of bounds the serving team loses a raya or point, while the opposing team receives a point if the ball hits a player outside of the hip-thigh zone. Players described the rules as complicated and that they [the rules] take years to learn, especially since each town has its own rule system (Ramos Reference Ramos2012:210).

Related games include ulama de antebrazo (armball), where players strike the ball with the forearm; ulama de mazo, where players use two sticks; and ulama de palo (stickball), in which players use one stick instead of two. While the ball is smaller in these three games, many of the terms for the playing field and end zones, the point system, and the referees or judges are the same (Aguilar-Moreno Reference Aguilar-Moreno2004; Ramos Reference Ramos2012; Turok Reference Turok2000). These games are currently popular in various towns in Sinaloa.

In the three versions of pelota purépecha, players use sticks of various sizes to strike the ball (Turok Reference Turok2000:62). Pelota purépecha encendida (flaming Purépecha ball) is played in Jalisco and Sinaloa, where in the latter it is known locally as quiche. This is one of the few that has symbolic overtones. A cultural tradition “rescued” by the local FDAT of Sinaloa, the game represents a fight between the old and new suns. A maguey root ball is soaked in petroleum and lit on fire, then struck with a hockey stick-like wooden baton. For this reason, the game is played at night (Turok Reference Turok2000:62-63). Pelota purépecha de trapo follows similar rules and playing techniques but uses ball made of different materials. In pelota purépecha de Piedra, players employ a flat wooden paddle to strike a basalt stone ball.

How to play pelota mixteca

There are three versions of pelota mixteca in Oaxaca: de hule (rubber), de forro (skin or covering), and del Valle (from the Valley). Each uses a different type of ball and playing gear (Don José Ángel, personal communication 2009). In pelota mixteca de forro, the ball is made of yarn, wool, or worsted yarn lined with suede. Work gloves of hide and cloth protect players’ hands when striking the ball. Pelota del Valle involves a small skinny tablet or plank measuring 20 × 2 cm to strike a small foam ball, although one informant told me that he once used a shoe when he didn't have tablet. De forro and del Valley are mostly played by Afro-Oaxacan and Indigenous communities on the coast.

Pelota mixteca de hule (hereafter pelota mixteca) is the most popular and widely played. The Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México lists 55 municipalities (out of 570) in Oaxaca that still have a pelota mixteca field, mostly in the Mixteca Alta and Central Valleys (Reyna Reference Reyna2016:14), although many more existed in the past. Players use colorfully painted, vulcanized rubber balls weighing one kg and specially produced by a factory in Mexico City (Figure 2). This game is famous for the heavy, colorful leather gloves players wear that are made of about 36 layers of stiff cow leather that are held together with hundreds of metal studs or nails and weigh three to five kilograms (Figure 3). They are specially made to order by the only glove maker or guantero, a man nicknamed El Caballo (The Horse).

Figure 2. Volcanized rubber ball used for playing pelota mixteca. They are colorfully painted with the name of the village or player. The former are used in the torneos or tournaments where multiple teams from different villages are playing. This ball specifically belongs to the team from the colonia of Buena Vista. Photograph by the author.

Figure 3. A pelota mixteca glove, brightly decorated and studded with over a hundred nails. Photograph by the author.

The technical aspects of playing pelota mixteca

In the past, pelota mixteca was played on designated canchas or courts (alternatively patios), sometimes on a street in front of or near the church or central plaza, or wherever open space was available (Berger Reference Berger2009:9–11). Most formal courts existing today are located in polideportivos or sports centers, alongside other fields for Western sports such as soccer and baseball (Berger Reference Berger2009:9); or are located close to the town center, such as at Magdalena Jaltepec in the Mixteca Alta. An official court, however, is not necessary to play. Many patios are simply cleared fields wherever space is available, like the patio at Buena Vista located behind Don Quique's house (Figure 4).

Figure 4. The informal patio at Buena Vista behind Don Quique's house and next to his corn fields. Photograph by the author.

The cancha measures 100 × 10 m and is divided into three zones: the zona del saque, which covers around 3/4 of the field (~70 meters); the zona del resto; and the cajón (which can be translated as drawer or bin), an eight-m section in the zona del resto (Berger Reference Berger2009; Turok Reference Turok2000). Where the ball falls in the cajón determines which player on the opposing team can hit the ball. In the zona de saque, a player also called the saque bounces the ball against a flat, inclined stone or botadura and then strikes it across the field (Figure 5; Don José Ángel, personal communication 2009). Prior to the game, the field is carefully measured and outlined. The lines are marked by older players with chalk or are simply scratched into the ground (Berger Reference Berger2009:6). This was also a common practice in historic Chahta toli games (Catlin Reference Catlin, Mead and Calas1953:291).

Figure 5. The botadora stone is used in pelota mixteca to launch the play into play. Two have been set up in the patio at Buena Vista for a torneo where multiple teams would be playing. Photograph by the author.

According to Don José Ángel, how much of the field is in play depends on the strength of the saque (según la capacidad del saque) or how far they can strike the ball. Players are placed into categories or fuerzas (strengths) of primeras, segundas, and teceras (firsts, seconds, and thirds) beforehand by the coime, or the custodian of the court, and the team captains. He explained that teams are composed of five players called quintas and that the team that plays in the zona de saque and serves the ball is the saque or contrarresto (counter), while the opposing team is the resto (Figure 6). Game time varies and can last for hours, although matches between primera teams often finish in half an hour.

Figure 6. The saque (left) and resto (right) teams playing at Buena Vista. Photographs by the author.

Though the rules of play and point scoring have been recounted elsewhere (Taladoire Reference Taladoire2003), I repeat them here because it was clear they are very important in the players’ perspective. Once the ball is put into play, the responding team returns, and play continues until the it goes out of bounds. A point or tanto is then awarded to the resto. Players explained that the point system is like tennis, with points counted as quinces (fifteens) using the pattern of 15, 30, and 40. Once one team has achieved 40 points, then a set or juego (game) has been won. The first team to win three sets out of five wins the partido or match, or as Don Jorge said, “el que ganó la ventaja,” he who wins the advantage. They were quick to point out that this was the only resemblance between the two sports and that pelota mixteca is “muy distinto,” very different.

One complicated way to win a juego is through rayas. As Don Pablo described it, “si sale el bote, donde cruza es una raya” (“if the ball leaves [the court], where it crosses is a line”). At the point where the ball goes out of bounds after bouncing once on the field, or where it bounces twice infield but stays inbounds, the chacero or referee marks a raya or line (Berger Reference Berger2009:8). According to several players, “si no hay quinces y hay dos rayas, se cambian, pero si no hay rayas, no se cambian,” “if there are no points, and there are two lines, they change sides, but if there are no lines, they do not.” Even when the serving team has won their set, if there is a raya they must still switch sides—as Don Pablo explained it, “lo que hace es hacer rayas para cambiarse…se ven acá, hay una raya y quince, trienta, cuarenta y si hay una raya, se cambia” (“what they do is they make lines to change, they come here [switch sides], there is a line and 15, 30, 40, and if there is a line, they change”). If there are no rayas marked and neither team has won the set, they continue to play in their positions. Marking rayas reduces the playing field, making it more difficult for the resto team to score. Should the resto hit the ball past the raya, then the tanto is awarded to them. Failure to do so awards the point to the other team (Berger Reference Berger2009:7–8). Therefore, the goal of the saque is to block the ball from going past the raya.

Everyone I spoke to stressed that a good player knows the rules and how to play. Don José Ángel described the reglamento (rule system) as being “muy sagrado,” “very sacred,” and for Don Claudio the rules have never changed, “son las mismas…siempre esta contabilidad,” “they are the same…always this counting system,” a sentiment that was echoed by others. Whether they have stayed the same or not, this emphasis on the rule system, its antiquity and stability, underscores the importance of proper forms of social conduct in game play and the interactions between players. Proper conduct in social interactions among individuals is important for Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, forming the core of many existing traditions (Monaghan Reference Monaghan1995; Royce Reference Royce2011). At the same time, arguments over scoring still occur.

Players begin learning between the ages of eight to 14. Don José Luis said that while they use a normal-sized ball, boys are given smaller-sized gloves and only switch to the adult-sized gloves as they grow older (Berger Reference Berger2009:11). When I asked who taught them to play, I received a variety of answers. Some, like Don Claudio and Don Catarino, learned from their fathers. Others like Don Elfino learned from older friends (“de un amigo…un día me dijo, ¡vamos a jugar a pelota!”(”from a friend…one day he told me, we're going to play ball!”) Don José Ángel explained that players mostly learned from friends or relatives; his own father learned from his tíos or uncles. On the other hand, Don Elfino mentioned that some fathers choose not to teach their sons because they consider the game to be dangerous. I met quite a few men while doing fieldwork in Oaxaca who said their own fathers had played but had refused to teach them. The ball travels very fast when struck and can cause serious injuries. Most often, the sons themselves are just not interested in learning—Don Elfino lamented that he had five sons, enough for a quinta, but unfortunately they did not want to play.

There are two other important roles in pelota mixteca, mentioned previously: the coime and the chacero. According to Don Jorge, the coime keeps track of the quintas playing that day, pays for the maintenance of the cancha, provides food and refreshments for players and spectators, and ensures that the court is regulated: “cada patio debe estar reglamentado”(“every field should be regulated”). For instance, if the police are called because a fight broke out and the court is not legally approved, the coime and the players could go to jail. Coimes also receive some of the money made through bets (Turok Reference Turok2000:64), in most cases about 10 percent (Berger Reference Berger2009:5), and must be familiar with rules as “él define si es buena o es mala la pelota,” “he decides if the ball is good or bad.” If there is a dispute over a point or rule, the coime “tiene encargado si hay problema,” “he is in charge if there is a problem.”

The chaceros keep track of the point scoring and rayas. Scores are kept in a variety of ways, such as making small rips in leaves, scratching points into the dirt with a bamboo stick, or point stones (Figure 7). Sometimes the chaceros use a combination of all three. They also use the bamboo stick to mark rayas. When there are multiple teams playing, such as at tournaments, a chacero will be assigned to a specific team. Current and former players occupy these roles.

Figure 7. Score is kept in different ways by the chacero or referee. Here point stones are used to keep track. Photograph by the author.

An archaeological case study: What can modern ballgames tell us about ancient ballgames in Oaxaca and Mesoamerica?

Although no longer explicitly linked to Indigenous cosmologies or elite political legitimation rituals, what the ethnographic data shows is that modern ballgames like pelota mixteca still have the capacity for communal integration, e.g., bringing people together for social engagement, engendering other kinds of cooperative and possibly conflictive interactions. For ancient Mesoamerican ballgames, what role they may have played is interpreted through the number and location of ballcourts within regional systems. Often this is correlated to the degree of regional political centralization or integration—the more ball courts, the more fractious the society (Santley et al. Reference Santley, Berman, Alexander, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Whalen and Minnis Reference Whalen and Minnis1996).

Given what we have learned about Indigenous sports and their role in community relationships, how might our interpretations of court distribution, number, and their significance change? What insights might we gain for settlements with multiple ballcourts, e.g., Cantona (Puebla), El Tajin, (Veracruz), El Arnel (Jalisco), Monte Alban and Atzompa (Oaxaca), or regions/heterarchical political systems where multiple small- to medium-sized sites have their own ballcourt, such as northwest Yucatan (Anderson Reference Anderson2011), the Cuyumapa River region of Honduras (Hendon et al. Reference Hendon, Joyce and Sheptak2009), the Upper Grijalva Basin (de Montmillon Reference de Montmollin1997) and the northeast Peten, Guatemala (Rega Reference Rega2020)? In these cases, multiple ballcourts may instead be evidence of socially integrated communities that competed and cooperated with each other, negotiating their internal and external social relationships via sport, and where conflict was limited to small-scale rivalries or low-level violence between individuals (i.e., injury but not death).

Our case study is the Nejapa region in Oaxaca's Sierra Madre del Sur mountains (Figure 9). Because of its unique geographic position, the valley was crisscrossed by several historical interregional trade routes connecting the Central Valleys to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (and by extension central Mexico to the Xoconusco region of Chiapas and the greater Maya area); and the Oaxacan coast to the Mixe region and Veracruz (King Reference King, Oland, Hart and Frink2012; King and Zborover Reference King, Zborover, Schieber and Zedeño2015). Here the rivers Río Grande and Río de la Virgen also merge to form the Río Tehuantepec. Today, Nejapa is a frontier region between the modern territories of the Mixe, Chontal, and Zapotec-speaking peoples (King Reference King, Oland, Hart and Frink2012; King et al. Reference King, Konwest and Badillo2012, Reference King, Badillo, Konwest and Enriquez2014). These same ethnolinguistic groups were already living in the area when the Spanish first arrived (Burgoa Reference Burgoa1934 [1674]; Paso y Troncoso Reference Paso y Troncoso1905).

Figure 9. Map of the Nejapa study area in Oaxaca. Map by the author.

Outside Nejapa, ethnohistorical documents indicate frequent conflicts between Zapotecs and various Chontal and Mixe communities during the Postclassic period (King and Zborover Reference King, Zborover, Schieber and Zedeño2015; Zborover Reference Zborover2014). Within Nejapa, ethnolinguistic identity is much more ambiguous and difficult to trace. People likely forged shared, social identities—identities shared because of the unique ecological environment they lived in, the common vernacular architecture, and the clay sources they utilized and ceramic vessels they made in common—that may have at times conflicted with each other. Given their potential for both social bonding and conflict resolution, ballgames may have been one way for Nejapa communities to negotiate social relationships and identities.

During the Early and Middle Classic (a.d. 250–650), there are courts that likely hosted two different types of games: one that was played in I-shaped courts near or on the valley floor; and the other played in palangana or rectangular courts located high in the mountains (Figure 10). By the Late Classic, depending on when these different certain courts were abandoned, there could have been as many as three I-shaped courts in use (the palangana courts were certainly abandoned by the Middle Classic) or as few as one. If the ballcourt at the Cerro Maluco site was the only one in use at this time, then it would signify a change from communities going to games at different courts at several locations, perhaps as part of seasonal ceremonies, to people traveling to a single court, albeit the largest in the region, for different types of ceremonies (Stoll Reference Stoll2018:711–717).

Figure 10. A comparison between palangana courts and I-shaped courts. While palanganas appear only during the Early to Middle Classic and were limited to specific geographic areas, I-shaped ballcourts existed for millennia and can be found throughout Mesoamerica. Images by the author.

We have the most courts in use during the Early to Middle Postclassic (a.d. 1000–1250), the majority of which are in the dispersed neighborhoods of the valley-floor Greater La Amontonada (GLA) community (King et al Reference King, Badillo, Konwest and Enriquez2014; Konwest Reference Konwest2017). By late Middle Postclassic, there are more courts in the mountains than the valley floor, especially after the abandonment of GLA. In fact, depending on when another valley-floor court at the Terezona site was constructed and then abandoned, it may have been that only the two mountain courts were active during the late Middle Postclassic to the Late Postclassic (a.d. 1350–1521). The complete abandonment of valley-floor courts and shift to the mountain courts may point to yet other changes in the significances and purposes of ballgames and game ceremonies as well as the social contexts in which they took place (Stoll Reference Stoll2018:718–721).

Although there are slight differences in Classic and Postclassic ballcourt dimensions, they are not statistically significant. In other words, communities across time constructed courts according to their specific tastes and needs while following local preferences with respective to the sizes of architectural features and overall design. For example, the length/width ratios of the central alleys show a preference in their proportions (Figure 11), pointing to shared ways of playing that also continued across time (Baron Reference Baron2006). When rules or game practices did change, they did so in the negotiation of practices between communities or social groups when playing. Most likely, Nejapa communities strategically used games and game ceremonies within their communities, with their neighbors, and with outsiders from other regions. Certain practices persisted, but strategies would have changed over time according to the needs and goals of hosts, players, and audience members for the specific contexts in which these events took place (Stoll Reference Stoll2018:703–709).

Figure 11. A boxplot comparing Classic and Postclassic central alley length/width (L/W) ratios. The results suggests that there were shared playing styles that continued across time. Graph by the author.

Researchers in Oaxaca have proposed that most ballcourts were constructed at sites on the regional or subregional boundaries of polities (Kowalewski et al. Reference Kowalewski, Feinman, Finsten, Blanton, Scarborough and Wilcox1991), with some in dominant reginal centers. Some have proposed that ballcourts abandoned in a previous period became neutral sites for boundary-making or pilgrimage rituals in the next (Byland and Pohl Reference Byland and Pohl1994; Zeitlin Reference Zeitlin1993). Yet others suggest that courts were used as practice spaces for warriors to maintain fighting readiness (Kowalewski et al. Reference Kowalewski, Feinman, Finsten, Blanton, Scarborough and Wilcox1991; Redmond Reference Redmond1983). The locations of the Nejapa courts (Table 2) contrast somewhat with these proposed patterns (Stoll Reference Stoll2018). There is little evidence, for instance, that they were used as practice spaces for warriors in between periods of conflict.

Table 2. Sites with ballcourts in the Nejapa region.

^a Sites that form part of the Greater La Amontonada community.

^b Sites with multiple ballcourts.

Nejapa courts were not constructed at sites on obvious political boundaries, regional/subregional capitals, or dominant centers (King et al. Reference King, Konwest and Badillo2012, Reference King, Badillo, Konwest and Enriquez2014; Stoll Reference Stoll2018:728); nor do court size, measurements, and presence/absence correlate to site size (Figure 12) The Late Formative/Early Classic site Mogotes del Panteón was important given its location at the entrance to the valley, yet it was smaller than nearby contemporary sites Colonia San Martín and much larger Nejapa Viejo. The palangana at the Early to Middle Classic site Llano las Casas was constructed in an isolated intermountain valley and was probably used for communal ceremonies and pilgrimage rituals by different communities. The largest court is found tucked away on a hill far from the primary areas of occupation on the valley floor, at a Late Classic site (Cerro Maluco) smaller than many of its contemporaries.

Figure 12. The lengths and widths of the central alleys compared to the sizes of sites with and without ballcourts. Images by the author.

Meanwhile, Classic-period Ejido de Canseco was either a small-sized occupation or a neighborhood associated with the more powerful Nejapa Viejo. Similarly, one of the Early to Middle Classic palanganas was found in a neighborhood of the mountain site El Sitial. Los Chorros, where we find another palangana, may have either been a neighborhood of the nearby Los Picachos, or an earlier Classic occupation. It was not very large, however, and was not very accessible due to its high-elevation location. Another Classic site, Tanaguixi may have been influential during its time, but its court was constructed away from the hilltop occupation closer to the valley floor.

In the Postclassic, GLA was likely an influential, though not dominant, community when it was occupied, especially given its location near the confluence of the three major rivers. Ballcourts were constructed both in its higher status neighborhood and in other mixed-status neighborhoods. Contemporary La Puerta, a piedmont site, is much smaller than its neighbor Los Mogotes del Burro, yet there is only a court at the former. Although Cerro del Convento was a prominent ritual site, getting to the court would have been very difficult as access was tightly controlled; the same can be said about El Sitial. Finally, Terezona remains a puzzle. With its multiple ceremonial zones, it may have been influential as well, but without firmer dates it is difficult to ascertain the site's relationship to others in the Postclassic.

Instead, spatial results reveal that most are found in and around the rivers or other areas that would have experienced the most foot traffic and/or where it would have been possible to observe movement in and out of the region (Figure 13). These locations possibly relate to Nejapa's geographic position as a crossroads for interregional trade and population movements. Yet all these courts, wherever they were located, were structures where important events took place, based on the density of serving bowls and ritual objects documented from both survey and excavated contexts directly related to the courts (Stoll Reference Stoll2018:702).

Figure 13. Ballcourt viewsheds for the (a) Classic and (b) Postclassic periods, or where from where on the landscape a ballcourt can be seen and those locations that could be seen from the ballcourt. The results reveal that most courts, especially in the Postclassic, were constructed in and around areas best for observing movement in and out of the region, such as the rivers. Images by the author.

There are striking similarities in architectural forms and style. All the courts are enclosed with sunken playing floors, even Terezona's unusual T-shaped structure (i.e., missing a terminal mound) and the palanganas. With very few exceptions, Nejapa ballcourts feature low to non-existent terminal mounds on the exterior and much larger lateral mounds. While there are some minor variations in construction technique, court mounds were built using a mixed earth and pebble matrix, then covered with locally obtained stones. El Sitial is distinct because of the faced stones on the mounds and their interior clay/sandy matrix, but its dimensions fall within the preferred size ranges, most notably in the court dimensions that influenced game play (i.e., the central and terminal alleys as well as the interior slopes of the lateral mounds).

From the construction of the first court to the last, there was probably several shifts in the role or meaning of ballgames played among the communities in Nejapa. When there were multiple courts in use, they would have formed a network of places for hosting and participating in competitive games, ritual ceremonies, and communal feasting. When there was only one court in use, these structures were probably used exclusively by that community, only inviting allied or associated neighbors and outside people under the tightly controlled conditions of the hosting community and its leaders. The role of ballgames and game ceremonies in the local politics of this multiethnic frontier region would have changed as needed in response to shifts in community alliances, settlement patterns, and larger historical trends. Like other types of rituals or ritualized practices, sports in their performance and form may remain stable over time even as their functions and meanings change in response to historical and political shifts (Bloch Reference Bloch1992).

How ballgames were played in Nejapa and whether they were linked to game traditions from other areas of Oaxaca is currently unknown. For example, we do not see a clear ballgame ideology and symbolism in Nejapa, unlike other regions in Mesoamerica. At the same time, there is evidence for shared ceremonial practices, suggesting that ideological pluralism was a strategic choice. Likewise, pelota mixteca players and teams come from different communities with their own local practices in other social areas, but how to play is shared (Reyna Reference Reyna2016; Stoll Reference Stoll, Anderson, Clark and Anderson2015).

In its social and historical context, Nejapa was a diverse multiethnic and multilingual frontier with communities that had their own practices and ways of living, yet who also shared similar experiences, material cultures, and expressions of strategically deployed identities. Different communities formed variable political and social networks that connected some and not others, and these alliances and rivalries would have shifted and morphed over time. Such relationships frequently crossed ethnolinguistic boundaries that previously have been treated as more defined, static, or even impermeable. Ballgames certainly would have been crucial opportunities where these relationships could be negotiated. The spatial and material evidence suggests that in Nejapa there was a hyper-local ballgame tradition (or traditions) that emerged out of the localized practices and social identities, sometimes shared and sometimes in conflict, of the communities that lived in this unique frontier.