How This Mayan Legend Inspired a Deadly Ballgame

[@Bryponce23]

Our tour guide (who also is an archaeologist that helped excavate this field) contradicts this video. He stated that the winners were the ones that were sacrificed. This allowed them to play at the next level of the game and "play with the gods". It was supposed to be a great honor.

[@MysterMalik]

Crazy how people can make death an honor that's the miracle of reinterpretation(power of persuation).

[@Happy23913]

That is exactly right. I would just add that the winners heads were cut off, and 7 serpent tails were seen coming out of the winners heads. This is symbolic these days. Rather than the winners heads being physically cut off, the winners are in a sunken place in their bodies and the serpents (devils/demons) occupy their bodies to interact with the physical world. This applies to sports today, especially basketball, futbol, and football … “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭8:36-37‬ ‭KJV‬‬

[@dmreith]

Gods wanted the strong. Sacrifice the strong. Gods wouldn't want losers.

[@ivanvargas2425]

I would’ve lost on purpose then

[@96792HAMMAH]

@@ivanvargas2425 That's why no one will remember your name

[@pdxrailtransit]

Well, I guess the NFL knows what to do if the TV ratings drop.

[@barnaclehead8449]

R/cursedcomments

[@nerdypainter3188]

Maybe now they can broadcast this on ESPN if there’s nothing else to watch

[@ahassan05]

Low key this game sounds fun.....

[@jinliu4219]

Bro u can only use ur hip or elbow

[@KindaHappy15]

@@jinliu4219 and?

[@hisuiuzumaki8326]

Onm. I played soccer for two years and I found it hella fun, only we didn’t die for losing😭

[@WhitePerson-]

Especially when your life and ur teammates are endangered 🤣

[@Guitar4516]

How can you hit a rubber ball that high, with you just your hip or elbow.

[@HeyUncleA]

I was just thinking about making a field in my backyard... minus the dying part of course.

[@Cincomitzi]

Nah. Include it or else nobody would play.

[@wyntrsyoutubechannel8698]

@@Cincomitzi XD

[@Dipi4pinoy]

Anyone else think of the movie the road to El Dorado?

[@bruhdealer3505]

ME TOO @I Control My Fate

[@taicrag5855]

Dipi4pinoy duh it’s been in subliminal messages Mayans taught us everything

[@Mrs_Canary]

Almost immediately

[@greystar5627]

I remember that movie

[@StoneStraiff]

Yeaahhh

[@Ace-zr2zt]

When you’re getting into it and the video ends 😢

[@JMEDINAPRODUCTIONS]

I just finished the tour here and the actual people that live here said that the WINNERS would be sacrificed. Not the losers.

[@leoferraz8085]

Yeah, I literally just left chichen itza. Your comment is spot on

[@Crippyblu]

I would of lost on purpose 😂😂😂

[@golemraven7765]

it's compare to the Rome Coliseum and always been survived and death of criminals than Russia modern in the War.

[@caelanshpak2007]

That's what I heard too I was told the winner was sacrificed and that his blood soaking into the ground would bring great harvest and it was a great honor

[@jakefreedman6191]

I just finished taking a tour of Chichén Itzal and the tour and decided to watch a video to learn more. The tour guide said that the winner’s captain (1 for each side) was decapitated and it was an honor as he now was with the gods.

[@spencer4hire]

Marco, my tour guide, told me the same thing. It makes more sense to me.

[@nelsonvazquez8104]

Me too that’s what my tour guide said but I also learned in school that the loser captain 👩‍✈️gets beheaded and women that get sacrificed get pushed into the cenotes

[@juliomiranda7013]

Yet another tour guide told me that it was the winner, not winning the team's captain. Basically, whoever makes the ball into the hoop ends the game and he would be sacrificed, which was a great honor for the winner. Then another tour guide (and others that I heard talking) said that it's actually not known who is the one or ones who get sacrificed. None of the carvings or writings left behind specify. So it's all conjecture really

[@solutionrecruiter7130]

i just dont know if i accept all this sacrifice...it has a certain propaganda vibe to it...justification for christian/western imperial expansion...im sure some of it is possible but not going to simply believe it...perhaps the players in these games were condemned to death criminals who were offered a chance at life in a victory...there are possible explanations other than whats offered by officials

[@hcope28]

@@spencer4hire I believe you but why would that make more sense?

[@WWZenaDo]

Shouldn't that be the other way around? The winners get to go meet the gods, while the losers have to remain on earth...

[@charlottelemerond2148]

If it’s ceremonial then the winners are sacrificed that’s what we learned in Spanish

[@gabrielsotelo9549]

Im pretty sure legend said they beet the under world lords n came out

[@creeperstkoed6282]

Its debated

[@Bryponce23]

That's what i was told too. It'd make sense that only the best could challenge the gods.

[@j3ffn4v4rr0]

I also heard it was the winners, not the losers, who were sacrificed.

[@ThundermanDeadEndScribes]

I wonder if a thousand years from now people are going to see an Arkansas Razorback and think the losers of football games got fed to wild hogs.

[@calg]

the legends say that the gods would often visit in the form of 30-50 feral hogs and would tear apart the loser to satisfy the god of ra-tings.

[@swarsleyb7514]

Yo what about graves cause people be digging up the graves of accent people to man

[@flyingchimp12]

they'll still have our videos lol, we're going to be the last generation that had no clue what those before were doing

[@promotingnwofivehundredmil1369]

But there’s actually burial sites with thousands of perfectly placed skulls.

[@stoplayin21]

😂😂😂

[@charlespeterwatson9051]

I thought the winners were the ones who got sacrificed because ancient Mayans felt that to offer yourself up to be sacrificed to the gods was an honorable act, even though it's irrationally suicidal and contradictory to the sports objective of victory.

[@singlesinceforever1964]

I've been to chicken itza. It's beautiful

[@BlueMoonSys]

*chichen

[@ishaankang1542]

r/ boneappletea

[@ArkanSubotic]

According to our tour guide today neither team who plays would be sacrificed, the person sacrificed would be a prisoner of war. This person was captured by a single person and was a prisoner of war based of honour where he could leave at any point but would break honour, based off the comments here I want to know which version is correct for if rules changes from city to city or time period

[@Bryponce23]

This is an interesting version. We know one thing, someone's head was coming off!!! 🤣

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

Suicide squad?

[@Cleeon]

I believe with your version, that's make sense

[@skepticalbadger]

This is likely correct. And in most ballgames, no one would have been sacrificed at all. It was only in specific ritual settings that a game or a ritual related to it would result in sacrifice.

[@robertafierro5592]

The Twins are EVERYWHERE you look on the carvings..just Incredible!!

[@wmst5065]

Sounds like the ultimate version of 'One and you're done'.

[@tomtonka1915]

Wouldn't the ball go over the wall alot? How many players per team? Why is the field so big? What are the rules? So many questions.

[@UlyssesJimenez]

Tom tonka I recommend reading the popol vuh it is fascinating on the way the Mayans saw the world. The number of players varied, assuming on my behalf on the different size of the field, but most likely by other factors as well that I do not know :)

[@jihuronexi5858]

there's about 1,300 ball courts spread throughout mesoamerica in multiple different cultures from the ancient mayan civilization all the way to the aztecs, zapotecs, toltecs etc...some courts differ in layout and size making it all even more intriguing

[@josephgarcia4555]

Just watch el Dorado lol

[@Shinyboy29]

Even the Spanish conquistadores, after witnessing these games take place in front of them first hand, though the sport was well documented, were still uncertain about the sacrifice rules of this ball game, even their appointed native Nahuatl chroniclers couldn’t really tell exactly who gets sacrificed Until the point where they banned this sport deeming them as “barbaric”, first banning the human sacrifice associated with this sport then banning the game entirely after quite some time The Aztecs had different rules for the ball game and so were the Mayans But both Aztecs and Mayans viewed sacrifice as the greatest honor anyone can do to appease or give glory to their gods, so it’s still up for debate unto this day whether the winners or losers get sacrificed, or both

[@samuelwrobel1818]

I've been there.... such a cool civilzation

[@raspano1]

Hey I have been there three times. My good friend was a guide there. He used to make a joke . H would say this is a game you do not want to win. Because the winners would go to visit the gods the losers got to stay and play again

[@MarwolfAeducan]

The invention of early basket ball

[@thedoruk6324]

Maya are truly magnificent people (Btw several mayan communities're still alive albeit assimilated on yucatan)

[@vernondjoe]

Not only in Yucatan. In Guatemala you can meet them in person, I assure you they will be welcoming and they are not "assimilated" but have live traditions.

[@singlesinceforever1964]

And Belize as well

[@thedoruk6324]

@Егор Селиванов Psycopathic. So literal ethnic cleansing is justified when they're 'deemed' savages? Ironic

[@christophershore8481]

Could have swore I saw something like this in Apocalypto

[@vincentbreaux8954]

I am pretty sure the winners were actually sacrificed lol cuz they were actually worthy to be a sacrifice.

[@davejentsch824]

I took a tour of that field. Our guide explained the astronomers new when a solar eclipse was coming and advised the leaders. The leaders knowing that their society depended on agrarian pursuits, knew the God of the Sun (light) needed to defeat the God of the Moon (darkness). As a result, they organized a broad territorial competition. The MVP of the tournament - being the best player of the bunch - was then sacrificed to help the God of the Sun defeat the evil God of the Moon. As this approach always seemed to work - it remained in practice for a long time. The Mayan astronomers were quite impressive and they knew - and taught - the Europeans about the leap year concept which resulted in a meaningful significant change in the European calendar.

[@linnymaemullins3319]

@@davejentsch824 👍

[@pizoteko]

El maestro Guillermo... tengo el honor de conocerlo...

[@theprodigalson4003]

THIS IS HOW THE GODS PLAY BALL

[@masons7769]

I was always told the winners were sacrificed

[@joaquinsalinas9547]

I remember watching this particular game in my previous life... The game didn’t have any rules, more like a life and death survival type of game...

[@ezsloth]

Um...what

[@fruitshishkabob]

No, actually I was there too and there was definitely rules

[@fredspofford]

I was there and there were rules for the first half and no rules second half of the game.

[@golemraven7765]

the same as the Rome Coliseum

[@Shinyboy29]

It is still hotly debated by historians and archaeologists as to who gets sacrificed at the end, because there is still no proof that the winner or loser gets sacrificed, on one instance both teams get sacrificed In Mayan culture being sacrificed is the greatest honor a man can do for his gods, so logically speaking the winner gets sacrificed Team Sun/Moon vs Gods of the Underworld In my opinion this is a symbolic scripted game where Team Sun/Moon gets sacrificed at the end, no matter which team shoots the ball to the hoop and wins the ball game

[@tottenhamhotspurish]

Maradona’s ancestors probably made this game. The Mayan’s liked their coke too: in leaf form

[@ericoakley4388]

When I visited that site and that ball court the Mexican tour guide said the winners were sacrificed.

[@johnnyguitar6639]

And now we know where basketball comes from

[@aramirez8427]

I have seen that court with my own eye and will tell you those hoops are way ......WAY up there.

[@c.s.4191]

Unsettling information regarding the ball court.

[@juanherrera3822]

Sureee, it seems so gory when's done by the Aztec, but if Maximus Decimus Meridius gets whack then that's so noble!!

[@nibiruresearch]

The history of the indigenous peoples in the Americas is much, much older than a few thousand years. We judge the Maya, Aztecs, Inca’s and others on the traces that we find. But when we dig our way from the present to the past, we must know that the Earth is suffering from a cycle of recurring natural disasters. That is told in the Popol Vuh of the Maya. These create a cycle of civilizations. One is a high developed civilization, that disappeared 20,0000 years ago. Then there are four primitive civilizations. They were guided by alien deities. At a certain moment in time, those deities leave the people alone. Led by fanatic priests, the people start offering more and more often and from fruits and animals, they started offering children and humans. They knew that after death, new life would occur and they wanted the deities to return. That is how the Aztec are remembered, but once they were high educated. They left us the sun stone, which is a warning for this recurring disasters. To learn much more about the cycle of disasters and civilizations, recurring floods, ancient high tech and alien deities, read the e-book: "what I know about Nibiru". You can read it nicely on any computer, tablet or smartphone. Just search for: know Nibiru

[@backward9]

so the loosing team gets killed and the winning team is sacrificed. how often could they play this game? their population would get so small

[@rbflauta]

I was here in chichen itza this morning and our tour guide said the winners should be sacrifice cause why would you sacrifice the losing team? Mayans believe the good and the bad and the good should be sacrifice. Make sense

[@sebastianspiegel5533]

Anyone else doing this for school? Just wondering.

[@wyattthacker2473]

Does anybody else get the goosebumps when they watch this video (‘-‘)

[@davidmoore9357]

So what is it? Does the losing team get sacrificed? Does the winning team get sacrificed or just the winning captain? I’ve been doing 20 mins of research and I’ve heard and read all 3 at this point.

[@jeffreyharrison3731]

This makes more sense to me that the losing team might lose their heads. One hypothesis I seem to hear all the time suggests the losing captain decapitated the winning captain.

[@haylz27]

I want to watch the full documentary of this...

[@AhmetErkam]

Then watch

[@daijaalford3016]

An Aztec boy tells me you wanna play I fun away 🥺😭

[@hudsomfoskett3227]

step broooooooooooooooooooo

[@IceManLikeGervin]

This is where Naismith got the idea for basketball from...

[@creativeusername8760]

And the Lords of the Underworld Darkness fills my heart with pain (Timmy) And when girls start to sleep with girls Beelzebub will rise again

[@christianpalmer225]

He must have risen. Explains a lot.

[@lucas__1374]

Stay safe and wash your hands

[@anitaware8625]

I went there yesterday

[@thecrippledpancake9455]

Are they still gonna sacrifice the loosing team? Or possibly the winners?

[@Happy23913]

When I did the tour of the site my tour guide stated the winners were sacrificed to serpents (devils/demons) …

[@MrE073]

This is wrong, the WINNING team was the one sacrificed to the gods... it was the highest honor, although I think they were slaves and only important games had a sacrifices at the end.

[@smallboto]

I wanna play the game but don’t wanna get sacrificed

[@hussainabdullah2101]

How did you know that the loosing team is sacrificed?

[@israelgonzalez1402]

I've done extensive searchs of videos trying to find video actual real people TODAY playing this 'game' and not in cartoons, because with those hoops being so high, it looks like an impossible 'sports' to play. I think all the 'researchers'. Are making this up that 'it was for a game'. The closest answer that I came across is a THEORY that those hoops were used to actually compete by throwing SEVERED HEADS of enemies.

[@jmctigret]

I been to that court, it’s creepy.

[@ooka_booka]

Who else watching this for school?

[@Anonymous-wi6ig]

The road to el dorado brought me here

[@nathanielavoures1596]

Isnt amazing how weve grown up over the years now its just football and soccor! Heads in tact

[@sweetlikeimli]

To Shibalba? To Shibalba! #ElDorado

[@curtssallee9807]

OLMECA...the boucing ball...from the rubber tree

[@karlmcaidey1084]

If I was playing this game I'll loose every time for sure..

[@PEACEOUTPAT]

Seems to be a lot misinformation in this video based upon everything I've been reading... You guys just kinda phone it in on this one, or are you purposely supressing knowledge for more nefarious reasons?

[@bradleymcgill2606]

I’ve been there I’m sure they have to use there hips to hit the ball in the hoop. Crazy

[@anitaware8625]

The person who scored was sacrificed as an honor because the mayans care more how they died than lived

[@antonioalbay1002]

For a cartoon's movie El Dorado

[@jchrg2336]

I wonder what got twisted in history or throughout history with origins of these type of games and the origins of the Olympic games

[@ROBA05]

Who's here from Simple History?

[@Maoilios12]

How do you learn to play a game if you die if you loose? Were only some games a matter of life or death and others not? There's so much we don't know and probably never will

[@tubo85able]

Matt Davis It is just like the gladiators of ancient Rome. Most (if not all) of the participants are slaves and they do go to a "training school" days/months before the event. Hope that help.

[@peacesantisuk4278]

Road to El dorado brought me here lol

[@MarsBanger]

Basketball came from here I’m guessing … the original like always

[@hazarathmohiddin706]

Maha muni Mayan is from India proof of science and came from him it's our ancestors

[@dillonjones6042]

I’m sure it was only the captain who lost their head in the losing team

[@spongeyspikes09]

The Gods should not be playing ball like this! A second later THIS Is how the Gods should play ball!!

[@general5886]

theres no way they could get a ball through a small hole like that...its way to high (especially using only their hips) 🙄

[@ozman8247]

thi sounds like basketball but more interesting

[@gladiator_zyx]

"Football fields"

[@abilmafahim]

doraemooon

[@chrisstanton70]

imagine playing basketball but instead of using your hands you had to use your hips

[@camyoli8720]

unico comentario en español haciendo tarea :/

[@j3ffn4v4rr0]

Really bad explanation....."The high walls don't seem to have a purpose...so here's a myth about the origin of the sun and moon that explains it." Nope!

[@dudea.official]

The ballgame is defently zuma or luxor

[@ryand3759]

Civilization 6 says that the winning Captain was beheaded...

[@Sango-po5pi]

Didnt they sacrifice the winners? It was considered an honour to be a human sacrifice. They were literally competing for the honor to die for the gods!

[@deegalipo]

I'm surprised the Smithsonian put this up. I would have thought they'd be a credible source.

[@crisprtalk6963]

they are part of the govt. lol!!

[@DidierDubz]

Sounds like a gross misinterpretation of the Popol Vuh if you ask me. I don't believe that the kind of peoples that built things like Machu Pichu and even have many PYRAMIDS in the land would see human sacrifice as a positive thing. I've been battling with that concept for the last year and I finally get it. It's the same as the people who misinterpret the Bible in modern times and then conduct rituals or practices in the name of Christianity but do the wrong things. Thinking that " paying tithes " has to do with money or that Easter is about a RABBIT LAYING EGGS. It shakes me to my core to think how much blood was spilled in the name of such beautiful fables and teachings.

[@pasofino2199]

It was about control, it was a tool too control the masses. Have you seen the calendar? They knew nobody had to die for the sun to come up.

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

Monadragon

[@memes9875]

nice

[@johnbear4462]

That is actually wrong the winning captain of the team is sacrificed in order for the gods to have the best offer for sacrifice and in return the gods will give prospering crops and rain in the future.

[@rogerhupp3115]

I think the truth is...... Nobody truly knows the exact rules, or what the factual stakes were.

[@santalofty4917]

@@0.55 number 108 again (9x12)

[@nathanvance2383]

Hey daddy

[@illusionblitz8317]

Your a kelt

[@HIRAMECLARKEHOPS]

Smithsonian should know the winners are sacrificed smh.

[@JesusHernandez-dd9lo]

??? Cannonball, casino, The Mesoamerican ballgame??? ??? Atm or bank, coins, paper, and plastic chips ??? !!! Lottery Game !!!

[@condocord7544]

Wrong. The audience was sacrificed to SasauceChalupa. This is how the Mayans perished!

[@ziggymorris8760]

Sure this isn’t Aztec instead of Mayan? They have a very similar game to this that they played to determined who would live and die.

[@theoddishmushroom1534]

The ball game or something similar exists in most Mesoamerican civilizations.

[@PistonHonda87]

Why would God want the losers? I would ask for the winners.

[@thescoobymike]

The original Squid Games

[@gabrielsotelo9549]

I thought the twins had beeten the lord of the under world???

[@harveypost7799]

Basketball

[@hudsomfoskett3227]

si papi