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What was tlachtli used for?
tlachtli, the ball court, or field, used for the ritual ball game (ollama) played throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
What are the rules of ullamaliztli?
The Aztec rules for ullamaliztli were: • the ball was not allowed to touch the ground; • players could not touch the ball with their hands; since the game represented the movement of the sun across the sky, the ball had to be kept moving at all times; the hard rubber ball had to get through a stone hoop to score.
What is the Aztec ball game called?
ōllamalitzli
The Aztec version of the ballgame is called ōllamalitzli (sometimes spelled ullamaliztli) and are derived from the word ōlli “rubber” and the verb ōllama or “to play ball”. The ball itself was called ōllamaloni and the ballcourt was called a tlachtli [ˈtɬatʃtɬi].
Why did the Aztecs play tlachtli?
The players are prisoners of war, the enemies of the Aztecs who are hosting the game. The game is a ritual honoring Amapan and Uappatzin, the patron deities of the game of tlachtli, and honoring Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war.
How was tlachtli linked to religion?
Tlachtli was played in I-shaped courts, in teams or as a one-on-one game. The way in which tlachtli was inextricably linked to the religious sensibilities of the Maya and Aztec societies that played it is displayed through two of their creation myths the Popol Vuh and the story of Coyolxauhqui.
How did the Aztecs play Ullamaliztli?
Players drop down onto the ground and swing their hips toward the ball to keep it moving. The ancient game was known as Ullamaliztli by the Aztecs and called Ulama in colloquial Spanish after the conquistadors emerged victorious over the Aztecs.
What happened to the losers of tlachtli?
The object of Tlachtli is to put a ball through a hoop made of stone at one end of a court. Also unlike basketball, where the losing team gets nothing worse than trash-talk from the winners, the losers in this game of tlachtli are going to have their heads chopped off after the game.