Ulama game
Ulama is a ball game played in a few communities of the state of
Sinaloa, in
Mexico, not far from Mazatln. It is a variety of the
Mesoamerican ballgame descended from the ancient game ritual of cultures such as the pre-Columbian
Olmec, Maya and
Aztec and many others. The game is one of the oldest continuously-played sports in the world . It is also notable for the fact that it is the oldest game which utilizes a
rubber ball, as
rubber is indigenous to the Americas.
Encyclopedia
Ulama is a ball game played in a few communities of the state of
Sinaloa, in
Mexico, not far from
Mazatlán. It is a variety of the
Mesoamerican ballgame descended from the ancient game ritual of cultures such as the pre-Columbian
Olmec, Maya and
Aztec and many others. The game is one of the oldest continuously-played sports in the world . It is also notable for the fact that it is the oldest game which utilizes a
rubber ball, as
rubber is indigenous to the Americas.
History
The word
Ulama comes from the
Nahuatl word
ullamaliztli . In its heyday in pre-Columbian
Mesoamerica, ulama was played by the
Olmecs ,
Aztecs,
Mixtecs and Maya in an area extending from modern-day
Mexico to
El Salvador and possibly in modern-day
Arizona and
New Mexico. Archeologists have uncovered 700 ball courts, rubber balls that have been dated as far back as 1500 BC and figurines recognizable as ulama players dating from c. AD 400.
Ulama playing fields were built in city centers near the temples. The long oblong fields – like the one at
Monte Albán – have a wider part at each end and banked or vertical stone walls.
Although archeologists and historians disagree on specifics, the game had mythical and religious significance. According to the Popol Vuh, the Maya Hero Twins were summoned to Xibalba, the Maya underworld, where they won a game against the lords of death and resurrected their father and uncle who became the maize god.
The Aztecs would often compel their prisoners of war, often famished, to partake in a match of ulama. Weakened prisoners usually lost and were decapitated. The province of Tochtepec near modern-day
Puebla provided as tribute 16,000 rubber balls a year – although not all the rubber was necessarily used for ballgames. Historians assume that
Spanish Catholics suppressed the game as a pagan practice.
Modern-day ulama
The modern forms have some following in the Mexican state of
Sinaloa on the Mexican west coast. Beyond its players, it interests archaeologists and historians who study it to draw conclusions about the nature of the original game.
The game has three main forms: most common is
ulama de cadera or hip ulama;
ulama de antebrazo, where predominantly female players on three-player teams hit a smaller ball with their forearms; and
ulama de palo or
de mazo, which is played with a wooden bat. According to historians, hip ulama is the form closest to the original ballgame.
Hip ulama is played with two five-man teams that are only permitted to bounce the ball with their hips after the first throw. The modern form uses knitted loincloths and rubber balls that weighs about 4 kg . The court is about 50 m long and 4 m wide and is divided by a central line separating the two teams.
The object of the game is to keep the ball in play and in bounds. Depending on the score – and the local variant of the rules – the ball is played either high or low. A team scores a point when a player of the opposing team hits the ball out of turn; misses the ball; knocks the ball out of bounds; touches the ball with their hands or some other body part aside from the hip; accidentally touches a teammate; lets the ball stop moving before it reaches the center line or even if they fail to announce the score after they have scored a point.
The team that first scores eight points wins. Keeping score is a rather complicated process; the score can jump directly from one point to three points, for example. If both teams end up having the same number of points after a turn, both sides begin again from zero. One record-setting game reputedly lasted for eight days but most modern games are stopped after about two hours.
Modern ulama balls are made with a technique that is probably reminiscent of the original one; rubber sap is boiled with other ingredients to help
vulcanize it and make it less sticky. This technique also makes them hard to come by.
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