You ever thought why our Gemini constellation of the ancient Maya called Turtle? No? So think about it. And why they had such strange names for constellations: bat, frog, parrot, snake with a trunk, the Owl, Scorpion, Turtle, Rattlesnake? Imagine a modern astrologer, operating their names. But this is not the strangest thing. Maya could not reinvent the wheel, but were able to grasp the idea of cycling time, do not use draft animals, did not know the potter’s wheel, however, came up with the game ball, which is like a modern tennis, or rather, volleyball. And there is no wonder that the ancient Maya invented the bicycle.
Instead, they synthesized the idea of death and rebirth of the god of maize. Why would they bicycle if there is a ball game? And it – an endless change of life and death. There are at least three versions of this ritual and Still sporting event: the “hand-ball”, “stick-ball” and “hip-ball.” Different rules, equipment and players’ views of the stadiums. “Head-ball” could not be for the simple reason that the rubber kruglyashi weighed 4-5 kg. A view of his broadly consistent with cannon to the kernel.
Rolled a ‘core’ of the tree Hevea juice, which is today called latex. Columbus thugs, of course, were stunned when they saw the thugs play Maya cannon balls. Topics Moreover, in such outlandish sports equipment: hard clip (south), weighing about 30 kg, was mounted on a belt of players in the ball under the collar and holding a shield coil in their hands – stone bits (manopla), resembles the shape of a weight. The rubber ball or a bat struggled clamp. The two teams battled on the field, divided into two parts. The ball is trying to apply such a way that the enemy was unable to repel. The winner is the team that allowed fewer mistakes. The losers are often sacrificed to the god of corn, chopping off their heads at the same stadium where the game took place. Columbus brought the latex in Spain, but the Europeans were able to learn it only in 1839 when invented the vulcanization of rubber compounds. The study of ball games related interpretation of one of the mysteries of the Maya – the giant stone heads, detached, more than a meter tall and weighing about 20 tons. It is believed that the heads of these are monuments of the unlucky players to the ball.