USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The losers, on the other hand, were demoted to a life or impoverished slavery. It is likely that both scenarios occurred to some degree, both winners and losers were sacrificed at some point, but this was not the essence of the ball game.

Detailed explanation-2: -Pok-A-Tok wasn’t just a game What’s more, recovered sources indicate that the losing side’s leader (and perhaps the whole team) was sometimes killed and sacrificed to the gods. Those who have learned about Mayan culture know that death, the afterlife, and human sacrifice were seen as integral aspects of life.

Detailed explanation-3: -The penalty for losing a game was sometimes unusually harsh: death. The leader of the team who lost the game was sometimes killed. This fit in with the Mayan belief that human sacrifice was necessary for the continued success of the peoples’ agriculture, trade, and overall health.

Detailed explanation-4: -The ball had to be kept off the ground using only knees, elbows, or hips, never the hands or feet. Prisoners of war were forced to play ulama, and the losers may have been put to death. The largest ball court has been found at Chichén Itzá in Mexico.

Detailed explanation-5: -The great ballplaying brothers 1 Hunahpu and 7 Hunahpu were summoned by the lords of Xibalba, to a ballgame in the Underworld. However, the gods won the game by deception and sacrificed the two brothers, hanging 1 Hunahpu’s head on a calabash tree, to proclaim their victory.