Games and Ruins...
About 45 minutes - 22 miles as the crow flies to the north/northwest of Antigua are the ruins of Ixmche just this side of Tecpan - the original capitol of Central American Colony. Here you can find a worship/retreat center that was begun 1500 years BC. If you were to look at a Biblical time line, that dates these ruins to the time of Moses and the children of Israel leaving Egypt.
These ruins included recreation and worship of the Mayan gods. They were in operation for nearly 3,000 years. They "coincidentally" stopped about the time the Spaniards arrived roughly 1500 AD - imagine that.
This first photo is of an ancient Mayan Ballgame field that resembles in some ways the modern day soccer/fútbal. The exception being that as we use our feet primarily, they used only shoulders and hips with protective gear made of armadillo shell and such. They could not use their hands and the goals were rings mounted on the sides of the pay area. For us the losing team goes home sad. For them the losers were killed. It is my understanding that this game played a significant role in the spiritual/religious traditions.
This next photo is of an active section of this ancient worship/recreation center. Here they still practice sacrifices to the Mayan gods - without the human sacrifice element. Too bad they are still playing games with God - the losers though lose more than their lives.
These ruins included recreation and worship of the Mayan gods. They were in operation for nearly 3,000 years. They "coincidentally" stopped about the time the Spaniards arrived roughly 1500 AD - imagine that.
This first photo is of an ancient Mayan Ballgame field that resembles in some ways the modern day soccer/fútbal. The exception being that as we use our feet primarily, they used only shoulders and hips with protective gear made of armadillo shell and such. They could not use their hands and the goals were rings mounted on the sides of the pay area. For us the losing team goes home sad. For them the losers were killed. It is my understanding that this game played a significant role in the spiritual/religious traditions.This next photo is of an active section of this ancient worship/recreation center. Here they still practice sacrifices to the Mayan gods - without the human sacrifice element. Too bad they are still playing games with God - the losers though lose more than their lives.
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