Pelota mixteca ("Mixtec

Mixtec

The Mixtec are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples inhabiting the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla in a region known as La Mixteca. The Mixtecan languages form an important branch of the Otomanguean language family....

-style ball") is a team sport similar to a net-less tennis game. The players wear sturdy, elaborately decorated gloves affixed to a heavy flat striking surface, using them to strike a small solid ball. The game has roots extending back hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years.

Today, the game is played in the Mexican state of Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

 and Guerrero

Guerrero

Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....

 and in emigrant communities including those in the Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 and Fresno

Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

 areas.

The members of each five-player team take their positions on one-half of a long narrow court—roughly 100 m long by 11 m wide—which has been measured out on compacted soil. To serve, the ball is first bounced on a flat stone, and then struck on the rebound. The complex scoring system is similar to tennis.

Gloves, balls, and variations

The large gloves, which are usually studded with nails, weigh between 3–6 kg (7-12 lbs). Although the ball was traditionally made of wool, a wide variety of materials are used today:

• The most commonly played game uses a ball made of rubber rolled with stocking thread, and fitted with a suede outer lining. The resultant ball weighs about 300-330 grams (12 oz) and measures 8–10 cm (3–4 in) in diameter (see photo on left). To differentiate it from other versions, this game is sometimes referred to as pelota mixteca de forro ("Mixtec-style lined ball").
• A version named pelota mixteca de hule ("Mixtec-style rubber ball") uses a heavier, 900 gram rubber ball, with no outer lining, often painted in bright colors (see photo above).
• A version of the game played in the Los Angeles area uses a plastic ball weighing 1-1½ kg.
• The little-known pelota mixteca del valle uses a very light (less than 100 gram) sponge ball which is struck with a wooden paddle strapped to the hand.

The game is claimed by many writers to be a descendent of the 3000+ year old Mesoamerican ballgame

Mesoamerican ballgame

The Mesoamerican ballgame or Tlatchtli in Náhuatl was a sport with ritual associations played since 1,000 B.C. by the pre-Columbian peoples of Ancient Mexico and Central America...

, perhaps the particular version shown on reliefs at the Mixtec archaeological site of Dainzu

Dainzú

Dainzú is a Zapotec archaeological site located in the eastern side of the Valles Centrales de Oaxaca, about 20 km south-east of the city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca State, Mexico. It is an ancient village near to and contemporary with Monte Alban and Mitla, with an earlier development. Dainzú was...

. Heiner Gillmeister, on the other hand, has argued that pelota mixteca may instead be descended from a Franco-Flemish

Flemish people

The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...

 ancestor of real tennis

Real tennis

Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...

, likely through intermediate games similar to the Basque pelota or Valencian pilota

Valencian pilota

Valencian pilota is a traditional handball sport played in the Valencian Community. Its origins are not known, but seems to be related to the French Jeu de paume....

, and from there brought to New Spain

New Spain

New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...

and this would put the game's roots back 400 years ago.

External links

• A short video of an actual game in Oaxaca Note the player on the far right as he serves the ball, first bouncing it against a flat stone.
• A shorter video of an actual game in Oaxaca
• A short video of a game in Ejutla de Crespo, Oaxaca. This court is wider and shorter than the court in the first two videos.
• A set of Flickr photos of a game
• Rubbings from the site of Dainzú, by Ruth Hardinger. A rubbing of 'Ballplayer #36', one of several carved figures at the pre-Columbian Oaxacan site of Dainzú, engaged in an action resembling the playing of pelota mixteca.