Olmecs and other quest

[CCBtlevine at aol.com]

In a message dated 02/15/2000 6:40:13 PM Pacific Standard Time, micc at home.co=
m=20
writes:

<< The ball game or "tlachtli" was 10% "recreational" or "entertainment
 spectacle"  and 90% ritual and cosmological in importance. >>

Duran took a different view of the game.  It was a game and it continued to=20
be played long after the conquest.  They played with the fanatacism that=20
soccer is played today in Mexico.  They even had professional athletes,=20
people who did nothing for a living but playing ball.  I highly recommend=20
Duran's description in Chapter 23 of Volume II of the Historia de las Indias=
=20
de Nueva Espa=F1a e Islas de Tierra Firme.

Tom Levine