This ball court is one of the oldest structures at Palenque and one of the oldest in the Maya World. It's dated around 500 A.D. +- 50 years and it is the only ball court in Palenque. Such a small ballcourt is typical of the Classic Maya society. The ballgame was a very important part of the Maya's religious life. It was connected with the circle of life and with growing corn. The ballcourt is one of the entrances to the underworld. We have some information about the ballgame from the Popol Vuh, from which we known that the first ballplayers were the twins brothers Hunahpu and Ixbalanque. They were put to several texts by the Lords of the Underworld. One of these brothers is Yum Kach, the Maize or Corn God. Later, his sons rescue him from the Underworld. These two brothers, the hero twins, defied the Lords of the Underworld. After that, the Corn God returns to the surface, the two brothers ascend to the stars and are now The Sun and Venus. When the Maya played the ballgame, they repeated the symbolic victory over the Lords of the Underworld again and again, rescuing corn, the most important staple in the Maya's diet...

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