Ollamaliztli is the Nahuatl name for the Mesoamerican ballgame, played for more than three thousand years from Mexico to Central America, with ballcourts as far north as present-day Arizona.
Ulama, its descendant, is still played today in Sinaloa, Mexico.
The step-fret, xicalcoliuhqui in Nahuatl, is carved and woven by many peoples, from Mitla in Oaxaca to the Pueblos of the Southwest, each with its own names.
The Stone Face in Echo is an original design made for this game. It draws on the stone masks of Teotihuacan, which were not made to be worn and whose eyes and teeth were once inlaid with shell and bone, and on the obsidian and pyrite that Mesoamerican artists used for shining pupils. It stands for no god, no person and no living tradition. It keeps the labyrinth, and the trial is to pass it.
Xayacatl is a Nahuatl word for face and for mask.
Ocote, the resinous pine that lights the courts, takes its name from the Nahuatl ocotl.
Mask making is a living art in Mexico today, from the dance masks of Guerrero to the carved wooden masks of the Parachicos of Chiapa de Corzo, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2010. The Stone Face copies none of them.
Indigenous nations today: each card starts with a short fact. Open History And Context for published history, living context and dated sources, then follow the full record or resources guide. Facts come from each nation's own published sources where possible, and from public records otherwise. Corrections are welcome.
Sources: INAH; Saint Louis Art Museum; Karl Taube, The Iconography of Mirrors at Teotihuacan; UNESCO; Molina 1571 and Karttunen 1992 through the Online Nahuatl Dictionary, Wired Humanities Projects, University of Oregon.
Sound: David Alanzo Garcia.
Nahuatl words used here, with their sources. Vowel length marks are left off the screens; the sources keep them.
Ollamaliztli, the ballgame. Source: Online Nahuatl Dictionary, entry ollamaliztli; Molina 1571, pt. 2, f. 76r (ollamaliztli) and f. 158v (ullamaliztli); Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Sullivan 1997, p. 200.
Olli, rubber, the ball. Source: Online Nahuatl Dictionary, entry olli; Molina 1571, pt. 2, f. 76r col. 2 (olli) and f. 158v col. 2 (ulli).
Tlachtli, the court. Source: Online Nahuatl Dictionary, entry tlachtli; Molina 1571, pt. 2, f. 117v col. 2; Lockhart 2001, p. 236.
Tlachtemalacatl, the stone ring of the court. Source: Online Nahuatl Dictionary, entry tlachtemalacatl; Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Sullivan 1997, p. 200.
Xicalcoliuhqui, step-fret, twisted gourd. Source: Online Nahuatl Dictionary, entry xicalcoliuhqui; Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Sullivan 1997, p. 99.
Xayacatl, face; mask. Source: Online Nahuatl Dictionary, entry xayacatl; Molina 1571, pt. 2, f. 158r; Karttunen 1992, p. 322.
Ocotl, pine, fatwood, a pine torch. Source: Online Nahuatl Dictionary, entry ocotl.