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''Batéy'' was the name given to a special plaza around which the native Caribbean Taino Indians built their settlements. It was usually a rectangular area surrounded by stones with carved symbols known as petroglyphs. The ''batey'' was the area in which ''batey'' events (e.g. ceremonies, the ball game, etc.) took place. The ''batey'' ceremony (also known as ''batu'') can be viewed from some historical accounts as more of a judicial contest rather than a game. Because historical accounts of the game and court space come from (mostly Spanish) European explorers, the true nature, history, and function of the ''batey'' is still contested. Neighboring tribes may have used batey matches to resolve differences without warfare. ==Batey origins== There is no consensus as to whether the ''batey'' ball game in the Caribbean was independently developed in different regions of the New World or whether it diffused from one or more locations. The large centrally located cemeteries in Saladoid villages served as plazas like those seen in the lowland communities of South America.〔Siegel, Peter. “Contested Places and Places of Contest: The Evolution of Social Power and Ceremonial Space in Prehistoric Puerto Rico”. ''Latin American Antiquity''. Vol. 10, No. 3 (Sept, 1999), pp. 209-238.〕 The ceremonial and religious significance of the later-developed ball game appears to indicate a connection with the Mesoamerican ballgame,〔Alegria, Ricardo. “The Ball Game Played by the Aborigines of the Antilles”. ''American Antiquity''. Vol. 16, No. 4 (April 1951), pp. 348-352.〕 and it has been argued that the ''batey'' ball game of the Caribbean is a simplified version of the Maya ''pok ta pok'', specified to the culture and religion of the Taino. It is possible that the route of diffusion of the game of ''pok ta pok'' and other elements of Mayan culture was not a direct one from the Yucatan to the Caribbean, but an indirect one by way of South America, because the Otomacos in South America also played a similar game.〔 Ethnographer Ralph Beals reported in the early 1930s that the Acaxee tribe from western Mexico played a ball game called "''vatey'' () ''batey''" on "a small plaza, very flat, with walls at the sides".〔Kelley, J. Charles. “The Known Archaeological Ballcourts of Durange and Zacatecas, Mexico” in Vernon Scarborough, David R. Wilcox (eds.), ''The Mesoamerican Ballgame''. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-1360-0, 1991, p. 98. Kelley quotes Beals: Beals, Ralph J. ''The Acaxe, A Mountain Tribe of Durango and Sinaloa'' (Iberoamerican 6), University of California Press, Berkely: 1933.〕 The majority of the documented information about the ball game specific to the Caribbean islands comes from the historic accounts of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdez and Bartolomé de Las Casas (see picture to the right). The native name for the ball court and game was ''batey''.〔Alegria, Ricardo. “Ball Courts and Ceremonial Plazas in the West Indies”. Yale University Publications in Anthropology. No. 79. Yale University Department of Anthropology: 1983.〕 Oviedo’s description of the balls is reminiscent of rubber or some kind of resin with rubber-like qualities; in all sources, some kind of reference is made to the unfamiliar bounciness of the balls.〔 The game was played by two teams, each team consisting anywhere from ten to thirty players.〔 Normally, the teams were composed of only men, but occasionally women played the game as well. Oviedo noted that sometimes men and women would play on mixed teams, men and women against each other, and the married women against unwed female virgins.〔 Married woman wore a shawl wrapped around their bodies while the men and virgin women went bare.〔 Archaeologists have noted a connection between the ball courts and the stone “elbow” and “neck” collars prominent in Puerto Rico around the ball court sites. The function of these collars is not evident or explicitly detailed in historic accounts. However, it is interesting to note the similarity between the Caribbean stone collars and the Mexican stone yokes that were worn by Mesoamerican ball game players as ceremonial belts.〔 ''Faltas'' (errors or faults) were made when the ball came to a halt on the ground or if it had been thrown out of bounds (outside the stone boundary markers).〔 The ball could only be struck from the shoulder, the elbow, the head, the hips, the buttock, or the knees and never with the hands. Las Casas noted that when women played the game they did not use their hips or shoulders, but their knees.〔 Points were earned when the ball failed to be returned from a non-faulted play (similar to the earning of points in today’s volleyball). Play continued until the number of predetermined points was earned by a side. Often, players and chiefs made bets or wagers on the possible outcome of a game. These wagers were paid after a game was concluded.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Batey (game)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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