Pelota purépecha
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Pelota purépecha (Spanish for "Purépecha ball"), called Uárukua Ch'anakua ( "a game with sticks"[1]) in the Purépecha language, is an Indigenous Mexican sport similar to those in the hockey family. A common variant, distinguished as pasárutakua in Purépecha, uses a ball which has been set on fire and can be played at night.[2][3] It has a league,[1] several practicing communities[2] and about 800 players across Mexico as of 2010.[4] It is one of 150 pre-Hispanic Mexican games at risk of dying out along with Ulama.[4]
The game, which originated in Michoacán, is believed to have been developed up to 3500 years ago and something very similar to pelota purépecha is depicted on the murals of the Palacio de Tepantitla at Teotihuacan.[5][6] The sport originated as a representation of a Purepécha legend of a battle between day and night with the flaming ball signifying the sun and the players representing the movement of the universe.[1]
