** Good evening friends of steemit. **
Today I want to share a brief summary of the origins of one of the most practiced sports in the world. Soccer today represents a lot for most of the inhabitants of the earth, either as players or as amateurs.
Perhaps the origin goes back beyond what is indicated here, but it is what is known so far ...
The Mesoamericans, located specifically in what is now Mexico, 3,400 years ago, began to play as a team using a rubber ball. Then, the Mayans inherited it, for whom the ball symbolized the Sun and its power. However, this ritual was more than just a game: the captain of the losing team was sacrificed to the gods.
This seems strong, true, but is part of the origin of this unique and attractive sport.
Later, in the China of the Han dynasty, 2,200 years ago, we find another of the oldest evidences of this sport of the masses, soccer. It's about ts'uh kúh, which means kicking a leather ball. The game, which was practiced with hands and feet in a more or less violent way, was born as a method of military training in which the spectators made big bets. At the end, the captain of the defeated team was punished and flogged in public.
In Korea, specifically in the kingdom of Shilla, a ball game as a military training strategy, the so-called chukkuk, also emerged 1,500 years ago.
The ts'uh kúh or tsú-chú happened to Japan, where a court game that was baptized like kemari would arise already in the medieval era. In this new sport, the skill replaced the brute force that characterized the Chinese players. Princes and courtiers gathered in a courtyard that served as a playground -mari-no-niwa- to play with a ball-the ma-ri- made with pigskin or deer skin.
Before starting, players should bless the ball on an altar. During a ceremony, people prayed for prosperity and world peace. Once this was done, the game began.
They played between 8 and 6 people at the same time, but nobody won or lost, but only enjoyed the game. It was one of the main characteristics of kemari.
In contrast, in the West, the games were very different. Teams with colors, competitiveness, and confrontations with the opponent, as in the case of chariot races. For its part, the Romans had a similar game the Kemari, whose goal was to steal the ball.
It is still a matter of debate how they were introduced there, but in England, a thousand years after the Roman invasion, a great variety of ball games were played.
From here on, the fascinating stories of a sport that represents sacrifice, life, passion, union, fun and above all the exquisite mastery of the ball to juggle and art are still being written.
Until a new publication.