According to a piece on Reuters' website, some archaeologists believe that they have unearthed at least one of the ritaul entrances to Xibalba, one of the least appealing places one could possibly want to stumble upon in mythologies of the New World.
Xibalba roughly translates into "Place of Fear" or "Place of Phantoms." A real fun place dedicated to "sickness, starvation, fear, destitution, pain, and ultimately death." To arrive at this destination one has to travel through rivers filled with really cheery stuff like scorpions, blood, and pus. If, and when, you finally threaded your way past confusing crossroads, disguised benches that might roast you if you made the error of resting upon it, the shrieking bats, living razors, fires and hail, if you actually made it that far--guess what?
You won a ticket to a ball game! And what a ball game it was featuring a deadly razored ball. The Mesoamericans loved their ball courts and their ritual ball games and Xibalba seemed to feature one of the deadliest sporting destinations in the local mythology!Beanworld's Der Stinkle was, in part anyway, inspired by Xibalba and the other Mesoamerican underworlds.
I've been thinking about Der Stinkle a lot lately. Nice slice of synchronicity to stumble across this news piece, don't'cha think?
