Dawn. It is Sunday, and when the Sun is at its zenith, theCommitment. The sacred space is carefully marked with lime by theChacero. The 10 players grouped into two teams pay their respects to theCoimebefore entering thePasajuego. “It's going well!”shouts excitedlyThe Chacero.When the ball is in the air, eternity is present. Its trajectory is deflected by a formidable glove that prevents it from falling to the ground. The Mixteca Ball is a practice for people with common sense in community understanding, their identities are united in the duality of the ancestral game: ritual and sport.

The town of Oaxaca is migratory. When the time comes to seek life in another country, city, or town, the players travel in groups. Once the border is crossed, they come together again in the ancestral duality of the Pelota Mixteca, practiced in a playful, festive, and communal space. Playing in San Martín Tilcajete, Tlaxiaco, Santa Cruz, or Fresno, California, requires discipline, strength, and resilience.

Jacobo and María Ángeles invite powerful jaguars and agile rabbits, guided by wise xoloitzcuintlis, to play in a harmony of moving figures. They recreate the ritual in a sacred time and space, wishing that the union with humans brings health, abundance, and happiness.

"Everything is filled with entities, gods that come from the other world but are everywhere. Many gods live within this vessel that is you."

Alfredo López Austin