Las Diablillas de Hondzonot: Mexican indigenous women who defy stereotypes | The nation

Barefoot and in finely embroidered white dresses, a group of indigenous women jumps onto the diamond. They are Las Diablillas de Hondzonot, a softball team that defies stereotypes in a community in southeastern Mexico.

Their rivals this time are the "Guerreras de Pisté", a team from the neighboring state of Yucatán also made up of Mayan women, who, unlike "Las Diablillas", compete with pants, a T-shirt and sports shoes.

Although many things are missing in Hondzonot, the 20 imps play barefoot for comfort. It is their seal, as well as the impeccable huipiles woven and embroidered by hand by them, respecting an ancestral art.

"Like all of us, we had our huipil, that's why we decided to use it as a uniform. And it's part of us, of our identity as Mayans," Juana Ay Ay, 37, who wears a flowered one, told AFP violet made with silk threads.

The garment, which takes three months to make, helps alleviate the high temperatures in the state of Quintana Roo.

The "Imps" also wear long earrings and put on makeup. For them, each game is a celebration.

This amateur team was born three years ago, when the local authorities offered to teach the women of the town a sport. The official support disappeared, but the taste for the ball, the bat and the gloves remained in the heart.

At first they played with tennis balls and borrowed equipment; now everything is his thanks to a donation from his idols, the Diablos Rojos del México, of the professional baseball league.

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The match between Diablillas and Guerreras takes place on the Hondzonot plain, 75 km from the Caribbean resort of Tulum. There are no dressing rooms or mowed grass, and the rocks scattered around are the seats of the public, who seek the shade of the trees to protect themselves from the sun.

After an hour and a half delay, the visiting team is finally on the field. Fabiola May, the 29-year-old local captain, gives the final instructions in the Mayan language.

The spectators are mostly men, who, beer in hand, support their team.

But the fans weren't always there. Fabiola relates that one of the first barriers they encountered was machismo.

"Because we are women, they didn't really believe that we could play, but we have shown them that we can do the same as men and even go further," she proudly told AFP.

"Right now our husbands are very supportive; there are still people who criticize us, but we don't care," she adds.

Almost all of them are mothers and housewives. Some make a living selling handicrafts, a trade that, like so many others, has become unprofitable due to the pandemic.

- Life metaphor -

The meetings of Las Diablillas are friendly. In Mexico there is no professional women's softball league, although there are intentions to create it.

The country qualified for the Tokyo Olympics for the first time with a team made up mostly of players of Mexican descent who were born and compete in the United States.

Mexico ranks fifth in the women's ranking of the World Baseball Softball Confederation behind the United States, Japan, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Part of these achievements came thanks to the work on fields such as Hondzonot, where Las Diablillas have set themselves the goal of improving their technique in this sport that has been present in Mexico since 1912.

To do this, they must continue to fight against the historical deficiencies of their community, aggravated by covid-19, which destroyed many jobs in the tourism and construction sectors. With no gas money, they can only play at home.

"Here, as you can see, there is a lot of need, a lot of poverty," says Fabiola, who nevertheless tries to make softball a metaphor for life.

“When you want, you can. At first I did not believe that this was going to be the case, I said that I could not, but now I know that I can and that we will be able to do more as a team ”, she assures.