The Maya viewed their lives as a complex set of such covenants — sacred agreements — with many gods who governed different aspects of their lives. One of the few Maya books to survive the Spanish conquest is called the Popol Vuh, which tells the story of the creation of mankind. The Maya believed that earliest incarnations of humanity were made from mud and sticks, but these primordial humans disrespected the gods, and were thus wiped off the face of the Earth.
Humans could live their temporary lives, but just as a tortilla would one day be consumed, so too would human beings be returned to a ravenous earth from which they had come. There are overlapping levels of symbolism here, but they point to the sacred nature of maize, of human flesh, and of the Maya sense of place in the cosmic pecking order. Unlike Christians, the Maya were not given dominion over the Earth and its creatures by their creator; the Maya felt the need to repay their creation through worship and sacrifice.
Payment could be deferred by ritual substitutes like incense, animals, or prayer, but only temporarily. Blood was viewed as a potent source of nourishment for the Maya deities, and the sacrifice of a living creature was a powerful blood offering. This might come in the form of a ritual bloodletting — depicted in Maya artwork as coming from the mouth, the penis, or the ears. The sacrifice of a human life was the ultimate offering of blood to the gods, and the most important Maya rituals culminated in human sacrifice.
Important rituals such as the dedication of major building projects or the enthronement of a new ruler required a human offering. The sacrifice of an enemy king was the most prized offering, and such a sacrifice involved decapitation of the captive ruler in a ritual reenactment of the decapitation of the Maya maize god by the Maya death gods.
Sacrifice by decapitation is depicted in Classic period Maya art, and sometimes took place after the victim was tortured, being variously beaten, scalped, burnt or disemboweled. Depending upon the exact ritual, sometimes the corpse would be skinned by assistant priests, except for the hands and feet. The officiating priest would then remove his ritual attire and dress himself in the skin of the sacrificial victim before performing a ritual dance that symbolized the rebirth of life.
Understanding time — the cycle of things — was as important to the Maya view of the world as was coaxing Chaac from a cenote to water the maize crop. Solar and lunar eclipses were considered to be especially dangerous events that could bring catastrophe upon the world. Eclipses were interpreted as the sun or moon being bitten, and lunar tables were recorded in order that the Maya might be able to predict them, and perform the appropriate ceremonies to ward off disaster.
The Maya developed a complex, circular calendar system, recording lunar and solar cycles, eclipses and movements of planets with great accuracy. In some cases, the Maya calculations were more accurate than equivalent calculations in the Old World ; for example, the Maya solar year was calculated to greater accuracy than the Julian year. The Maya calendar was intrinsically tied to Maya ritual, and it was central to Maya religious practices.
The calendar combined a non-repeating Long Count with three interlocking cycles, each measuring a progressively larger period. Using the hundreds-of-years-old codex, the Brickers predicted in that the next solar eclipse in the Mayan area, which includes modern-day Guatemala, Belize and parts of Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, would take place on July 11, And they were right.
For example, the Mayans did not know that the sun is both times larger than the moon and times farther away. Beyyette began investigating in Instead, it was—and is—an extremely diverse group with different experiences, histories, languages, and traditions. Among the greatest recent changes in her field—where Mayanists specialize in researching Mesoamerican Maya-speaking Peoples in archaeological, historic, or modern contexts—are those addressing the s Pan-Maya Movement, which was responsible for the misperception of Maya Peoples as a single unit, and an increased tendency to focus on the lives of everyday people, or commoners, in the archaeological records, rather than on the elites.
Not only are there differences between the way people view themselves and others see them, but there is also a tendency to view myths, history, and politics as separate rather than layered and mutually influencing. The chilan then wore the skin of the victim and performed a ritual dance of rebirth. These rituals provided hope and security to the Maya culture and demonstrated their own outlooks on death. Wikimedia Foundation, 07 Feb. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Feb. Your email address will not be published.
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