Traditions and customs of the Mayan Culture

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Customs of the Mayan Culture

It is difficult to imagine that a culture that began around two thousand years before Christ, such as the Mayan culture, is present in some societies today, including Mayan languages, primary or secondary, still spoken by six million scattered people. in different Central American countries.

The Mayan society was very complex, but it made great contributions to humanity. In this publication you can document yourself about this imposing empire.

It is an ancient Mesoamerican culture; one of the largest, most popular and populated. It occupied a large territory that made up the current countries of El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala and some states in southern Mexico, such as Chiapas and Yucatan.

This civilization was highly developed for its time; because they alternated certain languages, kept the numbering at zero and managed to predict eclipses. This culture was also known as the agricultural period.

It is considered that it was present for almost 3.000 years; it follows that it started 1000 BC until 320 AD. and currently there are sites that retain factors of their culture. It developed before the arrival of the Hispanics.

Among their most notable customs in some areas we have:

Architecture. This ethnic group had the talent to build cities, and although some were already desolate at the time of the conquest; It has been shown that they occupy a large area and their culture is very prevalent in the region, learning to live from the resources of the forest.

In addition to being great builders, they have also proven to be magnificent architects, as their buildings today are tall and reveal many elements of their culture.

Important Mayan buildings:

Pyramid of Kukulcan "El Castillo"
The ball game
El Caracol Observatory
Temple of the descending god
Jaguar Temple
The temple of the warriors.

Clothes. It was of great importance and was noted for trimmings, nostrils, embroidered suits for women, and embroidered balaclavas for men, yet there is no trace of hierarchy associated with clothing.

Food. It was mainly vegetarian and the meat they ate came from hunting, as domestication was very limited.

Mayan language They handled more than 30 dialects that, according to some investigations, had a common origin; From these languages emerged the current Mayan, which is used by its speakers.

Medicine. It was mainly herbal, although it was complemented with mythological aspects and supernatural elements of their religions, such as rituals.

Astronomy. It had a significant advantage for its time, and allowed them to predict astronomical phenomena such as eclipses (before the colony, on this continent, this was one of the most accurate predictions).

Mayan society. It was primarily caste-oriented; It was very important for the Mayans to know their lineage, since in their culture it has a high cost in the proportionality of the land, and perhaps in the position of social or governmental location.

The Mayan government. Theocratic in nature, where power was in the hands of one person, who enjoyed all the power. Today, it is not known if there was any kind of voting or if the appointment of the ruler was based on lineage or kingship.

Religion They practiced polytheistic religion and as a religious act. It is believed that they buried their dead in their own homes.

Although this was merely a speculative find, it is believed that they were buried for protection and preservation. Among their important gods, we note:

Bulic Chabtan, God of War
chack, God of rain
Ah Muzenkab, bee god
Bolón Dzacab, god of their rulers or kings.
Chac Bolay, the god of the underworld
oh mon corn god
Itzamnágod of the market
aww kin, God of the sun
ixchel, moon goddess

The Mayans were also the inventors of base 20 numbering, which already had the number zero; Something that helped them make their astronomical predictions more accurately, and even their predictions were considered the most accurate in all of pre-Columbian America.

Location

The surface of the Mayan civilization spread throughout the Central American region, occupying an area of more than 350,000 km, consisting of a large part of Guatemala, the territory of Belize, the extreme north of Honduras and in the northeast of El Savior.

As well as in the southeast of Mexico with the states of Chiapas, Tabasco and Yucatán in the peninsula of Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán. They filled the eastern third of Mesoamerica, particularly the Yucatan peninsula.

It should be noted that Mesoamerica is a term of a geohistorical nature, coined to describe the territory as lowlands, in the center and north. The southern part of the lands fell through the civilizations before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors.

It is located in the southern part of half of the Mexican territory; and also includes the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize and western Honduras, Nicaragua and, in some cases, Costa Rica.

The topography of the region varied considerably, from barren and arid lands, tropical forests and swamps could be found from the volcanic mountains, which formed the southern highlands, to a platform of porous limestone, recognized was covered by tropical forests with a average height of about 45 meters. The earthquakes were constant.

Floods and landslides, hurricanes and droughts have been recorded. In the southern highlands, in the middle of the Sierra Madre mountains, there are currently 37 volcanoes. The ancient Mayans were highly intelligent individuals. Highlands and Lowlands made them areas of great importance for trade movement.

They created many alternatives to solve the different problems that their geography and climate presented for their well-being. One of the things they did was cut down and clear large areas of the rainforest to build underground rooms to serve as freshwater storage. This was accomplished without metal tools.

Customs

The Preclassic period saw the birth of the Mayan civilization. This period extended from 2000 a. 250 AD Throughout the Late Preclassic Period, the Maya had created urban centers, which gave way to a unique and strange culture, encompassing Maya customs and traditions. By this time, moreover, they had unfolded their religious system, although the real advances of civilization would occur during the classical period that followed.

Many Mayan customs and traditions revolved around religious concepts. Among the symbolizations of the classic period, Itzamna was the name of one of the higher Mayan gods who inhabited the sky and were in charge of creation. Itzamna participated in many Mayan customs and rituals.

For example, he is frequently represented as the supreme priest and recognized as the god of the sovereign. It was thought that Itzamná showed himself in various human ways, so some Mayan rulers such as Dos Pilas, Yaxchilán and Naranjo used Itzamnaaj as part of their rights.

Mayan customs in daily life

These moved in frequent work, clothing, and lifestyles. The Mayan clothing changed depending on the social status of the Mayans, and therefore, those belonging to the nobility wore clothes of better quality and better finish compared to that of the commoners.

Mayan customs and laws prevented commoners from wearing clothing similar to that of nobles. Slaves were part of everyday life for the nobility, although Mayan customs forbade them to use their own people as slaves, so prisoners trapped from other cities were used for this purpose.

Prayer and Religion

These moved in frequent work, clothing, and lifestyles. The Mayan dress changed depending on the social levels of the Mayans, and therefore, those belonging to the nobility wore clothes of better quality and better finish compared to that of the commoners.

Customs of peasants and slaves

Most of the Mayan population was made up of peasants, since agriculture was the most important occupation. The life of the peasants was not easy, because they had to work the land of the nobles in exchange for a miserable livelihood. Some peasants also owned their own land.

The peasants led a simple life as they were not allowed to wear the clothes that the nobles wore. Slaves were not recognized rights, however, they were not treated harshly.

Mayan custom prevented the practice of slavery on members of their own people; In this way, the slaves came from cities of other cities captured in wars.

Sacrificial Rituals

The Mayans performed a variety of sacrificial rites to pacify the gods and obtain their blessings. In addition to offerings in the form of food and material properties, the sacrifice of animals and even human beings was part of Mayan customs.

Human sacrifices were regularly provided on rare occasions, such as death, the rise of a ruler, or a dramatic drought.

Various methods have been employed for human sacrifice, including dismemberment, heart cutting, bow and arrow lynching, etc.

The sacrifice was performed by priests and was usually done at the top of a temple or pyramid. Sacrifice of royal individuals was believed to be of higher value, and for this purpose imprisoned members of opposing royalty were used in religious ceremonies and festivals.

Rules of the Mayan nobility

The rules of the ruling nobles and nobles had a higher level in the Mayan customs. The rulers were considered relatives of the gods and had sanctified blood.

Different towns in the kingdom were ruled by different rulers who were advised by the local nobility. Nobles were believed to be the firstborn of the famous hero twins of Mayan mythology.

The nobles kept their attendants close to them at all times, and for an ordinary person to communicate with them, they could only do so through their attendants.

They wore luxurious clothes that were forbidden for common people. Similarly, they wore very well finished jewelery and imbued their bodies with engravings.

Clothing

For archeology professionals, the Mayan culture was easy to distinguish, due to the kind of clothing they wore, which identified gender distinctions, their utilitarian character or social hierarchy.

Similarly, the Mayan robe was designed only to cover the body, and was held up by cloth belts, or simply protected private parts. In addition, they used many adornments on their heads, such as crowns, conical hats, scarves and accessories, some jewelry.

As for the shoes, the most frequent was a class of sandals made of deerskin, and adorned with ornaments made of bone or pieces of leather, depending on the adornment of the social stratum.

Mayan clothing according to sex and social class

The Mayan clothing of the laborious class was simple and was accompanied by supplements made of bone or wood. While the nobility wore clothes with stone or feather lace, associated with large belts, leather slippers, all kinds of gold or jewels and gems with feathers and headdresses.

The women wore a skirt or a huipil with a toga on the chest according to their hierarchy; the skirts were colorful with radiant embroidery and the hairstyles were well finished, apart from treating their bodies and coloring their faces.

While the men only dressed in a kind of loincloth called patí, which was decorated according to social class, although their attire improved as their abilities manifested.

Another peculiarity of the Mayan men was that they kept their skin black until their marriage. A characteristic of beauty in the Mayan culture was the deformation of the skull and the visual strabismus, both produced since childhood.

Mayan clothing in rituals

For ceremonial celebrations, Mayan clothing was decorated with elements that represented well-being, such as harvest dates, lunar cycles, or ancestral events.

These motivations attributed a particular meaning to each of these rituals. In addition, the costumes were once again elaborate and solemn, and the elites took the opportunity to dress their clothes with many decorations, feathers, and precious stone fretwork.

The Mayans in charge of performing the dance wore light and decorated clothing and a tail of feathers on the back of the garment.

As a gift from the goddess Ixchel, the women had been trained in the skill of making textiles, so the symbols embroidered on Mayan clothing had a spiritual connotation. Therefore, the Mayan culture formed a distinctive feature in their clothing that distinguished them from other cultures in the same region.

Language

Several dialects have been identified in the Mayan language, among which Qhuche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi and Mam can be named; these are still spoken by about 300,000 people, of which two thirds are pure Mayans and the rest are Europeans and mestizos, however, most Mayans currently speak Spanish.

Nearly twenty tribes make up the Mayan linguistic heritage, speaking closely related dialects, and occupying the adjoining territories of Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Yucatan Peninsula.

A large region of Guatemala and a small part of Honduras and El Salvador (except Huasteco north of Veracruz and southeast of San Luis Potosí). The ancient builders of the ruined cities of Copán and Palenque had the same origin.

Language Characteristics

The Mayan languages included a collection of languages spoken in Mesoamerica, from southeastern Mexico to northern Central America and southern Honduras. Their possible common ancestor, known as Proto-Maya, has been around for at least 5,000 years and has been partially reconstructed.

Even though Spanish is the official language in most countries of the region today, more than 6 million indigenous Mayans communicate in Mayan languages as primary or secondary (four million in Guatemala, approximately two million in Mexico, dozens of thousands in Belize and small numbers elsewhere.)

For the year 1996, Guatemala legally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, and Mexico recognizes 8 others that are not addressed in Guatemala.

Throughout the pre-Columbian era of Mesoamerican history, at least 2 regional variations of the Mayan languages appeared in the Mayan hieroglyphic script.

With Mayan writings dating to the latter part of the first millennium BC, this logosyllabic writing method remained in use for a long time, even as late as the XNUMXth-century settlement.

It was mainly used during the so-called Classic stage of the Mayan civilization (250-900 AD). With a number of more than 10,000 individual Mayan manuscripts that have been preserved until now, they are recognized in monuments, ceramics, buildings and bark-paper manuscripts.

The Mayan languages identified in hieroglyphic writing provide a basis for modern interpretation of pre-Columbian history that is unparalleled in the Americas.

Society

The main unit of Mayan society was the family, both the nuclear family and the larger one, which was a group of dwellings of different sizes. The life of the individual developed there, mainly, as well as in other neighboring groups and in the ceremonial epicenter to which it corresponded.

In the family group and in their environment, the Mayans were born, grew, multiplied and died; in other words, they have spent their life cycle there.

This close bond with the family was presented independently of the class contrasts that existed in a very complex society, with a hierarchical and theocratic organization like the Mayan society, where, in general terms, there were two social sectors: the elites and those who did not. they corresponded.

According to the usual scientific classification system, Mayan society was organized around two basic poles: priests and peasants.

A privileged theocratic elite ran the ceremonial centers, and a large dispersed social stratum dedicated to agricultural work only frequented these centers to participate in religious ceremonies and political invitations or to serve as laborers.

Lately, Mayan followers have concluded that Mayan society is ordained to large families, which must be administered according to the rules of patrilineal descent (paternal lineage). These families continued to develop, through kinship and marriage, until they formed lineages.

At a precise moment, the social layers were born, corresponding to the complex cities of the classical period (250-900). At the moment, it is still not easy to know when the old aristocracy of priests was replaced by a stratified society, which would participate in a previous distribution of bloodlines.

In this way, a stronger kinship group could have gained power and governed the destinies of the civic-ceremonial center.

Being a hereditary power, dynasties were formed. The most prominent class, consisting of the ruling lineage, filled the palaces adjacent to the sanctuaries, giving them a semi-divine character.

Closely related by kinship to the ruling elite, a large administrative class has developed to ensure the governability of the state.

A lower social stratum, but of great renown and notoriety, was made up of specialists and intellectuals. The lower ranks included potters, painters, craftsmen, and lapidaries.

The lower social strata, peasants and slaves, had to generate the necessary surpluses to feed the ruling classes and work on the construction of ceremonial centers.

Birth into a defined social group establishes the class to which one belongs: it confers membership in a patrilineal lineage, which, at the same time, confers social class and specialization in work, as well as being a peasant, artisan, official or intellectual.

For this reason, the social movement was limited to the highest levels; historians believed that warfare may have played a role in this.

Social organization

Hierarchy reigned in the Mayan social organization. In each city-state, he had a maximum authority, hereditary in nature, called halach-uinic or royal man, who was advised by a council of notables, made up of the main chiefs and priests. The Almehenoob were at the dawn of power.

His class was made up of the hereditary nobility that regulated the main administrative and military posts.

From among the Almehenoob (nobles, noble families) emerged the Mayan governors «halach-uinic». The direct relatives of the clan occupied the highest place in the Mayan social pyramid.

Mayan government (halach-uinic) and nobility

The halach-uinic elected the chiefs of each town (bataboob), who performed civil, military and religious functions. The higher military authority (nacom) was appointed every 3 years.

Other important positions were those of tupiles guardians (minor public officials) and advisers (ah holpopoob). The Mayan aristocracy included all of these officials except priests, warriors, and large merchants.

Artisans and Peasants

They formed the lower class (ah chembal uinicoob), they were in charge of agricultural works and the construction of public works, they paid taxes to the civil authorities and the clergy.

In the last part of the social pyramid were the slaves (pentacoob), formed by prisoners of war or criminal or tax offenders, sentenced to forced labor until the damage caused was repaired.

Peasants lived on the outskirts of cities, paid taxes, worked on monumental buildings, and participated in ceremonial ceremonies in Mayan cities.

Mayan slaves

The last social seat was occupied by slaves or Pentac-Ob. Most of them were prisoners of war from other cities, including criminals and people who sold themselves to pay taxes. They were usually offered at blood rites.

Contributions

According to the researchers, the most precise and theoretically rich calendar ever produced in the world is the work of the ancient Mayan culture, considered one of its great contributions to humanity.

It consists of 18 months of 20 days each, plus the Wayeb, of five sacred days; it marks the next solstice, December 21 in the West, the end of the "long count" (it was 5,200 years old), a reason for celebrations with ancestral rites, but also for apocalyptic predictions.

Guatemalan anthropologist Álvaro Pop, a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, assures us that "the Mayan calendar is not simply a matter of counting seconds, minutes and hours, but rather a model of what dynamics stars and how this cyclically affects human life.”

By observing and analyzing the sky, the Mayans spread the idea that the stars do not affect anything; tides in the birth of children.

Ana Cecilia Arias, professor of studies of ancient societies, from Costa Rica, agrees with Pop when pointing out the extraordinary evolution of Mayan astronomical knowledge, stating that “Since very ancient times, even before Christ, the Mayans have achieved great success. sociocultural progress who were able to manipulate mathematical calculations to define the orbit of Venus. «

Astronomy has also helped them gain a more precise understanding of the impact of the stars on plant life, which has allowed them to improve their agronomic knowledge.

On the other hand, the Mayans offered the world a host of very important contributions in topography, textile art, cooking, architecture, mathematics; that have been reflected through the centuries in today's Mesoamerican culture, which includes parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.

Corn men

In Mesoamerica, culinary activity is characterized by corn as the main element, but it also has its roots in the Mayan culture, which manipulated this plant 3000 years ago and made it one of the important factors in their lives.

The Mayans were also the first to plant cocoa, this universal product that enchants and pampers millions of palates around the world.

chewing candy

In addition, there are indications that they may be responsible for the habit of chewing gum, which is gum obtained from the sap of a plant scientifically called Manilkara zapota, which is native to Mexico and Central America.

The tissue

The manipulation of design and coloring in native Guatemalan fabrics, recognized throughout the world, are typical manifestations of this culture. Guatemalan anthropologist Álvaro Pop said that "above all, the color of these fabrics is the most explosive and beautiful expression of life that can be found."

Language and literature

The Mayans created and mastered 36 languages spread throughout Mesoamerica, many of which remain active, with a highly evolved grammatical organization and characteristic literary expressions.

At the level of the great epic works of universal literature, such as the Hindu Ramayana or the Greek Iliad and the Greek Odyssey, appears the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayans, a work with surprising historical and mythological content and extraordinary literary qualities; which constitutes an invaluable literary heritage, where the vision of the world and the spirituality of this people clearly radiate.

This momentous work is seen as a kind of universal statement about the nature of the world and the role that man should play in it.

As for the writing, similar to the known cultures of humanity, the Mayans developed a writing that was interpreted to know their history, reflected in the so-called "stelae", which are carved stone monuments that preserve the record of memorable episodes.

The Mayan culture had its greatest projection in the recognized classic period (250-900 AD) until it entered a phase of decline in the postclassic period that lasted up to three centuries before the arrival. settlers in the area.

Political organization

The main characteristic of its political organization is that it focused the mandate on a single ruler, who received his power directly from the gods through messages sent from the cosmos.

Therefore, the almost divine power of the monarchs was managed between the material and spiritual worlds, and needing to preserve this mystical link, they enjoyed rituals such as dances, sacrifices and even trances with narcotic substances.

How the political organization worked

The Mayan political organization was never formed as an empire, but as a sequence of city-states whose interactions varied between periods, between coalitions and confrontations.

The highest authority in each city-state was exercised by the Halach Uinic, who ruled with the help of the Great Council, made up of village chiefs and priests.

The highest chief resided in a palace, which was responsible for making laws, managing trade and mediating between the gods and the people. In addition, he had officials appointed by himself, such as:

Ah Holpop, as a religious representative, made preparations for sacred ceremonies and festivals.
Nacom, the military leader of a city-state, who ruled war operations and battalions or Holcans
Ahuacán, the high priest who was in charge of supervising the Mayan calendar, the codices, the knowledge, the forecasts and the governance of the sacrifices.
Tupiles, was responsible for protecting public order and respect for the law.

In this hierarchy of power, there were also the governors of the small towns or Bataboob, and the chiefs of the towns that surround the towns or Ah Cuch Caboob.

The political-administrative division

In the years AD 300 and AD 900, each city-state was autonomous and had a ruler or Kinich. However, after the year 990, the so-called League of Mayapán was formed, consisting of the cities of Chichén-Itzá, Mayapán and Uxmal, leaving the state made up of a federation of rulers of these 3 cities, known as Multepal.

Then the territories of Izamal, Ichpaatun and Tulum were added. Finally, it was dismantled in 1451, leaving the territory of the Mayan political organization divided into 16 autonomous kingdoms or Kuchkabal, which shared the same religious beliefs and artistic expressions.

According to this, the Mayan world was made up of Ah Canul, Ah Kin Chel, Ceh Pech, Can Pech, Chactemal, Chakán, Chakán Putum, Chikinchel, Cochuah, Cupul, Ekab, Hocabá-Homún, Sotuta, Tases, Tutul Xiúes and Uaymil.

Not all Kuchkabal were led by a Halach Uinic, but by a Bataboob; This has changed depending on regional and commercial interests.

If a contextual analysis is carried out, we see that the organizational structure of the Mayan culture, instead of a dominant ideology, sought to control the environment and the economy, through a decentralized political system.

Economist

With careful planning and tradition, the Mayan economy was structured on the basis of a composition between the development of trade and primary production activities.

Therefore, as a complex communication network, the Mayan culture had a large number of commercial networks where they commercialized the product of agriculture, hunting, fishing and the exploitation of mineral resources.

primary activities

The land belonged to the elites of the Mayan economy, however, these were distributed according to the demands of society, so that they were worked and with their production the supreme ruler or Halach Uinic was honored.

Being mainly farmers, they used the milpa technique, that is, they cleared an area of the forest to plow, until the soil resources were exhausted, then they followed the same strategy. in different places.

In this way, they planted various fruits such as corn, cassava, pumpkin, beans, tomato, avocado, cocoa. In addition, with copal, rubber, cotton, tobacco and palm leaves, they made handicrafts.

The other main actions of the economy were the hunting of rabbits, squirrels, turtles, deer and the fishing of certain marine species. It is relevant to point out that they also domesticated bees, whose honey and wax exploded.

In addition, they took advantage of the richness of the soil to exploit mineral resources such as jade, obsidian, hematite, flint, iron pyrite and clay, with which they made weapons and utilities. , tools and even dyes.

Trade

As the primary movements of the Mayan economy maintained self-sufficiency, an accelerated trade was created in the great Mayan cities, as well as in other civilizations.

According to this, the first traded products were cocoa, obsidian, pottery, textiles, tools, corn, fish, jewelry, wood, weapons, copper, gold, honey, salt, beans, and avocado.

Regularly, this commercial action was exercised by barter, although coffee beans were often used as a kind of currency among citizens in the city markets or p'polom.

As for foreign trade, the Mayans transported merchandise over considerable distances using the mecapal, which is a strip placed on the forehead, from which the cargo hung from their backs.

In this way, they crossed the white paths called sacbe'ob. Likewise, they used canoes to move through a network of waterways, highlighting the La Pasión River as one of the main routes.

Trade at that time developed in such a way that ports such as Santa Rita in Belize, Tikal in Guatemala, Roatán in Honduras and Tulum in Mexico, among others, were created. (See also: Calakmul)

Being this economic configuration, the main focus of the Mayan culture, it is very likely that when it collapsed it caused its enigmatic disappearance.

Religion

It was a tribute to nature in its early days and to the forces of the environment where they lived as nomads. As sedentarization progressed, the need to formally organize this religion increased, and with it the need to have a specialized priestly body.

The beginning of agricultural activities led to the final sedentarization and the definition of social strata, which generated greater social complexity, which in turn resulted in a hierarchy and diversification of gods and priests, who previously had to decipher the population the will of the forces of the gods.

In the early stages, rituals were performed in homes, but over time some places of worship and large ceremonial centers were built. This change in Mayan religion happened very slowly, compared to the advent of agriculture (rooted around 2000 BC), the creation of the Mayan calendar and hieroglyphic writing (353 and 235 BC).

However, once the calendar and writing were established, the religion underwent considerable transformations, in terms of increasing complexity and formalism.

In the fourth century, in El Petén (Guatemala), the religion had merged with a more complex animist philosophy (everything has life), based on the deification of the heavenly bodies.

This religion, widespread among the common people, has been deciphered and carried out by mathematical priests, prophets, astronomers and masters of rites; On the other hand, its operation was presided over by administrators and statesmen, who knew how to use it for their political and ideological ends.

The Mayan religion, similar to any other religion, had missions to fulfill and legitimized the existence of a society organized in strata, with profound differences between the different levels. Religious beliefs consolidated the political organization of the Mayans, defending the authority of the dominant classes that governed the lives of the people and were based on the deification of the ancestors.

Religion, likewise, sheds light on everything that man cannot conceive or understand: his origins, his natural misfortunes, his illnesses and his death.

A hallmark of the Mesoamerican region in general is the close connection of the Mayan religion with scientific knowledge such as writing, the calendar and astronomy, which are somehow related to the measurement of time. For Mayan science, time was an extraordinary and majestic series of cycles, without beginning or end.

Therefore, all the distribution periods of the calendar were as many deities through which the Maya paid homage to time.

cosmogony

The Mayans had a cyclical concept of time and space, which they shared with other Mesoamerican cultures. They believed that there were previous worlds that had succumbed to a natural disaster similar to a flood.

Furthermore, they believed that the current world was waiting for the same end. Evil influences sealed most of the endings of the various katuns, which were calendar periods of twenty or thirteen years.

Reading of the Quiche religious book Popol Vuh and of a work from the XNUMXth century entitled Relation of things in Yucatan, written by the Spanish bishop Diego de Landa.

We conclude that the Mayans thought that the world where they existed had been preceded by three previous worlds. Each of these previous worlds corresponded to a different type of humanity, made of earth, wood and corn.

For the Mayans, the only god was Hunab Ku, the great almighty and father of Itzamná, deity of fire and earth and who, like other Mayan deities, had four versions that corresponded to the four cardinal points, and was generally symbolized. by a celestial monster or a two-headed iguana in the shape of a dragon.

Each version of Itzamná corresponded to a different color: white in the north, yellow in the south, red in the east, and black in the west. The green color was intended for the center. Linked to each of these orientations, the four carrier gods (the bacabes) raised the sky.

The cosmos was organized into thirteen worlds, according to the Mayan cosmogony, which, like the other mantles, were located on the earth. Each of these celestial layers, presided over by one of the thirteen oxlahuntiku or gods of the 13 upper worlds, was held on its back by a crocodile or reptilian monster.

Beneath the earth were nine subterranean worlds, each ruled by one of the Bolontiku deities, with significant aquatic symbology.

The deepest underworld, the Kingdom of the Dead, was Mitnal or Xibalbá (as it is called in the Yucatecan lands or the Quiché Highlands).

Ah Puch ("the lord of death") reigned there, and the Mayans considered that every day there was a bloody battle of the Sun, on his one-day journey, with beings and deities of hell, which he still dominated. After the triumph, the Star King began his daily tour of the upper level of the universe.

The spirits of the deceased made the same journey, similar to the mythical divine twins, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, as recounted in the Popol Vuh, the mythical-religious quiche work on creation transcribed in Spanish script already at the time of the colonization.

Gods

The group of Mayan gods was equivalent to energy for the earthly context of that time, and this was precisely what allowed the same god, depending on the temporality, to be considered good or bad, even feminine or masculine.

In addition, something interesting stands out, because being assumed as physical expressions of the sacred does not exempt this group of gods from revealing mental states, manifesting a will affected by the type of behavior of men.

The need to enchant their gods was such that human sacrifices are known to have tried to avoid the wrath of the gods.

For this reason, these supernatural entities that inhabited heaven, earth and the underworld cannot be located in a simple reasoning, since they are definitely guided by principles that are still complex to understand today.

What can be shown with absolute certainty is the extraordinary aesthetic sense of these gods, since each of their manifestations is endowed with an extraordinary artistic richness that testifies to significant progress in sculpture and painting.

The Mayan Gods

Meanwhile, some analysts persist in stating that the Mayan gods can be understood as angels in Christianity, Mayan mythology refers to a main god and others who divide the title of the most significant and recognized; what is shown below

Certainly, there are many gods left to mention; There are, for example, the creators who participated in the three attempts to create the world, others less recognized and, of course, those with a dark side who live in the underworld and who are recognized as the Lords of Xibalbá.

hunab ku

It symbolizes the most significant god of the Mayan culture, because it is the main image of the beliefs in view of the fact that it is sure that it is the only real and living one.

It is affirmed that all things are born from him, since he harbors all dualities, they also affirm that he is the father of all divinities and that he is deciphered as an incorporeal entity.

Itzamná

The lord of the sky, Mayan god of knowledge and named by some Zamná, is known as the creator of science and knowledge. Depending on the plane he appears on, he can be recognized as an old man and even an animal.

Ixchel

Goddess of the moon, closely related to fertility and water. Her cult was favored by priestesses, and they were asked to help with childbirth and diseases associated with the female organs.

yum kaax

God of corn, protector of agriculture and guardian of animals. The idolatry of him was more than essential, since it was directly related to the basic activities of this civilization.

kauil

Mayan god of fire and one of the most important in the Mayan culture. He was clearly associated with the rulers, since in itself it equates to power, in addition to symbolizing the generosity of the harvests, with which he was also considered the deity of prosperity in the ancient mandates.

Myths

Recognizing the myths and legends of the Mayan culture is a good opportunity to get closer to the way of thinking of this ancient culture. It seems amazing how these stories have been kept alive through oral communication, through the centuries until now.

Their myths, legends and gods reflect the abundant religious worldview of the Mayan population. The most important legends that we can still find active in the natural and national parks of the entire Mexican country refer to the formation of the world and of man as the work of Popol Vuh; although, also, there are other popular stories to mention:

The Mayan myth of creation. Popol Vuh, or Book of the People

Around the year 2000 a. C. The Mayan civilization originated in Central America. They displayed a unique style of art, architecture and astronomy and even oral and written language. Although his writings, including the famous Mayan calendar, are not his (but Olmec), they have been further refined.

Popol Vuh, or popular book. It is a compilation of stories that include Mayan myths and historical facts, and is based on the manuscript of the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez.

Unfortunately, most of its literature and writings were devastated during the Spanish invasion in the XNUMXth century, making the Popol Vuh a work of great value. It is important to clarify that the word "myth" does not appear in Maya. Popol Vuh, according to the Mayans, contains their history.

In this book, the creation myth plays an exceptional role. The deities first formed the earth and the sky, and then followed with animals and living creatures, such as birds and other flying species. The gods wanted to be called, idolized and remembered, but animals do not have the ability to speak. In this way, the gods failed with their first effort.

Popol Vuh, or Popol Wuj in the K'iche language, is the story of creation according to the Mayans. Representatives of the royal line of Kichen, who once ruled the highlands of Guatemala, wrote history in the XNUMXth century to preserve it under Spanish colonial rule.

The Popol Vuh, also called the "people's book," narrates the Mayan creation, that of the hero twins, and the genealogies of the K'iche, and the right to the land.

In this legend, the Creator Gods, the Heart of Heaven, and six other gods, including the Feathered Serpent, wanted to create human beings with hearts and minds capable of "saving the days."

But his first experiments failed. When these gods finally succeeded in creating human beings out of yellow and white corn, which had the ability to speak, they were satisfied with it. In another epic milestone in history, the Lords of Death of the Underworld invited the Hero Twins to play a ball game of transcendence where the Twins defeated their opponents.

The twins reached the sky and became the sun and the moon. Through their activities, the Hero Twins established the way for the planting of corn, human life on Earth, and the Fourth Creation of the Maya.

Flat Earth and Jaguars

The Mayans were convinced that the earth was flat with four corners, which symbolized a cardinal direction. Each of the four orientations had a different color: red-east, black-west, white-north, and yellow-south; while the center remained green.

In each corner there was a jaguar of different colors called bacabes, which held up the sky. The Mayans also believed that the universe was divided into 13 layers and that each one had its own divinity.

The legend of the aluxes

They were little beings made of clay. Once created, they received offerings and prayers to give them life. These creatures remain hidden to protect their master in this way. They were fast and light as the wind, therefore they were barely visible. Aluxes were loyal to their customers, but mischievous and agitated with strangers.

When the property of their owners passed to others, aluxes came out and scared the children. So, to calm them down, the new owners gave them food, honey, corn and cigarettes.

Aluxes are now believed to preserve the Mayan cities, and some people consider aluxes to provide light to the world. The Mayans also believed that if they respected the aluxes, they in turn protected the people and their property.

Creation of life on earth

After the gods Tepeu the Creator and Gucumatz the Feathered Spirit created the earth, they had the beings observe their creations and praise them. They formed all the creatures that roam the earth to this day.

However, these animals could not speak no matter how hard they tried. They could only howl, babble, bark, roar or moan. The disappointed gods made the decision to create better beings, who could offer proper idolatry.

They created the first caste of men from the wet mud and endowed them with life, but they fell apart a bit when they pretended to speak. A second line of men, carved in wood, has been created.

This race was stronger and more capable of walking, talking, and reproducing. However, these men were not endowed with mentality; their hearts were empty and they did not remember their creation.

Also, when they spoke, their words were empty, meaningless, so they could not pay homage to the gods. Because of this, Tepeu and Gucumatz sent a great flood to devastate them, and sent the animals to attack and crush them.

Some of them managed to escape into the forest. They became primates and the gods left them there as an example for the next caste of men. For a long time, the gods analyzed, but could not create the ideal material to mold man with his abilities. The animals brought them a heap of corn, which the gods crushed into four men. Apparently, they were perfect, strong, and had a state of mind rich in feelings and thoughts.

His first execution after his own creation was to show his gratitude to his benefactors Tepeu and Gucumatz for his life. The gods were satisfied. The new human line could perceive trees, mountains and even the margins of the Earth. They could observe and understand the total creation of the gods. The gods analyzed that men knew a lot, so they suppressed part of their sight.

In this way, men could only see objects close to them, and in this way, their greater interpretation of the world was diminished. Despite this, men still praise the gods. The gods created 4 women for these men. These 8 humans were the ancestors of all Quiche men today.

Heaven, Earth and the Underworld

The Mayans believed, like many people, that the heavens are above and the hells below, and that the world of human beings is in the middle. There are thirteen layers collected on Earth: the heavens. The Earth rests on a turtle or reptile that floats in the ocean.

Four brothers recognized as Bacabs raise the heavens. Beneath the Earth is the kingdom called Xibalbá, the underworld with nine superimposed layers. The three kingdoms remain united by a gigantic tree, whose branches reach the heavens and the roots descend to hell. The gods and the souls of the deceased cross the worlds on the path of this immense tree.

Legend of the dwarf in Uxmal

A very old woman resided in the ancient city of the Mayans quite some time ago. She made the city predictions. She was unable to procreate. She therefore asked the god Chic Chan to bring her the blanket of a large turtle. After a few months, a green dwarf with red hair was born.

One day, the dwarf decided to create a huge gourd that would make a rattle. There was a prophecy that people who felt a similar instrument would become the new ruler. This angered the king who was in command at the time, causing him to challenge the dwarf.

The king asked the dwarf to challenge three tests. For the first, the king asked the dwarf the number of trees in his palace, and the dwarf passed the test. For the second challenge, he told the dwarf that he would present a male turkey that could lay eggs.

The next day, a man who was apparently pregnant was brought up to say that it was impossible to do this with a turkey. He scored points from the judges.

For the final test, the king asked Seiya to put a hickory on his head and pierce it with a spear point. The dwarf also passed this test and challenged the king to do the same. The king, unfortunately, died trying to do it because of his pride. In view of the events, the dwarf was proclaimed king.

From the throne as king, he was in charge of the manufacture of the famous temple called "the governor's house". Similarly, he built a house for his mother, which he called "the old mother's house." Both constructions can be seen in the Mayan ruins of Uxmal.

The myth of Ixtab, the goddess of the moon

Thousands of years ago, when the gods were still mortal, there was a beautiful young woman named "Ixchel". Considering her great beauty, she had many suitors; between these two stood out; a young man named "Itzamná" and another young man with an unknown name; These young people have not finished arguing about the love they feel for her.

One day, "Ixchel's" sister called "Ixtab" asks the two suitors to fight for her sister's love, until only one is left standing and the winner stays. with "Ixchel".

After a bloody battle "Itzamná", who had almost defeated his rival, died at the hands of the latter after taking advantage of a negligence of the young "Itzamná".

Seeing the death of his beloved, "Ixchel" runs to his side, and swears to his sister that his soul would always persecute him and he would commit suicide. After seeing the suicide of his sister, "Ixtab" curses the man who killed "Itzamná", because he blames him for the death of his sister.

After all this, "Itzamná" became the God of the Sun and his beloved "Ixchel" became the Goddess of the Moon, while his sister, who was originally the Goddess of the Moon, would now be the Goddess of Suicide. or also called the goddess of the gallows.

In the same way, there is a belief that in each lit fire the goddess Ixchel is born again in the fire, which allows girls to find love and as a result of this love boys are born. For this reason, the goddess Ixchel is also identified as the goddess of fertility or birth.

The owl myth

This comes from a time when the Mayab birds prepared a party in honor of their king the peacock. All the birds of the kingdom were invited to this party. The owl was the great adviser to the king, but when he did not appear he was sent off in search of a royal procession, although he knew for all that he was not a lover of holidays.

They finally found him and took him to the banquet, but while those present enjoyed themselves, he did not feel very comfortable; he stopped and left. This made the king uncomfortable and forced him to go back to the celebration and dance in front of everyone as punishment for violating the king's orders.

From that day on, the owl was so embarrassed that it did not come out for a long period of time. Throughout his confinement, she dedicated herself to the analysis of the sacred book of the Mayans and discovered there that the peacock had, in fact, lied to a Pahuy.

And when he tried to go out and communicate the truth to the other birds of the kingdom, he realized that during the day he could no longer see, because he had become so used to the dark.

From then on, the owl could no longer go out by day, since the gods had penalized him throughout this period, he had congratulated a false king and from that moment he could only go out at night.

The legend of the wood pigeon

Lovers of hunting, above all, there was a brave warrior passionate about going out into the fields in search of animals that served as prey, mainly birds. He frequently wandered into the mountains for exercise and had assimilated all the hunting techniques one could know. In one of the unsuccessful adventures, and in the hope of having better luck, he decided to approach the shores of a crystalline lagoon, where he was sure that the animals used to quench his thirst. .

However, this time, he did not find any animals. His eyes were ecstatic with the most beautiful woman on earth, distracted rowing an old boat. They comment that the warrior was so dazzled by the beauty of this woman, that he had lost sleep and hunting took second place in her life.

All the Warrior wanted was to return again and again to this lake and search for his beloved. And so, hopefully, he visited the site to always find himself with the same crystal clear waters. Tired and somewhat lost, he asked an old witch who lived near the forest for help. He predicted that he would never see her again, unless she agreed to become a dove, unable to turn human again.

Faced with this dilemma, the warrior agreed to become a dove forever. In this way, the witch inserted a thorn into her neck and the warrior was transformed into a dove.

He immediately flew until he found a tree where he landed; At this moment his beloved appeared. Then, the fatal outcome came when the woman removed the pigeon's thorn and died of bleeding. The beautiful lady, afflicted by the death of her dove, stuck the thorn in her neck, turned into a dove and wept forever for her beloved dove.

mayan art

Classic Mayan art (200 to 900 AD) is respected for its excellent craftsmanship. The sculptures and plaster reliefs from Palenque, and the statuette from Copán are mostly fine, presenting a grace and exact observation of the human figure that reminded early archaeologists of the figures of classical Old World civilization.

Sculpture

For the various works of sculpture in low reliefs, high reliefs and stelae, they used wood, plaster and limestone; sometimes covered with plaster (limestone powder, shells and plant binders) colored in different colors. Most frequent examples in sculpture:

Eagle: sacred animal. Over and over he is seen with a heart in his claw as a human sacrifice.
Chaac (god of rain): regularly symbolized by an elongated trunk, eyes, ears with their earrings and an open mouth with sharp teeth.
Chac Mool (religious symbol): Perhaps it was a place to place offerings (human or not) or a throne. It presents the image of a man with eyes to the sides, lying down, legs bent (typical posture of an abdominal exercise) and hands holding a plate on the abdomen. These images could represent prisoners of war.
Cross: symbolize the four directions or angles of the world, plus the center; It also represents the corn plant.
Descending God Ah Muken Kaab: Deity very present in Tulum. His name is explained by seeing that he stands with his feet in the air, his arms and head down, and a wasp-shaped tail.
Stelae: vertical wooden or stone plaques containing drawings, writings and calendars, to commemorate exceptional events or episodes.
Phalluses (penis): symbolize a cult of fertility. They are mainly found in Uxmal. The position they occupy can be interpreted as the sperm penetrating the soil and fertilizing it.
Flowers: represent fertility and sexuality.
Greca: symbolizes wind, clouds, rain, etc.
Feathered Serpent: This is another way of representing the god Kukulkan.
Bearded man: This is a possible representation of the god Kukulkan. The most common interpretations indicate that he symbolizes the wax war serpent Lahun Uva Kan.
Jaguars: it is a very sacred animal that represents the star of the day, that is, the sun, while crossing hell; It was a possible throne.

Kukulcan: Your cult supports several attributes. He is represented by a feathered rattlesnake.

Planet Venus: associated with the duplicity of the Mayan religion and various other things, including war.

Flags: statues of human beings holding flags glued between their hands.

Rattlesnakes: presents the attributes. Coming out of a body, they represent blood and fertility by turning into flowers; If they sprout from the containers, they symbolize water.

Music

It was based on two types of instruments: wind instruments (whistles, flutes and conch shells) and percussion instruments such as the xylophone (stone and wood). The sticks are hollow and have narrow interior passages that vibrate the seeds inside.

Music was a big step for them, since they discovered a series of instruments, in addition to playing them themselves and it was a great success for their community, music has always played a fundamental role in history, it has always been present.

Music generated by stringed instruments is not recorded. Many wooden instruments that have been lost due to the passage of time and humidity are unknown.

Painting

They practiced the fresco technique and sometimes represented perspective (paintings from Bonampak, Chiapas, scenes of martyred prisoners of war), because most of the time they painted figures from the side. The small figures were representations of people living in remote places, of lower social status, or slaves.

There were different layers of stucco (plaster) with murals that did not necessarily repeat the decoration. Similarly, hands appear positive or negative on the walls of buildings of unknown importance. The preferred shades were reddish and bluish.

Architecture

The evolution of its architecture leaves indisputable traces in its monumental works, currently appreciated. This civilization occupied vast regions, geographically located in the southeastern part of Mexico.

In the states of Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas (the main city) and Yucatán; surrounded the territories of Central America such as El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras; with a history close to 3000.

The projection of the Mayan ceremonial centers was defined by the topography and the circumstances of the land, which established the different forms and structures of the buildings.

Mayan architecture was part of the general properties of American cultures, however, it had special peculiarities, including its particular style ("false arch", Mayan vault, crests, stelae and altars).

The different architectural styles were known as "Peten style" in Uxmal, "Usumacinta style" in Palenque, Puuc style in Uxmal, to name a few. In addition, another detail of great value has been recorded, such as the mural attached to the architecture.

Under this scenario, we can deduce that the Mayan culture generated a monumental architecture, of which large ruins are valuable in Palenque, Uxmal, Tikal, Quiriguá, Tajín, Copán, among others.

ceremonial platforms

They were small (four meters maximum), on the sides they had carved images. They served as places for public ceremonies; At the top, they had flags, censers, altars, and sometimes a tzompantli which was a row of sticks with pierced bone skulls.

Pyramid

They were built by superimposing several platforms, without exactly resulting in a pyramidal geometric volume. It served as the foundation for the shrine, bringing it as close to heaven as possible, but it also had a secondary mission to serve as a funeral home.

Temple

With a square floor plan, vertical walls with one, three or five entrances leading to various spaces, directly or through a portico, when there are several doors. The entrances were closed by large curtains or mats tied inside, to recessed rings, three on the sides of the entrance.

The temples do not have windows, but in some cases they can have openings in the shape of a rectangle or simulating the IK sign, which means air. The internal space of the temples changes a lot, from the small sanctuaries in Petén to the largest ones in Palenque.

cresting

Particular element of Mayan architecture, which resides in a tall construction placed on the roof of the temple, which highlights the verticality of the integral group of pyramids and temples and the sensation of approaching the sky. The crest was used in most of the symbolic decorative elements.

Orientation

Constructions in the classical period coincided with the cardinal points. It was something extraordinary because it was possible to verify that each of the buildings was relevant to these points.

Vaulted

It has been called false, salty, or simply maya; This is done by approaching the walls at a certain height (then above the door lintels), overlapping the rows of stones so that each row protrudes from the bottom, until it ends at the top with a small gap. blocked by a small slab.

The element that made the operation of this type of vault possible was the knowledge of the lime mortar already used in the partitions, which joined the core and allowed the parameter stones to be joined. The roof thus produced resembled, in its internal part, that of the hut and established a cross section in the form of a triangle or trapezoid.

Its disadvantage was that it only allowed to cover small spaces, because for spaces of greater width, the height necessary to guarantee the stability of the vault would have been exaggerated. However, this was done in certain exceptional cases, such as in the burial crypt of the Temple of the Inscriptions.

Wake

It is a monolith that begins as a calendar reference and ends with an artistic work. In its early days, the contrail was just a "marker." Its mission was to function as a record book, whose main purpose was to record a date. The number, little by little, has become a poetic sign.

From the XNUMXrd century AD. C., the stelae associated with religious episodes appear, made in each "period" of the calendar from which the chronologies and historical levels of the Mayan culture can now be updated.

Glyph

Ornament that circumscribes a graphic idea developed with the greatest care. The glyphic name was given to the signs contained in the inscriptions, due to the impossibility of specifying their real meaning more precisely.

The prints on the sides of the Palenque sarcophagus have been deciphered as nominal glyphs, with human representations presumed by the relatives of the buried person.

The glyphs were used to denote the name, the tutelary gods of the place, the ruling dynasty or a factor that determined it. Similarly, there were some glyphs associated with the life of various rulers of the city: birth, capture and sacrifice, and names of characters, as well as rise to power, probable lineage alliances, nuptials, mention of ancestors and relatives .

Mayan customs

The colonization carried out by the Spanish was not limited to a territorial and political conquest. Thus, the new rulers of the conquered lands began a process of acculturation of the indigenous peoples. This was to impose the customs, beliefs and traditions of the conquerors to facilitate political control.

In the case of the Mayans, experts point to the mystical and spiritual nature of their customs. Many aspects of his life, from birth to death, were governed by his religious beliefs, which were reflected in everyday life.

– I deliver according to Mayan customs and the Hetzmek ceremony.

When it came to having a child, the Mayans followed a set procedure to make sure everything went smoothly. Thus, the woman's hands were tied with a rope, which, in turn, was tied to a beam. The woman in labor had to squat down with her legs bent.

When the time came, a man must have hugged the woman from behind while blowing on her head. This breathing, according to his beliefs, helped the child out.

Once the child was born, one of the most important rituals of the Mayan culture took place: the Hetzmek ceremony. To begin with, the priests made omens about the child's future, always keeping in mind the day of the tzolkin on which he was born into the world.

Three months later, in the case of girls, or four, in the case of boys, the Hetzmek ceremony began. It was about mounting them for the first time on the hip of a person of the same sex, who played a role similar to that of today's godparents.

– Perform human sacrifices

For the Mayan culture, sacrifices were necessary to guarantee the proper functioning of the universe, the passing of the seasons, the growth of corn and the evolution of time. They were intended to protect the lives of human beings and, in turn, keep the existence of the gods alive. According to their beliefs, human blood is the bond that unites the gods and the human being, hence the performance of the sacrifices nourished the gods and paid the debts that humans have with them.

And it is that the Mayans believed that they owed their lives to the gods, and the way to please them was to offer them tobacco, incense, food and their own blood was the way to demonstrate it.

- Physical appearance

The Mayans followed various customs related to their physical appearance. In many cases, they also had religious significance. One of them was the custom of lengthening the skulls. To do this, they placed boards over the children's heads on the fourth day after their birth. One of the boards was placed in the front and the other in the back area.

Similarly, the Mayans also caused strabismus or strabismus in their descendants. Mothers hung small balls of resin in their children's hair. The children, attracted by the object, tried to focus on them with their crooked eyes all the time.

Piercing the nose was another of the Mayan customs. According to historians, they did this by piercing this area of the face with an amber stone. The reason could be aesthetic or for some kind of honorary recognition. Finally, Mayan men and women embedded small disks of obsidian or jade in their teeth. In some cases, moreover, their teeth were filed in the form of a saw.

- Wedding

In the Mayan culture, there was the figure of the intermediary, who was called atanza hab. Its function was to discover the possible conflicts that could arise in the couple in order to resolve them before getting married.

In contrast, the bride's parents received a dowry for their daughter. Also, the boyfriend was forced to work for his stepfather for a while. The two aspects, dowry and working time, were decided by the atanzahab.

As many marriages were arranged by families, it was very common for the couple to meet for the first time on the day of the wedding. On many occasions they were only able to speak after the ceremony.

– Cult of the cenotes

The cenotes are natural water wells that stand out for their great beauty. Although they can be found in other areas, it is in the so-called Riviera Maya where they can be found in greater numbers. These geomorphological forms resemble small caves, with large underground rivers inside.

The Mayans gave these cenotes a religious character. For them, these were sacred places and therefore used to perform religious rituals, such as human sacrifice.

According to Mayan beliefs, the cenotes were the door to Xibalbá, a mythical space through which the souls of the deceased walk on their way to paradise. In this way, the cenotes were the doors to eternity and to the happiness of the afterlife.

– Death and burial

The Mayans believed that some of their ancestors would be reborn as gods. For this reason, funerals and burial places were of great importance. Spanish chroniclers noted that the Mayans remembered their ancestors hundreds of years ago, showing that they honored their dead.

In addition to the funeral ceremony itself, Mayan families performed rituals at the tombs of their ancestors in an attempt to enlist their help.

The dead were buried with bread and corn, so that they had enough food to travel the path that would take them to paradise.

Mayan traditions

Some of the Mayan traditions have been lost over time and others, for obvious reasons, have been abandoned. However, the spiritual conquest led by the Spanish could not eliminate all of its festivities. In them, the Mayans have preserved some elements of their ancient religion, although mixed with Christian elements.

– Practice of the Mayan ball game

Also called "Pok a Pok", due to the sound produced by the ball when it is hit against the walls of the courts or the arms and hips of the players.

The Mayans used to play ball, and the existence of ancient ball courts in the Yucatan Peninsula proves it.

The Mayans considered this game to be something divine, where the main objective was to submerge the ball in stone rings arranged for it.

The game was seen as a constant struggle between light and dark, hence the winning team representing light and its power over darkness. Usually the losing team was sacrificed and offered to the gods.

– Blood offering ceremonies

According to the mythology of the Mayan culture, the gods shed their own blood to form the human body. This sacrifice was honored in the blood offerings made by the Mayan people.

In addition to using prisoners of war, the Mayan rulers themselves offered their blood in rituals, but without death.

The blood offering, in addition to honoring the gesture of their gods, should allow the Mayans to reach higher levels of consciousness and to be able to communicate with their deities. Normally, these types of ceremonies were celebrated in important events, such as a birthday of birth, death or nobility.

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