Kukulkan
This feathered serpent deity, according to belief, taught the ancients civilization and was associated primarily with the rains. The Temple of Kukulkan is one of the main buildings that make up the site of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan and imagery of serpents abounds on the structure. Despite the distance in both geography and time, the belief in a feathered serpent deity can also be found in the mythology of the Aztec peoples in their god, Quetzalcoatl.
Ah Puch
This death god was one of many who dwelt in the darkness of the underworld. Primarily depicted as skeletal, Ah Puch sometimes is shown with black spots on his skeleton and was usually associated (like the other death gods) with anything relating to human mortality.
Chac
Chac was a fertility god and was also sometimes associated with rain. This deity bears some resemblance to the Aztec and Teotihuacano rain god, Tlaloc. Like the Quetzalcoatl/Kukulkan deity, the veneration of Chac is evidence of a cultural transference of ideas throughout pre-Conquest Mesoamerica.
Ix Chel
An important deity to the Maya, Ix Chel was a goddess of the earth, moon, and rainbows. Worshipers from Ix Chel's cult would make pilgrimages to the island of Cozumel to give offerings to the goddess so that she might grant the blessings of a successful marriage.
The ancient Maya were a culture
that populated what are now known as Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and
El Salvador. Existing as a widespread civilization from roughly 2000 BCE to 900
CE this culture had highly sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems
as well as a complex written language made up of stylized characters. Like many
societies of the ancient world they did not separate the natural world from
what they perceived to be the supernatural world. Their religion gave meaning
to all sectors of their lives, as well as their very existence as a whole. The
religion of the Maya was the glue that held their culture together.
Basics of Ancient Maya Belief The Creation Myth in The Popol Vuh From the time of Spanish occupation of Mesoamerica the only surviving text available that collects the Maya myths of creation and their history is the Popol Vuh. The creation myth begins with the gods creating the world physical world. After forming animals, these gods attempt several times to create humans, but fail each time and end up destroying their human-like creations. Two figures known as the "Hero Twins" feature in an important story in which they travel to Xibalba (the Maya underworld) to wrest the power of death from its Lords by participating in a ball-game. After their victory they become constellations in the night sky. Once the creator gods form the first true humans from maize the first tribes are born. The gods then decide to confuse the peoples languages, and so these peoples disperse (unable to understand each other) to form the many tribes seen at the time of the Popol Vuh's writing.
^Part 1 (of 7 found on Youtube) of the Popol Vuh^
The World Tree One symbol found in Maya iconography that shows up in many of the other Mesoamerican cultures is the concept of a "World Tree". The World Tree is a motif that not only depicts four primary directions from which a person can orient themselves, but also an axis mundi from which the universe can be oriented. With its roots in the Underworld and its branches in the sky the physical world of the Maya is connected to the worlds of the spirits and the gods. Usually this tree is depicted as a ceiba tree; a tree that grows commonly in parts of Mesoamerica. To the Maya the Tree was a means of communication with both the underworld of Xibalba and the skies. It was also because of the superficial resemblance to the Christian crucifix that the Spanish missionaries found success in incorporating their beliefs in with that of the indigenous peoples.
Pictured Above: The Maya World Tree
The Maya View of Their Universe In Maya belief the universe was separated into the Sky, the Earth, and the Underworld (with the World Tree connecting all three). Some views held that the earth was square like a corn field, while other views held that it was actually circular and rested upon a turtle that in turn was floating on water. Much like Andean cultures, Maya peoples oriented themselves in relation to special mountains, trees, birds, or other important objects from which they drew some of their identity. The Sky was divided into thirteen different layers, with certain deities associated with each. Xibalba, the Underworld, was a place of darkness and usually associated with caves. It is for this reason that certain individuals are entombed within pyramids, as the darkness of the inner depths symbolizes the darkness of caves and of the underworld, while the ascending steppes of the pyramid symbolizes the connections mountains make between the earth and the heavens above.
The Calender & Cosmology The ancient Maya calender system in fact used several separate calenders for different purposes. A 260 day calender (the Tzolkin) was used primarily to mark religious and social events, while a 365 day calender cycle (the Haab') was used to mark solar years. These two calendrical cycles were combined in a larger cycle called a Calender Round that encompassed 52 Haab' in total. In relation to Maya religion there existed yet another, far longer calender measurement known as the Long Count Calender that began on the believed creation date of August 11, 3114 BCE. All cultures feel the need to give meaning and
predictability to the vast cosmos and its machinations, and the Maya were
especially proficient in this. Ancient Maya peoples put an intense importance
on the movement of stars and constructed complex meanings for them that were
associated with almost all facets of daily and ritual life. They connected the
stars with what was happening around them, giving meaning to everything that
was obvious to them by simply watching the motions of the stars. In the waves
of the cosmic ocean resided all the answers to their questions. The stars were
ever-changing indicators of the gods’ powers, intentions, and actions. Meaning
was relayed by the ruling classes from the cosmos to the commoners,
consolidating their power through knowledge and meaning. Recent Understandings of Maya Society At the onset of Maya archaeology the Maya people were believed by many researchers to have been a peaceful, astronomically
obsessed people. In recent decades evidence found in the form of hieroglyphs
depicts and glorifies military pursuits, sacrifice, and the egomaniacal
behaviors of the ancient elites. From these paintings archaeologists and
epigraphers have been able to construct an understanding of the Maya people’s
political structure. This new knowledge indicated that the domain of the Maya
was made up of vast city-states that had a limited control over a limited area, despite their common cultural heritage.
Elites and other members of the ruling class of each city-state followed a
hierarchical order of dominance. Evident are the signs that war was a major
part of life for these people, and the city-states continuously vied amongst
themselves for regional power. Two such important city-states were Tikal and
Calakmul, who both warred incessantly with both sides gaining captives from the
other, and in a bold statement of power, sacrificed the prisoners (usually
royalty themselves). Religion and Political Power
Maya rulers drew their
sovereignty by citing their right to rule as having been ordained by the gods
themselves. This was not always the case however. At the onset of Maya
civilization rituals were mainly performed on the small-scale within the homes
of the Maya people. These home rituals were usually tied to ancestor
veneration. Eventually such rituals were moved from houses into larger spaces
that allowed for ceremonies to be performed for the benefit of the community,
as opposed to a single family. As time progressed the people leading the
ceremonies began gaining greater favor from the community at large. Due to
their large audience and their special place in society they were able to
attain a great many followers who were susceptible to the belief that these
ceremonial leaders got their credentials from the gods and spirits they were in
communication with. It was around the Late Classic era that a societal
connection was made between those of royal blood and those persons who could
directly communicate and gain influence from the supernatural world. Such
leaders gained surpluses from the farming classes, and used this surplus to distribute
their wealth and gain more power. With this surplus of wealth rulers could cite
this abundance as their right to rule and as to why they were specifically
chosen by the gods for the favor they could give. By performing rituals in view
and for the benefit of the populace at large they created themselves as a focal
points or human axis mundis to which the society was politically and
spiritually tied.
Maya Bloodletting Important to Maya ritual and ceremonial practice was the act of drawing blood from one's self . The practice of bloodletting was usually done by applying either a stingray spine, an obsidian blade, or a shark's tooth to the tongue or to the penis by way of a small incision.
(Above): Shown here are two stingray spines found at Palenque that had either
been used as grave goods or had been used in life as instruments for
elite bloodletting rituals (inserting into the penis to draw blood).
(On Left): This engraved stingray spine was likely used for ornamental purposes
rather than actual ceremonies that involved bloodletting, but the fact
that the spine is engraved means that it was deemed important or
meaningful enough to be decorated in this way.
(Above): The stingray spine shown here was found at Caracol and is of a size that
would have made it more practical for the actual use of bloodletting
rather than for simple display.
After the incision had been made, the blood was then collected on a piece of paper, placed in a bowl (or similar vessel), and was then lit aflame. From what researchers can tell of Maya depictions of bloodletting rituals, it was believed that a "vision serpent" carrying a deceased loved one or ancestor spirit would arise from the flames created from the burning of the paper. These spirits would convey messages, teachings, or warnings to the living family members who had summoned them.
This image shows a Maya elite drawing blood from their tongue using a thorned rope.
This lintel depicts a bloodletting rite in which the person who has
drawn their own blood and cast it into a fire receives a vision of a
serpent with an ancestor in it's mouth.
The intention was not always to communicate with ancestors. Bloodletting was also another way of offering sacrifices to the gods or to increase personal potency. The act of burning the blood-soaked paper offering transferred the blood from its state of existing in the physical world into smoke, which would carry it into the supernatural world of the gods and spirits. The body part that was being incised also depended on what the auto-bloodletter was seeking. For example, if the person performing the ritual made a cut on their genitalia, the intended result would likely be an increase of potency or fertility for the one offering the sacrifice.
Conclusion
While modern Maya people incorporate the imagery
of colonial Christianity the religious base is much different and much older.
This practice of assimilating Christian constructs into pre-existing religious
rituals is actually quite common in Central and South America. Maya people, who practice this
composite religion, still make pilgrimages to older holy sites dedicated to
ancient “pagan” deities who today now wear the masks of Christian saints or
other holy figures. Veneration of caves and mountains, entrances and stairways
to other worlds populated by powerful entities, still have importance to modern
peoples and have hardly changed for thousands of years. Maya frescoes of
mouths denote caves, while pyramids act as constructed artificial mountains
where one can climb up, interact with, and give meaning to the physically
untouchable sky above. Today individuals make pilgrimage to caves and mountains
to draw power and give thanks to forces that are both comprehensible yet
intangible. While the Spanish missionaries attempted to force their religion on
the people they invaded, the cultural roots of the Mesoamerican religious
heritage were much deeper than the colonizers could ever reach.
Ishihara, R. Rising clouds, blowing winds: Late Classic Maya rain rituals in the Main Chasm, Aguateca, Guatemala. World Archaeology, 40(2), 169-189. (2008).
Knowlton, T. W., & Vail, G. Hybrid Cosmologies in
Mesoamerica: A Reevaluation of the Yax Cheel Cab, a Maya World Tree. Ethnohistory, 57(4), 709-739. (2010).
