Religion: Almost every religion mentions a "Doomsday" of some sort, but the Maya named a specific date. Another thing that differed the Mayan religion from others is that their godlike figures did not portray themselves. Instead, they were imagined to have long white bears, blazing deep blue eyes, pale skin, and a long skull. This may be because one of the Mayan myths is that a godlike figure, Kukulcán, came from the seas to teach the Mayan ways of living, in which case he would have looked different. The Mayans greatly respected and worshipped Kukulcán, and were promised that one day, he would return. He never did.
The Mayans were polytheistic, which means they worshiped more than one god. Along with Kukulcán (later changed to Quetzalcoatl), they worshiped Itzamná (the supreme god), Chac (god of rain and lightning), Bolon Tzacab (god of royal descent), and many others. The very basic story involving Itzamná (their creation god) was that through the dark rift in the milky way, and evil spirit challenged Itzamná to a ball game, so he accepted. But instead of a ball game, the evil spirits destroyed him. But these two twin gods challenged the evil spirit to an epic ball game, in which they won, bringing the First Father (Itzamná) back. A ball game the Mayans played resembled the ball game that was played in this myth. They would have to shoot a ball through a hoop high in the air only using their knees and hips. The ball was said to represent the sun, the goal representing the dark rift, and the court representing the milky way. The winning team was thought to be used as a sacrifice.
The Mayans believed in sacrificing, because they believed that the sun needed sustenance in order to make it through the sky and underneath the world as the night sun. This sustenance was given by human blood. Most sacrifices were children or Prisoners of War. "If his heart was to be taken out they brought him to the court with a great show and a large company of people. They seized the poor creature they were sacrificing, very swiftly laid his back on the stone...At this, the executioner approached with a stone knife and very skillfully made a cruel incision...Then he reached in and seizing the heart like a ravening tiger, tore out the living heart. This he gave the priest on a plate who hurried to anoint the faces of the idols with the fresh blood." (The History Channel).
Like the Egyptians, the Maya built massive pyramids. But in my opinion, their most astonishing structure was the Observatory in Chichen Itza.
Location: The Mayans, striving from around 250-900 A.D., came from the Olmec civilization. The lived in present day Mexico and Central America, primarily in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mesoamerica. They lived on mountains (volcanoes), lowlands, and in the rainforest.
Government: “Contrary to popular belief, the Mayan civilization was not one unified empire, but rather a multitude of separate entities with a common cultural background. Similar to the Greeks, they were religiously and artistically a nation, but politically sovereign states. As many as twenty such states existed on the
"In both the priesthood and the ruling class, nepotism was apparently the prevailing system under which new members were chosen. Primogeniture was the form under which new kings were chosen as the king passed down his position to his son. After the birth of a heir, the kings performed a blood sacrifice by drawing blood from his own body as an offering to his ancestors. A human sacrifice was then offered at the time of a new king's installation in office. To be a king, one must have taken a captive in a war and that person is then used as the victim in his accession ceremony. This ritual is the most important of a king's life as it is the point at which he inherits the position as head of the lineage and leader of the city. The religious explanation that upheld the institution of kingship asserted that Maya rulers were necessary for continuance of the Universe."(http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm).
Nepotism (in this case) is basically giving new member positions to people in their family. I can imagine this could cause some stir amongst different ruling families.
Lifestyle: The typical Mayan family held about 5-7 members. Their typical breakfast consisted of hot chocolate (Yum!), atole, tortillas, or tamales. Most meals consisted of corn, squash, beans, turkey, or rabbit. Houses were usually one-room and built with interwoven poles and dried mud.
Knowledge: Mayans took astronomy and mathematics very seriously. Most cities had observatories, where they could make observations, such as equinoxes and placements of stars. They had a deep understanding of space and time. They also loved to make predictions of the future. The even had their own system of writing with their own hieroglyphics.
During the Spanish invasion, they destroyed almost all of the Mayans' books (I'll explain more later), but they did manage to save 4; The Dresden Codex, The Madud Codex, The Paris Codex, and The Grolier Codex.
Strange, But True:
- "The Mayan filed their teeth (unclear whether they used anesthetic) into a T shape or into a point. They also inlaid their teeth with small, round plaques of jade or pyrite."
- "According to Coe (?), young men painted themselves black until marriage and later engaged in ritual tattooing and scarring.”
- “The Maya also had a highly developed--and to modern eyes, highly bizarre--aesthetic sense. ‘Slightly crossed eyes were held in great esteem,’ writes Yale anthropologist Michael Coe in his book The Maya. ‘Parents attempted to induce the condition by hanging small beads over the noses of their children.’”
- Women used to strap boards on infants in order to elongate the skull.
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