The Mayan religion was based in the regions of Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and some southern parts of Mexico. It is a southeastern variant of Mesoamerican religion. Death and afterlife beliefs have always played an important role in all religions. Some religions have similar beliefs while others are very different. The Maya religion is very similar to Roman Catholicism. Many Mayas were able to adopt Catholic beliefs while still maintaining their own faith: many of their customs remain evident today.
Early creation myths are found in the Popol Vuh, which is K’iche for “the Book of the Community”; it entails the creation and genealogy of the rulers of the Mayan kingdom. It has been referred to as the single most important piece of Mesoamerican literature. It consists of a preamble and four sections that describe the creation, history and cosmology of the Mayan religion. It is said that the original Popol Vuh was lost and recently rediscovered. The alphabetic Popol Vuh gave a "long performance and account" (Tedlock, 1996, p. 29) written in two columns on each page; one in alphabetic Quiche Mayan text, the other a Spanish translation made by a priest named Francisco Ximenez in the early 1700s. The words of the Popol Vuh describe two creator Gods, Gucumatz and Tepeu, who were created from the sea. Once the Earth was created, animals came next; humans followed but were created from mud and ultimately destroyed. Hence the creation of humans from the sacred Maya crop of maize. These people of the corn were able to be worshiped and also were able to nourish the people of the land.
The Mayans worshipped a number of Gods and Goddess: their foremost god, Itzam Na "incorporated in himself the aspects of many other gods: not only creation b...
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...y that I have found a new respect for the Maya people. They were able to withstand the forcible transition into Catholicism without giving up their own identities. The Catholic religion seems to make up the majority of this country but it is amazing to see how other religions all over the world are comparable to it.
Works Cited
Coe, Michael D. "The Hero Twins: Myth and Image." In Justin Kerr ed., The Maya Vase Book.
New York: Kerr Associates, 1989.
Keen, B., & Haynes, K., (2004). A history of latin america. (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin
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Sharer, R., (1996). Daily life in maya civilization. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
Tedlock, D., (1996). (Trans.). Popol vuh: the definitive edition of the mayan book of the dawn of
life and the glories of gods and kings. (2nd ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster.
The Popol Vuh is a collection of early Mayan religion and history and is divided into three parts. The first part is their creation myth, and states the world was created by Gucumatz and Tepeu – Mayan dual gods. They created the earth, animals that were food for the humans, and finally created humans from maize to worship them. “This generation, which includes the present human race, is able to worship and nourish the gods.” (Nicoletta Maestri). The second part of the Popol Vuh is the story of the Hero Twins. Hunahpu and Xbalanque were twin brothers who became great ballplayers. They played a ball game with the Lords of Xibalba who killed their father and uncle. They defeated the Lords of Xibalba and revived their father and uncle, and soon after the twins became the moon and the sun. The third and final part of Popol Vuh are narratives and details of the Quiche noble dynasties up until the 16th century. When Gucumatz and Tepeu created humans from maize, those first humans would become part of the Quiche dynasties. “They were able to praise the gods, and wandered the world until they reached a mythical place where they could receive the gods into sacred bundles and take them home.” (Nicoletta
Before the end of the 20th century archeologist began making progress in translation of the ancient writing. Discoverers believed to have solved the mystery of the Maya when archeologists J.Eric Thompson, after conducting many excavations, concluded the people of Tikal were peaceful and free from conflict. After his analysis of the hieroglyphs believe declared the Maya people were spiritual and used Tikal as ceremonial site. As studies of the Maya people continued translation of the hieroglyphs went undispu...
Words can be on a much grander scale. The Popol Vuh is a story originating from modern day Guatemala with its oldest excerpt dating back to the early 18th century. The most recent translation is by Allen J. Christenson in 2007. The Popol Vuh follows the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque and their epic tales. The mythological story ripe with symbolism is often coined as the “sacred book” of the Maya people. Symbolism in the Popol Vuh is important because it explains life and death, satirizes human behavior, represents the creation of the Maya, and it depicts the importance of maize.
The Maori myth is a Polynesian story about the creation of the universe which according to Rosenberg was different from other creation myths because it begins with nothing and then progresses through a process of “nonbeing to thought to the creation of the universe and human beings” (351). Even though it may be different because it goes from “nonbeing to thought” instead of nothingness to a spoken word or action, it has many similarities to other creation myths in how it explains the origins of the Gods and how each one represents a natural event or aspect of nature and humanity. The myth begins with an “idea” that “was remembered” and then “became conscious” and then “a wish to create”, all of which created a “power to live and to grow, even in emptiness” (352). At this point there was still no being, only thought and desire which gives the idea that what is being addressed are the human attributes of feeling, sensing, desire and thought, this is where this story is different from other creation myths.
The Mayans were independent city-states with many traits and beliefs that categorized en as Maya. In addition with their writing system, calendar system, their unique view of the universe and rich culture.
The most important idea in Allen J. Christenson's Popol Vuh is maize or often known as corn but to the Maya culture, corn has a bigger significance than just food. Corn has played a important role in empires, civilizations and people for thousands of years. The Maya have a lot of admiration to corn as a cornerstone of their culture and spirituality. Maize was so highly admired that the Mayans had a Maize God. Corn was a gift from the Gods and cultivating it and planting it was a sacred duty it was a really important process in which corn was to be planted and harvested. Temples were built for Maize Gods and corn was used to nourish workers and kings. To the Mayans, the Gods made humankind out of maize. The Maya also considered this crop to be the vegetation of life in order to eat and grow. This symbolized the fragile nature of corn, a crop that depends entirely on human cultivation for its reproduction with such deep meaning and that has deep culture and meaning.
Burns, E. B., & Charlip, J. A. (2007). Latin America: an interpretive history (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
The Mayan interpretation of the cosmos included a plethora of gods: some benevolent, others malignant; some unattainable, others close at hand. Defining past, present and future, it concerned itself with death, the afterlife and reincarnation. Itzamna was a Mayan god that represented the earth and sky. This god was there to produce vegitables. The Aztec beliefs were very similar to that of the Mayan civilization. Both societies were very similar in their belief of gods, sacrificing, and wars. The ritual of human sacrifice was infulenced by the Toltec tradition. Praying, sacrifice, speaking in metaphors were all forms of speaking with dieties. The calendar was very accurate, more accurate then the calendars that we follow now. Europeans thought that Mesoamerican people were wild people because they were cannibals, believed in many gods, and "enjoyed sex".
Both the Mayas and the Aztecs worshipped their gods through human sacrifice. The Olmecs were so dedicated to their gods that they transported 50 tons of boulders from the mountains to the shore. For the Mayas, even their games were related to their religion. The Aztec society was constantly at war for the sole purpose of making sacrifices to their many gods. Religion dominated the cultures of these Mesoamerican empires.
Mott, N. (2012) Why the Maya Fell: Climate Change, Conflict—And a Trip to the Beach? [online]
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. 5th ed. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Pub. Group, 1994. Print.
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society. The major Mayan gods and goddesses all have common characteristics and, according to “features which they share in large part with the gods of neighboring people of Middle America” (Thompson, 198). One of these characteristics is that Mayan gods and goddesses have “features which they share in large part with the gods of neighboring people of Middle America” (Thompson, 198).
The Popol Vuh, which was written in the 1500’s, is the Mayan’s record of the origins of world. The Popol Vuh time and again has been referred to as the “Mayan Holy Book”, similar to holy book of Christianity, The Bible. The Popol Vuh and The Bible, the book of Genesis in particular, contain many similarities. My questions for you are is the similarities between the two religious books intentional, and or did Friar Francisco Ximenez translate the story wrong, thus creating the similarities.
Thousands of centuries earlier the Europeans knew of America, the Native American’s entitled America home. Numerous Native American’s established empires and attended business with each additional, as well as fought one another. Throughout the historical period c.150-900, we learned about the domain of the Mayans. These people were very advanced in their system of mathematics and astronomy. Their religion practices consisted of consuming human sacrifices and that they studied stars. The Mayans provide just one of numerous examples of the type of spiritual practices that are implemented by the natives. Among all the natives, idols and detriments were common. According, documents that I came across in the past describe how human sacrifice seem it was “believed to encourage fertility, demonstrate play and to propagate the gods.” The Mayan spirits were believed to be sustained by human blood, and ceremonial bloodletting generated as the only means of creating a connection with them. The Maya’s thought that if they neglected these ceremonies, cosmic disorder and chaos would affect them. Therefore, these practices were extremely outrageous and dangerous to human beings.
The Maya culture has a long history that started in about 1000 BC. The history of the Maya is divided up into four different time periods: The Middle Preclassic Period, Late Preclassic Period, Classic Period, and Postclassic Period. The Middle Preclassic Period was when the small areas started to become city-like in the way that they started to build larger temples. The Late Preclassic Period was when the cities began to expand with paved roads and massive pyramids. The Classic Period was the time the Maya civilization hit it’s peak. Populations were growing rapidly and the structure of politics was formed. The Postclassic Period was when warfare was on the rise and cities were being abandoned(Coe 2005). This paper will focus on the Classic Period due to the fact that that is the greatest time period in Maya history.