In order to really comprehend the religions and societies of Mesoamerica, you must first understand what world making, world centering, and world renewal all mean. Each of the main civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Olmec, Mayan, and Aztec’s all contributed their own versions of world making, centering, and renewal. World making, is defined as a culture’s view of the make up of their universe, and how it was created. Many religions and societies have their own versions of this (Carrasco, 19). For example, in today’s society, the major belief is in the big bang theory. It states, the universe as we know started with a very small atom and then had a “big bang” and then over the next 13.8 billion years became to the universe that we know today. …show more content…
Lets start in the Formative period, the beginning. Between 1800 BCE and 200 BCE the Olmec empire was one of the leading powers of Mesoamerica. The Olmecs believed that humans transformed or evolved from Jaguars (Carrasco, 32). They believed there was a strong connection between all animals and people. Many of their temples and rituals were designed to praise or show acknowledgement of different animals. That is how they viewed the make up of their society, or how it came to be. The Olmecs also had a very big concern for burying their dead near their sacred areas. According to Carrasco, “this combination of human and temple at the heart of a settlement indicates the early pattern of what we have called world centering” (Carrasco, 34). This shows they believed there was a strong connection between sacred spaces, ceremonial structures, the earth, the dead, and the underworld. Their calendar system called the long count, was a huge part of organizing rituals and social life in Mesoamerica. They also had a sacred ball game that was very influential to their culture. It was more of a ritual than a game, being that, in some cases, the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods (Carrasco, 36). They believed that using these things would maintain order in their
... A few photos of Tenochtitlan and warriors headdresses, clubs and obsidian blades would increase the pleasure 10 fold. Also in places the author tends to divert to other Ameriindian cultures and use their ritual practices as examples. These comparisons can bring the ritual practices of a 500 year extant culture into modern day belief.
Meso-American religion involves a variety of beliefs and rituals of the people of Central America and Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s C.E. The beliefs of the ancient Meso-American religious traditions were focused around an annual calendar that had an accompanying ritual cycle. This calendar was associated with various Meso-American deities, often representing different aspects of the cosmos including a creator god, a god of war, a sun god, a fire god, etc. Various beliefs were practiced by the ancient Meso-American peoples that included diverse forms and levels of the afterlife, with each containing its own deity. Religious rituals and practices were typically governed by priests that had been educated in astronomy and genealogy. These priests were often adorned with jewels, ornaments of many colors, exquisite jewels and many had dual roles as diviners. Using idols was common in Meso-American religion and they were usually depicted in the form of animals or having animals as a part of them. Several of these ancient traditions included rituals of sacrifice to the gods, even human sacrifice.
Explanation- This article gives examples of how indigenous people used to live before the colonization of Christopher Columbus. After the appearance of Christopher Columbus in Mexico different ethnic groups were distributed amongst different states along with their different languages. In the state of Oaxaca there around sixteen different ethnic groups which the Mixtecs and the Zapotecs are the two main ethnos who have continued to expand amongst the territory. During the Spanish conquest the Mixtec and the Zapotecs’ religion was mostly based on belief in the vital force that animated all living things, meaning that they worshiped the land and the creator. Throughout this day there are still indigenous people who believe and practice their ideology, and the “modernized” are set to practice Catholicism.
“Latin America includes the entire continent of South America, as well as Mexico. Central America, and the Caribbean Islands. Physical geography has played an important role in the economic development of Latin America.” (Doc A and Doc G) Latin America has many unique cultural characteristics, industrial products, agricultural products, and human activity.
Immediately following the war with Spain, the United States had both the political will to pursue imperial policies and the geopolitical circumstances conducive to doing so. But the way in which these policies would manifest was an open question; was the impulse to actively remake the world in America’s Anglo-Saxon image justified? Hence, there were several models of American imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century. In the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Samoa, the United States asserted unwavering political control. In Cuba, and later throughout most of the Caribbean basin, the economic and political domination of customarily sovereign governments became the policy. Ultimately, the United States was able to expand its territory
Culture is customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. It includes behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people to sustain their lives. Mexican culture is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. Today life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the Mexican living in the city. In the United States Mexican includes any person of Puerto
The increase and changing demography in the United State today, with the disparities in the health status of people from different cultural backgrounds has been a challenge for health care professionals to consider cultural diversity as a priority. It is impossible for nurses and other healthcare professionals to learn and understand theses diversity in culture, but using other approaches like an interpreter is very helpful for both nurses and patients. In this paper of a culturally appropriate care planning, I will be discussing on the Hispanic American culture because, I had come across a lot of them in my career as a nurse. The Hispanic are very diverse in terms of communication and communities and include countries like Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, South and Central America, and some of them speak and write English very well, some speaks but can’t write while some can’t communicate in English at all but Spanish.
The culture I was born and raised on was that of Mexican-American culture. My parents were born and raised in Mexico, and when they came to America and had kids, they instilled a hybrid of their culture, and American culture, in us. They were each raised in the Mexican culture, but wanted us to be raised as Americans also, and added this to our upbringing.
Carrasco shows that sacrificing was key to the Mesoamericans. Their entire belief is through world renewing, world making, and world centering. Both Aztecs and Mayans revolved their society around structures that they thought was centered around the universe. Each one believed that their society revolved around the universe. Sacrifices such as autosacrifice, removing the heart while the person was still alive was a daily ritual with the Aztecs, and Mayans. The purpose for public sacrificing was to feed the gods and make the them happy with their people. The type of people sacrificed was the beautiful and the captured warriors after a war. The beautiful was sacrificed because the gods didn't give any distinct quality to be remembered for such as a disfigured face.
For many years, unjust treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans has occurred in the United States. Over the years, people like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Emma Tenayuca have fought to improve civil rights and better treatment for farm workers. The textbook that I have been reading during the semester for my Chicano History class, Crucible of Struggle: A history of Mexican Americans from Colonial times to the Present Era, discusses some of the most important issues in history that Mexicans and Mexicans Americans have gone through. Some of these problems from the past are still present today. Not all of the racial problems were solved, and there is a lot to be done. I have analyzed two different articles about current historical events that have connections between what is happening today and what had happened in Mexican American History.
After three hundred years of suffering and oppression by the Spanish crown, and inspired by the fire of revolution sweeping over the world in places such as United States and France, the Mexican population finally decided that they could endure no more, it was time for a change! In this essay I put together some of the various factors of Spanish colonialism that led to the Mexican independence. These factors were the socio political conditions of nueva españa, the enlightment era, as well as various leaders
What is culture? Many people ask themselves this question every day. The more you think about it the more confusing it is. Sometimes you start leaning to a culture and then people tell you you’re wrong or they make you feel like a different person because of your culture. I go through this almost every day. Because of the way I was raised I love Mexican rodeo but I was born and raised in Joliet. This can be very difficult trying to understand culture. I live in this huge mix of culture. Culture is personal. People can have many cultures especially in America and because of globalization. Cultural identity is not one or the other, it is not Mexican or American. Cultural identity is an individual relevant thing.
The Olmecs are the earliest known Mesoamerican civilization. Around 1200 B.C. the Olmecs originated as a primitive people living and farming on the shores of Mexico (Stanton 91). Soon, however, they began to build cities such as San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Monte Alban. These “cities” were religious centers where people gathered to worship, and were not populated (Stanton 91). The first of these centers, San Lorenzo, was built c. 1150 B.C., on a flat topped, man-made mountain. It was mysteriously abandoned 200 years later (Stanton 92-93). La Venta, built between 1000 and 600 B.C., sat on an island in a swamp (Stanton 93). Later, around 500 B.C., Monte Alban, which was used as a religious center even after the Olmecs faded, was built on an immense mountain (Stanton 93). The cities were made up of temples and plazas, and decorated by monumental stone heads, which weighed up to 50 tons (Stanton 93)! These heads probably represented their early kings and had distinct helmets (Kingfisher 32). It is incredible how the Olmec people transported the stone from the distant mountains to La Venta, near the shore, without the aid of work animals or carts. It appears that the Olmecs did this grueling work for their gods willingly, as there is no evidence of forced labor (Stanton 93). The Olmecs probably worshipped the jaguar, as it appears so often in their artwork. There are also many e...
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 majority of the gods and goddesses take a form that combines animal and human features. For example, rain and earth deities often have characteristics derived from crocodiles and snakes (Thompson, 198). The Mayan deities also have a duality complex in which they could be both benevolent and malevolent, but this duality could also apply to age and sex such as a god or goddess being portrayed as youthful or aged or a masculine god sometimes being portrayed as feminine (Thompson, 199). Worship of animals, such as the Jaguar, was present (Thompson, 200) and numbers were seen as deities as well (Thompson, 239). Each deity corresponds to a number. For example, the sun god is the god of the number four as well and the moon goddess is the goddess of the number one. Inanimate objects had spirits, like animals and numbers, which had the ability to achieve the rank of de...
In the article, ‘Playing with Power’, John Gerard Fox brings up astonish activities taking place before and after the game. His research shows how ballgame is a source of control and ideology for Mesoamerican people. First, In Mesoamerican period ballcourts and any other type of public architecture center were a place where a social difference was seen. It was considered a forced gathering where communities were gathered to participate in labor and rituals. These gathering further increased social and religious meaning in Mesoamerican people. Moreover, ballcourt was also a place for religious offering dedicated to pleasing the Gods. Through offering Mesoamerican people dedicated ballcourt to be sacred. Ballcourt was also a place