The Mayans: Bedletting Rituals

228 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mayan beliefs on death

Throughout Mesoamerica, the Mayans performed bloodletting rituals for a millennium. Mayan rulers and their family members regularly spilled their own blood by opening wounds with obsidian knives, stingray spines, or sharped bones. Men commonly drew blood from their penis, like Chan Bhlum, while women often drew from their tongue (Bentley). Both sexes occasionally drew blood also from the earlobes, lips, or cheeks, and they sometimes increased the flow by pulling long, thick cords through their wounds. The Mayan civilization believed that the shedding of blood was crucial because of its association with rains and agriculture. According to Mayan priest, the gods had shed their own blood to water the earth and nourish crops of maize, and they

Show More
Related

  • The Aztecs: Should Historians Emphasize Agriculture or Human Sacrifice?

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although there are good reasons for emphasizing human sacrifice, there are even better reasons for emphasizing agriculture. An example is the Aztecs' exceptional use of their surroundings, such as the willow trees for anchors, and reeds for frames. Human sacrifice can be also emphasized for the Aztecs' belief that the Gods needed blood, but the spotlight is on agriculture.

    Read More

  • Dbq Essay On The Aztecs

    1731 Words  | 4 Pages

    Read those last few words again. As said in the popular children’s show Sesame Street, “one of these things is not like the other”. The integration of human sacrifice into Aztec culture was not nearly as subtle as written above, though: The most important Aztec deity in their whole religion, Huitzilopochtli, was the sun god. According to Aztec creation myths, Huitzilopochtli required a great deal of power to raise the sun every morning and keep the night from overpowering for too long. This strength was drawn from regular consumption of human blood and heart.

    Read More

  • Aztec Human Sacrifice Analysis

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    Why did the culture and customs require human blood to survive? How did high Aztec society view these sacrifice? These answers are easy to obtain using anthropology and archeology and historical documents from the time such as the infamous letters of Cortez. To the first question o why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice to understand the reasons one must understand their epic religious beliefs. The Aztecs thought the world would end if they did not sacrifice human blood to their gods. The Gods were always locked in an epic battle and needed human blood to keep the universe from being destroyed. According to Aztec mythology, this world was the fifth and last universe so human blood was needed to continue the universe and prevent its destruction. The world had been destroyed four times before by the gods and it was up to the Aztecs who thought they were in the center of the world to stop its

    Read More

  • Comparison of The Aztecs and The Incas

    1543 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Aztec gods and goddesses, not only wanted blood, they wanted living human hearts. The living hearts were considered to nourish the gods and goddesses. All hearts were good, but the bravest captives were to be best nourishing to the gods as a result, widespread warring took place. The Aztec people sought to bring captives back to the Aztec temples for sacrifice. They would sacrifice people in name of the gods.

    Read More

  • Supernatural Spheres In Ancient Mayan Society

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    In ancient Maya society, as their religion involved lots of elements like nature, astronomy, and rituals, people understood the relationship between natural and supernatural spheres to be a constant interplay of dynamic forces. In ancient Maya thoughts, they divided the cosmic space to three reals in vertical space: the upper-world, the middle-world and the underworld. And horizontal space was divided into four quadrants spreading from a central axis.

    Read More

  • Mayan Tattoos

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    In ancient history the Aztecs and Mayans practiced tongue piercing as part of rituals. Tongue piercing was done because Aztecs thought it was a way to communicate with the gods. The Mayan’s also practiced tongue piercing as a way to demonstrate courage and virility.

    Read More

  • Death Iconography: An Overview Of The Maya Death Iconography

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    Depictions of Xibalba suggest the Maya believe it as a world of “festering boils, rotting flesh, and decomposition” of people and animals (Wilson 2006). References to Xibalba originate in the Maya creation story, Popul Vuh, where games of defeat “doomed a soul to burial in the evil smelling Xibalba, whereas victory allowed it to dance away and, with other reborn ancestors, guide its descendants” for years to come (Bower 1986). Depicted on Pakal the Great, King of Palenque’s sarcophagus in the Temple of Inscriptions (683 A.D.) is a picture of the ruler surrounded by Xibalba (Scherer 2012). Schele and Miller (1986: 268) interpret the lid as a guide to lead Pakal’s soul into the underworld (See figure 1). A ceramic vase, with remnants of painted stucco, found in the Mirador Basin (A.D. 670-760) presents a scene similar to a segment of the Popul Vuh; the cunning Hero Twins trick the lords of the underworld into their own decapitations (See figure 2) (Coe

    Read More

  • Death And Afterlife Of The Aztec: Death And Afterlife

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the main things the Aztecs are known for are their human sacrifice rituals. They believed that life and balance would not be possible without offering sacrificial blood to the gods since the gods sacrificed themselves to give them the sun. Burying the dead was seen as an act of feeding the earth. The Aztecs preformed two rituals for the dead, the first being for children and the second being for adults. The ritual for adults put special focus on warriors who died in

    Read More

  • Corn To The Maya Culture

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    been the staff of life for the Maya ever since. For example maize is for a fact always in a story in the Popol Vuh and how it is used as a offering to the gods whenever there is a bloodletting ritual or even portrayed as the go to food for anything spiritual because that is just how important maize is to the Maya. One of the stories to have included Maize is the story of Lady Blood and the miracle of the maize from the Popol Vuh it tells the tale of how Lady Blood went with the grandmother and...

    Read More

  • The Aztec Human Sacrifices

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Even though human sacrifices were a common occurrence at the time, the Aztecs ritual and persistence to please the god made the civilization known as Central America’s bloodiest civilization in the fourteenth century. Works Cited The “Aztec Human Sacrifices”. Myths of Latin America. 24 Mar. 2014 http://users.poliser.wisc.

    Read More

  • Meso America

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mesoamerican Civilization Essay

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Maya religion required a highly complicated method of worship that demanded bloodletting and sacrificial rituals that were often fulfilled by the kings and queens. These efforts were necessary because it was believed to "feed" the gods. It was the sacred duty and responsibility of the ruler to often feed the gods with their own blood. The believed their rulers had the power to pass in and out body to the spirit world and acted as messengers to the celestial world.[109]

    Read More

  • Mayan Religion

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...nt crops like maize. Religious officials and their roles in Mayan society reflect on how seriously the Mayans took religion and how organized it was. Ceremonies, such as sacrifices, are evidence of how the Mayans honored their gods and how they believed the world worked. All are important to understanding Mayan religion.

    Read More

  • The Maya Civilization

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Maya civilization was based mainly on agriculture and religion. Maya every day life revolved around an innumerable number of earth Gods. The most important God was chief, ruler of all Gods. The Mayans prayed to these God’s particularly about their crops. For example, they prayed to the Rain God to nourish their crops. They practiced their religion during ceremonies conducted by priests. They also practiced confession and even fasted before important ceremonies (Gann and Thompson 1931 118-138). The Mayans also b...

    Read More

  • Comparison: The Tainos, Mayans, and Kalinagos

    2032 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...The Mayans were polytheistic and they believed in many manifestations of their one God Kunabku and these manifestations looked over everything. Priests were appointed not only through their religious commitment but also thought their literacy level. The Halach Uinic was also referred to as the K’uhul Ajaw which refers to Holy Lord/ Ruler which demonstrates the close association between the king and God and in turn State and Religion. The Mayans also believed in ancestor worship and communication performed by the Halach Uinic and priests during their hallucinations. Bloodletting was also an activity practiced by the Mayans as a means of sacrifice towards their God and as worship. It was drained from captives in war and prisoners but a nobles’ blood was especially treasured and used on special occasions

    Read More

More about The Mayans: Bedletting Rituals

Open Document