The Mayans: religion and culture

In the Pre-Columbian America, that is, the one that existed before the discovery of the continent by Columbus, lived different civilizations that were highly developed and had established religious, political, and cultural The Mayans were one of these civilizations who managed to create a very well formed society with a very deep cosmogony thanks to the extensive astrological knowledge they had. Its great expansion throughout the American territory made its influence encompass different peoples indigenous people who ended up forming part of the Mayan Empire, thus adopting their language, culture and religion.

Temporarily, the Mayan civilization extends from 2000 BC to 900 AD having, at this time, two clearly different eras: the Pre-classical and the Classic periods; in the latter it was when the empire reached its maximum splendor. In a teacher we are going to talk to you about Mayan religion and culture, one of the most important civilizations in America before the conquest.

Index

1. The Religion of the Mayans: Summary
2. The Culture of the Mayans: Summary
3. Main works of Mayan literature

Inside the story, talk about mayan religion it is to speak of a conception of the world very different from that of other religions such as Christianity. The first thing we have to bear in mind is that they considered that the world had been created five times and destroyed four times, therefore, they considered that life was closely linked to the infinite time of creation and destruction, which is why they became true experts in time calculations creating systems such as the known Mayan calendar.

In the Mayan religion we find that the conception of eternal life is very particular: they believed that, after death, there was a very active and full life of kindness but that not everyone could access this "paradise", to do so, you had to be sacrificed, killed or murdered during childhood. These deaths were considered offerings to the gods that, as a reward, they made the little one experience his death in paradise. The rest of mortals went to hell (xibal) where the Gods of Death were the rulers.

In a teacher we discover the Mayan empire in a short and easy to study summary.

The Mayan gods

In the history of the Maya there were different gods whom they worshiped and, all of them, had an image inspired by the nature and fauna of the area in which they were settled. For this reason, in his theogony we find a great variety of gods with the appearance of reptiles. that, according to their qualities and characteristics, can represent positive or negative qualities of being human.

From among the most important Mayan gods, we highlight the following:

• Hunab-Ku (means "a single god"): he was considered the creator god of the world and of the human being, who created it from an ear of corn; therefore, is the most important of the deities being the father, also, of all the other gods.
• Itzam- Na: he was considered "god of the sky" and was in charge of protecting science and writing; it is believed that he was the one who helped invent the Mayan script and calendar.
• Kukulkan: the "god of the wind" who was influenced by the culture of the Aztecs. It was represented
• Kinich-Ahau: It was believed that the Sun was this god who was related to life and the possibility that there were crops on the land.
• Chaac: every time it rained it was believed that it was because the goddess Chaac came down to Earth to visit them; For this reason, they carried out rituals to summon rain so that they could enjoy good harvests.
• Yum cimil: He is the god of the dead who lives in hell and is in charge of sheltering all the dead in the world, except the chosen ones.

In this other lesson from a teacher you will find everything you need to know about the main gods of the Mayans in a short summary so you can study quickly.

Mayan temples

In the Mayan religion, to make your offerings to the gods and venerate them on Earth, the Mayans built numerous temples (many of which can still be visited today) and, around these, cities were built; therefore, the religious cult was the center of this civilization.

In these spaces it was also where the priests gave their religious speeches and, therefore, the spiritual meeting place of all the people. Religious rites and ceremonies were carried out designed to venerate the deities; human or animal sacrifices could be made as an offering.

The people chosen as priests were part of the elite of Mayan society and, after their appointment, received even more privileges, similar to those enjoyed by other important personalities such as bosses Warriors.

Now let's talk about the Mayan culture to understand other aspects of this very important civilization of Pre-Columbian America. We have to point out that this society is divided into two clearly differentiated stages: the Preclassic period and the Classic period, which, the latter, is the one that was most significant.

Mayan writing

It was in the latter that the Mayans developed a writing system through the use of hieroglyphs, a form that we later saw in other great civilizations such as the Egyptian. That is, the writing that we find in this society is not inspired by the association of a letter with a sound (as makes our traditional alphabet) but the language is created by combining different symbols and ideograms.

The Mayans were the only pre-Columbian people that had their own writing system and, for this reason, can currently make it easier for us to understand how they were organized, what they thought, and how they lived when the Empire was in full swing. apogee. However, the complexity of the symbols and the loss of most of these writings (due to the irruption of the Spaniards who burned most of the Mayan documents and texts) it caused a large part of this important culture to be lost.

Within the Mayan writing system, what did remain were some codices written on stone and that they were not found by the Spanish because they were separated from the nuclei of society. Thus, currently many researchers continue with the task of trying to decipher the messages of these codices found and that will allow us to get a little closer to the Mayan culture and its characteristics.

The most important Maya codices

We are going to do a summary of the Mayan culture in relation to the stone codices found. The first thing we should know is that, in these writings, we do not find only literary texts but they were the supports used to store all knowledge of this pre-Columbian culture and, for this reason, in them we find the extensive knowledge they acquired in relation to astronomy, mathematics, the arts, and so on.

Few codices have survived to this day, most of them were damaged by the passage of time or were eliminated at the hands of enemies or invaders (as in the case of the Spanish). For this reason, it is considered that there are only three Maya codices that have been preserved over time:

• The Dresden Codex
• The Madrid Codex
• The Paris Codex

Inside of thethe culture of the Maya We also highlight his contribution in literary matters. Although, as we have already said, the writing of this society was hieroglyphic and iconographic, the truth is that they have reached us two works of literature very important that present us the essence of this town and allow us to deepen, even more, their beliefs and experiences.

The Popol Vuh

Although it is not a work that belongs to the entire Mayan culture as it is inspired by some beliefs of the Quiché people, the truth is that it is considered as the "Bible" of the Maya. The existence of this book is very peculiar because it is known that the Spanish, when they entered this town, burned everything, including the original Popol Vuh.

However, a survivor was able to escape and, around 1550, he wrote the teachings that he remembered to be in this sacred writing; Thus, the book we have today is not the original, but rather a composition based on the memory of a Quiché.

In this book we find a mythological narrative about the creation of the Universe, the Earth and the being human, this is where we discover that, according to the Mayan conception, man had been created from corn.

Chilam balam

It is not a single book but it is a series of writings that narrate different historical events and anecdotes of the Mayan civilization. They were written after the colonization of the Spanish and, the authors of these books, were indigenous people who had been Christianized, therefore, in some moments we can glimpse the trace of Christianity and the morality of this new religion.

Within all of them we highlight the Chilam Balam de Chumayel because it is the book that is known as "The vision of the defeated"In other words, it recounts the Spanish conquest from the indigenous point of view, something that happened for the first time. Until that moment, all the documents of the conquest had been drawn up from the point of view of the Spaniards and, with this text, for the first time, the natives were the ones who explained what happened.

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