Mayan Religion

Who were the Mayans? A Mayan overview.

The Maya are native Mesoamerican people who developed one of the most sophisticated cultures in the Western Hemisphere. The Mayan civilization rose around 250 AD and were heavily influenced by the culture and religion of the Olmecs. The culture continued to thrive in various places until the Spanish conquest. During this first 650 years, civilization consisted of more than 40 cities spread across modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, and northern Belize.

Gods

The Mayans worshiped many Gods in their religion, most of which were representative of an aspect of nature for example, Sun God, Kinih Ahous, or Maize God, Yum Kaax. The Mayans religion was polytheist and were said to have worshipped over 165 different Gods, these Gods were human-like as they were born, grew up and died. The Gods were able to participate in human activities such as planting and harvesting maize, fighting wars, forming alliances and even intermarrying.

Afterlife & Animal Companions

The Mayans believed that when people died their souls would live continue into afterlife in the underworld, everyone including rulers ended up there. The only exception was those who died at childbirth or those who had been sacrificed to the Gods.

Another belief of the Mayans was that every person had an animal companion who shared their soul, they were called "Way Ob". It was believed that a person could transform into their animal companion spirit. Most Mayans only had one animal spirit but very powerful priests could have more than one.

Sacrifice & RitualsSacrifice was a religious activity in Maya Culture. Sacrifices were either involving the killing of animals or the bloodletting of members of the community in ceremony's conducted by priests. The bloodletting was when someone would pierce a soft body part of the person being sacrificed, most commonly the tongue,

The Mayans held these rituals to please their Gods. The Maya engaged in a huge number of festivals and rituals on certain days of the year and almost all of these involved sacrifices.

PyramidsThe Mayans were also known for their pyramids, these often had religious purposes. The ancient Mayans built two types of pyramids, those that were meant to be climbed and those that were not. The first type of pyramid was used for the sacrificial rituals and the other type was quite the opposite and was not allowed to be touched and was sacred.The steps on the pyramids were too steep to climb and often had doorways which lead to nowhere. Whenever a pyramid was used in a ritual priests would ascend the pyramid by staircases (usually two - four per structure) which was thought to bring them closer to the Gods.

How it influenced modern day.

Mayan religion did not have a huge influence on religion today. Now during modern times religions that involve sacrifices are incredibly scarce and today other religion such as, Christianity dominate the population. The ancient mayan religion is considered a dead religion but a few still practice this religion, un including the sacrifices of course.

Bibliography

By Samantha Neary

http://www.religionfacts.com/mayan_religion/index.htm

https://www.courses.psu.edu/anth/anth008_cmg149/pyr.html

http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp264-ss13/2013/04/24/mayans-religion-gods-animal-spirits-and-pyramids/

http://www.usmessageboard.com/religion-and-ethics/268636-does-anyone-still-practice-the-mayan-religion.html