Beliefs & Practices
Mayan Beliefs
The Mayans believed
in multiple gods, both of which had a good side and an evil side. The most
important deity to the Mayans was the supreme god Itzamná, the creator
god. He was the god of fire and earth. Chac was a hooked-nose god of rain and
lightning. Bolon Tzacab is thought to have functioned as a god of royal
descent.
Mayan rulers were seen as intermediaries between the gods and the people. They were buried in elaborate tombs filled with valuable offerings as they were viewed as semi-divine themselves. The Mayans believed in the afterlife, which primarily consisted of a dangerous voyage of the soul through the underworld. The underworld was full of sinister gods and represented by the jaguar, the symbol of night. It is believed that heaven was reserved only for those who had been sacrificed or died in childbirth. Time was sacred for the Mayan. To be able to understand and predict cycle of time allow the Mayan to adapt and make best use of their natural world. http://www.religionfacts.com/mayan_religion/index.htm |
Mayan PracticesAside from religious rituals that include dancing, competition, ball games, dramatic performances and prayer, the Mayans believed in Human Sacrifice. Human sacrifice seems to have been a central Mayan religious practice in order to encourage fertility, demonstrate piety, and appease the gods. Human blood was believed to nourish the Mayan gods; therefore ritual bloodletting was seen as the only means of making contact with them. They believed that cosmic disorder and chaos would result if the Mayans neglected these rituals.
During the ceremonies, the sacrificial victim was held down at the top of a pyramid or raised platform while the priest made an incision below the rib cage and ripped out the heart with his hands. Then the heart was burned in order to nourish the gods. http://www.religionfacts.com/mayan_religion/index.htm |
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