Impact Of Religion On The Mayan Civilization

​Many of the cultures that we have today have evolved from past events. Such as language it was something that became known throughout the years. Some of the languages that came from that were English, Spanish, German, and Latin to name a few. These languages were derived more past civilizations. One important civilization that is known for having great success is the Mayan civilization. The Mayan civilization is known for many things like they fully developed written language, art, architecture, math and some other factors. Historians have said that they don’t know an exact date of when this civilization rose up but they do mention that it flourished for about 2000 years. Although staring in 250 AD it is said that it was the start of their high point and it continued until the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The Maya area covers southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. According to Sharer the area is divided into three regions: the Pacific coastal plain to the south, the highlands in the center, and the lowlands to the north. Even though these three regions were under the same civilization they all practiced different religious rituals. Religion plays a big role in every civilization. Some civilizations tend to praise more than one god and they always mention that what they have is thanks to their god. When they see things going wrong they often say that their god is punishing them because they did something that the god/s did not like. This tends to be the same

The Maya were a people from Middle America, which includes modern Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Northern Belize (Editors). The Maya civilization was considered to be “one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica,” (Maya). “The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork,” (Maya). They also gave mankind the modern calendar (Jarus, Maya). The Mayans were a very advanced people, but one of the most important things in the Mayan culture was their religion/god worshipping rituals.

The priestly class lived in the cities, while the general population lived away in small farming villages. The priests would carry out daily religious duties, particularly sacrifices, and the peasants would gather periodically for religious ceremonies and festivals. They built the ceremonial centers in a specific design for religious practices. They constructed tall pyramid temples, warren-like single story palaces, and a ball court that was surrounded by a broad central plaza. The architectural features of the Mayan pyramids include towering roofs, corbel vaults, and elaborate embellishment with stucco reliefs (Palfrey 2). It is amazing to imagine the detail that the Mayans were able to create in their architecture with only primitive tools. For the Mayans, science and religion were linked. Time was extremely important and their agriculture and religious ceremonies required a system that could record time.

The Maya were also a farming society like the Aztecs. They too, worshiped many gods, whom they felt were responsible for their survival. Gods of rain, wind, and sun were among the ones most worshiped. Mayan leaders went to war to try and capture the ruler of another city. If they did they would sacrifice the prisoner, again much like the Aztecs (Mexico).

The differences of the Mayan religious and the American religious is that for the only way for the sun to rise they have to sacrifice blood.The Mayans believe in more than one god so they are called polytheism.They also built huge monument to honor their kings and their gods.The physical labor was a honor to their gods.The most important god they have to honor is the sun god by farming corn because if they did not the sun would not rise and plants would die,the fruits would not be non nutritional,and animals would die.

Architecture, the basis of life for the Mayans. Architecture, specifically regarding pyramids. Now, when we think of the word “pyramid” most people will automatically think of the Great Pyramids of Egypt (we’ll get to those). But the Mayans had just as pyramids just as great. See, the technical building of the Maya pyramid was the same as the Egyptians. Both civilizations had pyramids of their own architectural design; Egypt with the well-known triangle and the Mayans with staircases. The use of slaves would help rise the pyramids from the ground, stacking, piling, pulling, and layering stone and clay. The main difference

The Mayan way of life revolved their religion. They had a polytheistic religion praising many gods. Each god had a certain thing that they would rule over or take care of. Chac was the god of rain, Kinich Ahau was the sun god, and Yum Cimil was the god of the underworld. There were many gods and goddess for almost every reason one could think of, there is even a goddess of suicide. They would perform human sacrifices, bleeding rituals, and dances to praise and to

The Mayan economy depended upon trading and centralized markets to sustain itself. They used canoes to transport goods across rivers and lakes. Cacao beans were used as currency, or traders bartered with each other to exchange goods. They traded food with societies close to them and nonperishable goods, such as obsidian, with societies farther from them. In Mayan society, agriculture was looked upon as a key part to the economy. The Mayans main crops that were grown were corn, beans, chili peppers, and squash. These crops were a very big priority for the Mayan settlement and economy for trading purposes. The Mayans also developed wonderful cities with larger community centers. These centers featured temples, pyramids, and palaces. These were good strategic central location which would enhance the economy. The Mayan economies wonderful trade and agricultural products all helped form a great base for the Mayan economy. Those aspects like agriculture and trading also immensely helped the Aztec civilization.

The Mayan had an interesting money system. They used green stone beads, copper bells, and cacao beans as money. Some Mayan jobs include weaving, trading, pottery, artisans, farming, and being a warrior.The women worked at home making food and taking care of the children. The most common job was being a farmer. Mayan farmers produced corn, beans, and squash. People paid taxes to build palaces and

Maya of Yucatan and Guatemala exhibited a cultural continuity spanning more than 2,000 years (1000 BC-AD 1542), and many aspects of their culture continue to the present. Mesoamerica had three major time periods: preclassic (2000 BC-AD 300), classic (300-900), and postclassic (900-1500). A temple in Tikal, one of the Maya city states. The ancient Maya city of Tikal, in modern-day Guatemala, flourished between roughly 600 B.C. and A.D. 900. ... Tikal is a recent Maya name that means “at the waterhole.” It was named this long after its collapse. Ancient Mayan Economics. The Mayan economy was largely based on food and agriculture, this form is the same as the other earlier civil countries, like China and Egypt. Farming was the main labor resources, and usually consisted of men. The Mayans religion involved several aspects of nature, astronomy and rituals. Most Gods represented a form in nature, for example, Sun God, Kinich Ahau, or Maize God, Yum Kaax. The Mayans were known for their calendars and astronomical buildings. These were used during their religious rituals. The Maya social classes is a system of political organization. It is divided in ahau (king), nobles, priests, merchants and artisans, and peasants and slaves. At the head of each Maya polity, there was halach uinic, also called the ajau. The Mayans developed a hierarchical government ruled by kings and priests. They

Agriculture was the basis of the economy of the Mayan and corn was the principal food.(Voorhies 324) Other crops included avocados, tomatoes, and chili peppers. They cultivated an enormous variety of plants.(Foley 20)

The Classical Maya was lost to the archaeological records until the last 200 years due to it’s abandonment. When the Mayans left there great cities, thick vines and jungles overtook the great monuments they once built. But in the last 200 years, in depth research has lead to breakthroughs into what the Classic Maya was like. The earliest Mayans were agriculturalist, growing crops such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava. The Mayans also invented a very accurate calendar, a math code using 0’s, constructed buildings still intact today, and a writing system that took decades to decode. The Mayans were situated in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), modern-day Guatemala, Belize, parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. Due to their location on the

Maya culture is one of the oldest and most intelligent tribal races. The flourishing period of Maya was between 300 and 900. The principal food in Maya was maize, which was also called “the maize culture”. They had no livestock such as sheep and horses. Also, they made the calendar and divided a year to 18 months. In addition, they built huge stone temples and held bloodletting ceremonies in order to sacrifice

Almost every aspect of Maya life was centered on religion. These ancient Mesoamerican peoples worshipped many gods and goddesses; this was part of their daily lives, despite class differences in their sophisticated society. Religion served as a basis for the government and social life. Priests and shamans played an important role in their government, conducted religious ceremonies, and made sacrifices to the gods. The Maya believed in the supernatural, and used this belief to explain life and their universe. Every object, whether it is part of nature or man made, was considered sacred and worshipped.

The Mayans were organized by city states and ran government the same way. The religion was based on polytheism, or multiple Gods of nature and earth. One reason for their rise to a complex civilization was that The Mayans were very advanced people in the area of education. They were well ahead of their time in areas of math, astronomy, and even medicine and other sciences. Society, along with much of the world today, is still influenced by their ways and methods in these areas. The Mayas