Life In The Mayan Culture

​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 believed to existence in 1800 BC and gone by 1500 AD. They had a lot of big cities but no capital. Many of the people lived in hay huts, some in limestone buildings built on tall pyramids which could actually be used as landmarks. They have a constant reminder the gods are present with the pyramids and first one was built right before Christ birth. Their agriculture was based on the economy, there main crop was corn but also grew cotton, beans, squash and cocao. They hunted deer, duck, turkey, monkeys, iguana, and other things with bow and arrows, blowguns, darts to eat, they did a little fishing. The Mayan art was about politics, the

Throughout time, there are many instances of early civilizations accomplishing breathtaking feats that we find awe worthy even today. These cultures helped shape humanity as a whole, and paved the way for people everywhere. Of these early cultures, one of the most remarkable was undoubtedly the Mayans. The Mayans lived in Mesoamerica, around Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. They were an isolated group of people that thrived on farming and raised crops such as Maize, Beans, and Chili Peppers. They also Fished often and hunted Deer and other woodland creatures.

One very interesting thing about the Mayans was that they had a very different view of creation than most common belief systems. The Mayans believed that the earth was just a plain old watery void to start out. Then, animals and plants came into the earth’s wide picture (Jarus). It was just animals and plants on the planet--no humans.

The ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central America. Their civilization inhabited an area that encompasses Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and parts of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, as well as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. "From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphics, and a complex social and political order" ("Collapse..." 1). Urban centers were important to the Maya during the Classic period; they offered the Mayans a central place to practice religion.

The gods were modeled after animals for sacrificial purposes and religious ceremonies. The ancient Maya had many beliefs. They had possessed an in depth understanding of astronomy, engineering, and mathematics. The Maya believed that the Sun, Moon, and other planets, had been journeys of the gods.

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 ancient Maya believed in recurring cycles of creation and destruction because, The largest cycles were thought to be recurrent cycle of creation and destruction, and the Maya believed that each of the named says within their cycles contained a destiny which was relieved in each of the many eras of a cyclic universe. The Maya believed in many gods. They believed their gods could help or hurt them. They worshiped their gods every day. Religion was at the heart of everything they did. Human sacrifice was performed on prisoners, slaves, and particularly children, with orphans. Before the Toltec era, however, animal sacrifice may have been far more common than human - turkeys, dogs, and squirrels being among the species considered suitable offerings to Mayan gods.

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 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.

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)

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

By 5000 BC, the Maya had settled along Caribbean and Pacific coasts, forming egalitarian fishing communities. Certainly by 2000 BC the Maya had also moved inland and adopted agriculture for their subsistence. Maize and beans formed the Maya diet then as today, although many other foodstuffs--squash, tomatoes, peppers, fruits, and game--were supplements. The word for maize--wa--is synonymous with food itself, and the maize god was honored from early times.

The Mayan culture is one that has many unique qualities. Historically the Mayan’s have encountered many struggles as they were invaded by the spanish and caused a 360 degree shift in their belief system as Catholicism was strictly enforced upon them. The spaniards truly caused an impactful divide for the Mayans and in certain parts of the region this shift is still very much alive. The Mayan beliefs are among the oldest in the world as their descendants have continued to hold on to some beliefs and merged them into modern day life. The object of this papers is to discuss several topics. My main point of discussion will detail the overall Mayan’s cultural beliefs and practices as it pertains to death and the afterlife. Moving on from this discussion I will provide a background on the Mayan’s creation myth’s. Finally the conclusion that will be drawn up will consist of a personal comparision of my faith. The uniqueness of the Mayan culture is that they practice Catholicsm with deep roots in Mayan beliefs. My efforts will consist of me highlighting such differences in the Mayan beliefs and my modern day Roman Catholic point of views.

The Mayan people are known to be incredibly religious, and their beliefs established the creation of humans, the world, and everything they held sacred. The believed in many gods, including the gods of the sun, moon, rain, and corn. Two of these gods, the wind and sky gods, came together to create the earth. According to the Mayans creation story, it took the gods three tries to form the perfect creations to honour them (Gomez, Maria C.). This is one of the reasons religion was taken so seriously in their culture.