Mayan Rituals

Aside from the great temples and pyramids the Mayas also had city states spread throughout. Unlike the Aztecs in Mexico, the Maya were never a unified empire ruled by a single ruler from a single place. The Maya’s were a series of smaller city states who ruled their immediate vicinity. Each city was different in its own unique way. Although they had their differences they tended to share certain characteristics as well, such as their general layout. The Maya’s laid out their cities similarly to the Aztecs and built around a central plaza. In the center of the cities were the important public buildings such as temples, palaces and a ball court. Residential areas radiated out from the city center, growing sparser the further they got from the center. Raised stone walkways linked the residential areas with each other and the center as well. Something important to note is that these plazas were rarely neat and orderly, and this is because the Maya’s

Clothing: The men wore breechcloths with leggings and buckskin shirts with belts and the women wore long, buckskin dresses, hats, and knee length moccasins. They both wore moccasins to protect their feet. Gloves were also occasionally worn by men. Both also painted their faces for ceremonies and special occasions.

The culture of the Mayans gradually uplifted, and the peak of their civilization appeared during the Classic Age of 250 to 900 CE. During this time, The Mayans created an abundance of art and amazing architecture that still inspire the architects of today. This civilization was on the road to greatness, but this greatness came to an end quickly. The Mayan city-states were in a constant feud and violence was constantly raging. Because of this, The Maya never became a single government unlike other major societies. Despite this, The Mayans achieved many remarkable accomplishments such as their calendar, architecture, marvelous trade system, and genius numerals that continue to be a template for the people of today.

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.

I believe that how the Maya built their city is effort. This Mean the Mayan used physical and/or mental effort to built

First of all, the demise of the Mayan Empire was caused by warfare, since while I was researching about the Mayans being warlike I came across to thinking about all the population decreasing from all the wars among others which weren’t necessary, plus they killed many of their own kind. For example, in theory (1) it states, “A 1,200 year-old mass grave was uncovered in Guatemala that turned up some 45 skeletons, including the Mayan king Kan Maax and his wife.” (para. 3). In other words, archeologists discovered a grave from 1,200 years ago in Guatemala which held 45 skeletons. Surprisingly, it carried the bodies of the Maya king, Kan Maax, and his beautiful wife.

The Maya civilization was one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica. The growth of the great Mayan civilization is as much a mystery as its disappearance. The Maya Empire, centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala, reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D (http://www.history.com/topics/maya#). As a youth growing up in Belize Central America, I was very much intrigued by the Mayan civilization as we would regularly take educational field trips to the massive stone temples of Xunantunich and Altun Ha. Both Mayan ruins were no more than 50 miles away from my childhood home. Most of what we know about the Maya comes from what remains of their architecture and art, including stone carvings and inscriptions on their buildings and monuments. The Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped various gods related to nature, including the gods of the sun, the moon, rain and corn.

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

As population rose, the nobles of the independent city states both intermarried and made war on one another. Ultimately, the system of rule that had served the Maya for centuries had failed. Faced with famine, foreign invasion, chronic warfare, and perhaps disease, an era ended what is generally called the Classic Maya collapse.

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 artists often depicted supernatural entities with a mixture of attributes or aspects relating different deities. This approach complicates efforts to identify their subjects with particular divine attributes relating to their pantheon. Most of the depicted features – the skeletal jaw, scrolls emitting from the mouth, the earflares, god eyes with spiral pupils, and long hair – associate this image with the rain deity, known as Chahk. The under-eye scrolls, however, could also indicate that the artists infused this rain deity with an aspect of the Sun God, whose eyes are often adorned with such

Massive temples hidden in the jungles of the Yucatan, mysterious stone stelas, and cryptic calendars eluding to advanced knowledge of the stars and mathematics are just some of the artifacts originating from the “Classic Maya” period (200 CE-900 CE). However, these popular items should not be the only defining characteristics of a society that dominated the Mesoamerican region for nearly a millennia. Dynastic lines, similar to those found in European houses, were important elements during this period in places like Palenque, Tikal, and Calakmul. Additionally, the Maya experienced violent and consistent warfare between localized powers and the backbone of their society, agriculture, suffered through several multi-year droughts. These factors

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 city states consisted of numerous citizens but these citizens were not all equal. Indeed, one characteristic of Maya society was the hierarchical nature of its social organization. This meant that, at different levels in the society, people would be treated according to their status. This difference in social treatment automatically meant that some citizens enjoyed a better standard of living with more of the amenities of life than others. It also meant that at the bottom of this graded social pyramid were the agricultural farmers and foot soldiers of the empire flourished. By virtue of being at the bottom of the social pyramid their training and skills consisted largely of the social functions that they performed. Hence, they were not literate and concerned themselves largely with issues of agriculture and the basics of following orders in warfare.

When the northern Maya were finally integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a close, although some smaller cities continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century (Ruddell).