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Ancient Mayan Beliefs - Coggle Diagram
Ancient Mayan Beliefs
Deities
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The maize god, and the cycle of maize was extremely significant to the Maya
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Spirit & Soul
The belief of Maya is that nothing was born and nothing died, the soul continued despite losing its physical form
Respect must be given to everything as it had a life force or soul. Everything was to be recognised and honoured
Each mayan had a spirit guide which could appear as different things, deities were the supreme spiritual beings
Committing crimes against a person, namely killing them, was a crime against the soul and the religious punishments for that were severe
Texts & Scripture
There were 2 major religious texts written by Mayan priests, the Popol Vuh and Books of Chilam Balam. The Popol Vuh was written between 1544 and 1548 and contains religious practices, stories and scriptures, containing the beliefs of the Quiche Maya
6 deities created the Earth with the Heart of Hurakan and planted a Ceiba tree to separate the earth from the sky. The trees roots penetrated deep into the 9 levels of the Mayan underworld, Xibalba. The trunk was on the surface of the land and the branches reached high into the 13 levels of the Mayan upperworld, Tamoanchan
The first humans were made of mud, but failed, then made of wood, but they failed and those wooden humans became monkeys. The humans were finally made of white and yellow corn and were good “keepers of the day”
While the sky and earth now existed, there was no Sun or Moon, but a vain bird called Vucub-Caquix or Seven Macaw claimed to be both, which was false. Two twins, Hunajpu and Xbalanque defeated Seven Macaw. To bring their dead father back to life, the twins challenged the Death Lords of Xibalba to a game of Pok-a-tok. The twins won and this let their father come back as the Maize god
The twins, Hunajpu and Xbalanque rose out of Xibalba and became the Sun and Moon respectively
Tamoanchan was the place of the sky, located on a mountain, and had 13 levels
Xibalba was the underworld, with 9 levels each ruled by its own death lord
The Tree of Life was a Ceiba tree, and its roots were in Xibalba, its trunk on Earth and its branches in Tamoanchan
Astronomy
The celestial bodies like the sun, stars, planets and moon were seen to be gods, and the movement of the former were the gods moving through Xibalba, the underworld, Tamoanchan, the heavens and other godly spaces
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Practices
When water was in low amounts, incense scattering ceremonies would be held, as they brought wind and rain
Pok-a-tok was the most famous game in Mayan civilisation, with hundreds of ball courts being found in cities
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The winning team’s captain was sacrificed and went straight to Tamoanchan but due to the skill of the players, they were not regularly sacrificed
The Mayans also practised human sacrificed as it was said to nourish the gods and grant the sacrifice a straight way to Tamoanchan
Life & Death
When people died, they would start their journey into Tamoanchan from Xibalba. The death lords would try to trick the people to keep them there
Some people would have straight passage to Tamoanchan: sacrificial victims, Pok-a-tok sacrifices, people who died in war, people who committed suicide, women who died in childbirth
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Time
Time was believed to be a cycle, similar to a Samsara, with cycles in places like the movement of celestial bodies, seasons, death and life, and plants
This idea was closely related to their complex calendars which had a connection to a cycle of 52 years. This was also related to rituals and religious practices