Ancient Religions Explained: The Mayans
Renowned for their pyramidal structures, their arts, and their mathematical system, the Maya of ancient times, located in what is now southern Mexico and Central America, operated under a complex theocracy that, like that of the Aztecs, emphasized calendar-making.
The Cultural/Historical Setting
The zenith of the agriculturally centered Mayan civilization, one of the most important pre-Columbian peoples, occurred between 300 and 900 C.E. The reason for the gradual depopulation of their great cities between 900 and 1100 C.E. has been a subject of continuing debate.
At its height, the Mayan civilization appears to have operated not under a single ruler, but as a loosely organized gathering of semi-autonomous cities and villages. These units seem to have emphasized kinship and genealogy as important social and religious factors. Ties to the earth were always vitally important. Advances in agricultural techniques supported population growth in the ancient Mayan culture—and, by extension, the accompanying breakthroughs in mathematics, calendar-making, architecture, and the arts for which the old civilization is best known today.
The Ancient Mayan Creation Myth
In ancient times, before there were people, the gods Tepeu and Gucumatz reigned. If they thought something, it came into existence. When they thought about the earth, it was born. When they thought about trees, or mountains, or any other feature of the landscape, it came forth. The moment they thought about animals, the animals were there.
Tepeu and Gucumatz soon realized, though, that something important was missing. Nothing that they had created was capable of praising them. And so they decided to create people. The first people were made of clay—but the gods found that these dissolved when they got wet. The next people were fashioned from wood, but they were troublemakers, and so the gods sent a flood to rectify their mistake and start anew. Finally the gods appealed to the mountain lion, the coyote, the parrot, and the crow to help them find the right material from which to build superior beings. The animals found corn, and it was from corn that the gods created the Four Fathers from which all humanity traces its lineage.
Key Concepts from Ancient Mayan Observance
Among the most important points to remember about the ancient religious practices of the Maya are the following:
- The Maya placed a high degree of faith in the ability of the gods to control and order events and human undertakings within specific time periods.
- Nature, time, and agriculture were preoccupations of religious life—and, indeed, of life as a whole—in Mayan society.
- Like the religion of the Aztec peoples of central Mexico, Mayan religion incorporated elements of human sacrifice to appease key gods.
- Among the many other important deities were Kinich Ahau, the sun god; Chaac, the rain god; and the Maize god, strongly associated with the central obsession of the culture as a whole—ripened and healthy corn.
- Mayan mythology postulated four brother-gods who held up the sky. Each presided over a four-year span of time and represented one of the four directions. Colors associated with each of these deities were essential to Mayan religious and calendar-making practices.
- Current scholarship suggests that ancestor worship was an important part of life in ancient Mayan civilizations.
Although descendants of the ancient Mayans are alive and well in the region and modest rural settlements have characterized the region for centuries, Roman Catholicism has been the dominant religion since the Spanish conquest of the 1500s. However, many original Mayan traditions (including native religious practices) have been intertwined with their European counterparts.
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World Religions, Fourth Edition, by Brandon Toropov and Father Luke Buckles
