Mayan Polytheism Essay
The Maya people practiced polytheism, they believed in many gods and goddess. Like many other ancient cultures, there were gods associated with nature (sun, wind, fire, rain, etc.), gods of heavens, etc and they imagined some of their gods as old or young; some took the shape of animals and some were part humans and part animals (***). The gods involved in every aspect of the Mayan’s life. Their main god was Itzamna, created earth and ruled over heaven (Mark, 2012). Furthermore, people also believed that their kings could carry messages between people and gods, and the priests were responsible for the rituals performances to keep people in good favor of the gods (Mark, 2012). For life after death, Maya people believed that only women died in
…show more content…
Therefore, there were many rituals performances in Maya such as dance rituals, blood sacrifices, and human sacrifices. The Maya people could see themselves communicating with the super natural world by doing the ritual dances (***). The performers had to dress up like gods or goddess to performed stories from Popol Vuh and other myths (***). Another privilege ritual is blood sacrifice. In order to perform this ritual, the participants had to avoid eating for days, only “hallucinogenic plant” allowed and be cleaned, in order to enter the super natural world (***). Mostly, elite women had to piercing their tongue and men had to cut and spilling their blood from their hands (***). The Mayan believed that spilling blood from human body, could contact the gods with their ancestors (***). “These bloody acts fulfilled the ancient charter with the gods that obliged humans to nourish the deities with blood drawn from the human body. This obligation had been incurred because the deities, during creation, had willingly spilled their own blood atop maize in order to form human flesh. . . . Maya rulers returned the divine gift of suste-nance to the gods.” (***). For Mayan, human sacrifice was the most important ritual. Since the mainly purpose of doing rituals was to offer to the gods, therefore they saw this as the most ultimate sacrifices. Mostly both elite and slave labor
Therefore, there were many rituals performances in Maya such as dance rituals, blood sacrifices, and human sacrifices. The Maya people could see themselves communicating with the super natural world by doing the ritual dances (***). The performers had to dress up like gods or goddess to performed stories from Popol Vuh and other myths (***). Another privilege ritual is blood sacrifice. In order to perform this ritual, the participants had to avoid eating for days, only “hallucinogenic plant” allowed and be cleaned, in order to enter the super natural world (***). Mostly, elite women had to piercing their tongue and men had to cut and spilling their blood from their hands (***). The Mayan believed that spilling blood from human body, could contact the gods with their ancestors (***). “These bloody acts fulfilled the ancient charter with the gods that obliged humans to nourish the deities with blood drawn from the human body. This obligation had been incurred because the deities, during creation, had willingly spilled their own blood atop maize in order to form human flesh. . . . Maya rulers returned the divine gift of suste-nance to the gods.” (***). For Mayan, human sacrifice was the most important ritual. Since the mainly purpose of doing rituals was to offer to the gods, therefore they saw this as the most ultimate sacrifices. Mostly both elite and slave labor