home Climate systems

Maya religion and cults. Mayan religion: history, culture of the ancient people, basic beliefs Mayan religion

Among the Mayan people, knowledge and religion were inseparable from one another and constituted a single worldview, which was reflected in their art. Ideas about the diversity of the surrounding world were reflected in the images of numerous gods, which can be combined into several main groups corresponding to different areas of human experience: gods of hunting, gods of fertility, gods of various elements, gods of heavenly bodies, gods of war, gods of death, and so on.

Mayan cosmology

According to the Maya, the universe, like the Nahua, consisted of 13 heavens and 9 underworlds. The lower "heaven of the Moon" (the goddess of the Moon) was followed by the "heaven of the stars and the god of the Earth", then "the sky of the Sun and the goddess of water", and after that "the sky of Venus and the god of the Sun". Even higher was the "sky of comets and the goddess of love." The sixth heaven is "the black sky of the night and the god of death", the seventh is "the blue sky of the day and the god of corn". Above him is the "sky of storms and the god of rain", and then the "white sky of the god of the winds", the "yellow sky of Um-tsek" (i.e. the god of death) and the "red sky of sacrifices". The penultimate sky was given to the god of grain, and the last, thirteenth, was associated with the god in the form of an Owl and in some manuscripts is deciphered as belonging to the one "who owns the sky." Indian sources often mention a group of gods Oshlahun-Ti-Ku, the rulers of heaven. These deities, the patrons of the 13-day week, were at enmity with another group of gods - the lords of the underworld, Bolon-Ti-Ku.

If ideas about the structure of the universe as a whole are clear to us today, then a completely different situation is connected with the “underground worlds”. It is difficult to say why there were exactly nine worlds, but it is known for sure that Hun Ahab was the ruler of the underworld.

As already mentioned, the underworld was divided into nine levels, each of which was patronized by one of the nine gods, who together were called Bolon-Ti-Ku. These gods were the antagonists of Oshlahun-Ti-Ku and were the enemies of all mankind, sending illness and death to people. The harmful influence of these gods on the life and actions of a person is manifested both in the calendar and in the Itza epos "Chalam-Balam" in the chapter "Nine gods of the night". It describes the rivalry between Bolon-Ti-Ku and Oshlahun-Ti-Ku, which ended in led to a catastrophe, as a result of which one of the genera of people who were successively created by the gods perished.

Between the sky and the underworld was a flat surface of a rectangular earth. When people died, their souls went to one of the higher or lower worlds. The souls of warriors who died on the battlefield or from the sacrificial knife, and the souls of women who died in childbirth, were sent straight to heaven, to the paradise of the sun god. And the souls of those who drowned and died from diseases associated with water and lightning went to the paradise of the rain god. However, for most of the dead people, the underworld served as the last refuge - a cold and dark kingdom, where their souls wandered until the moment of their final death.

Maya from the lowlands of the country believed that the entrance to the underworld is a special hole in the ground in the mountains of Guatemala. From there beats a terrible fountain of blood and rotten bodies. According to the Maya, during its journey through the lower worlds, the human soul was subjected to terrible trials. She had to cross the river - a kind of Styx (in Greek mythology, the river that surrounded the underworld). For this, a guide dog was sacrificed at the funeral, helping to overcome this water barrier. Other trials awaited ahead: five Hell Houses, threatening mortal danger. Eternal darkness reigned in the House of Gloom, unbearable cold reigned in the House of Cold, formidable predators were ready to tear any stranger to pieces in the House of the Jaguar, etc. Guatemalan Mayan book - Quiche.

In the center of the universe, according to the Maya, there was the World Tree, penetrating all the layers of the heavens, and next to the cardinal points there were four more trees: black (in the west), white (in the north), red (in the east) and yellow (in the south) . Chaks (rain gods), pavakhtuns (wind gods) and bakabs (carriers or holders of the sky) were located on these trees. These gods also correlated with the cardinal points and differed in color. Red chak, pavakhtun and bakab were in the east, white ones were not in the north, etc. Three deities of the same color ruled the year; according to the cardinal direction, years were considered happy and unlucky.

Creation of the world according to the Maya

The god Unaba, or Hunaba Ku, was considered the Creator of the Mayan world. The sacred book "Popol Vuh" says that Unaba created mankind from corn. According to the Popol Vuh, not only the Creator - the Great Father (Kukumai), but also the Creator - the Great Mother (Tepeu) played an important role in the process of turning corn into a human being.

The first four people were created from corn dough - the “first forefathers” and “first fathers” Balam-Kitse, Balam-Akab, Mahukutah and Iki-Balam. And women were created for them. Once again, the deity fulfilled its purpose. And they appeared during the sleep (of the first people). Women were truly beautiful ... They conceived people of small tribes and large tribes, and they were the beginning of ourselves, us - the Quiche people.

According to the later beliefs of the Maya from the Yucatan, dating back to ancient times, the world was created four times and destroyed three times by a global flood.

In the beginning there was a world of dwarfs who built great cities. They did it in the dark, because the Sun had not yet been created. When it first rose, the dwarfs turned into stones, and the cities were destroyed by the first flood.

The world that followed was inhabited by criminals who were washed away by a new flood.

The third world was inhabited by the Maya themselves, but was also washed away by the flood. The fourth, modern world is inhabited by people who were born as a result of a mixture of all pre-existing tribes. Unfortunately, they are destined for the same fate: the fourth global flood is inevitable.

Mayan pantheon of gods

The ancient Maya divided the gods into benevolent and malevolent. The first "give" rain, provide a harvest of corn, contribute to abundance. The latter are mainly engaged in destructive work. Droughts, hurricanes, wars come from them. Apparently, the four bogatyrs, bakab brothers, whom the Creator, after the creation of the world, instructed to stand in the four corners of the universe and support the sky, can be attributed to both of them. While they were holding them, they did a good deed, but when the flood began, frightened, the brothers fled.

Among the heavenly deities, the main in the Mayan pantheon was the Lord of the world Itzamna - an old man with a toothless mouth, an aquiline nose and a wrinkled face. He was considered the creator of the world, the god of Day and Night, the founder of the priesthood, the inventor of writing. The god of fire played an important role among the Mayan deities. Most often, he was depicted as an old man with a huge forked nose in the form of a stylized sign of fire. The god of corn, who had the appearance of a young man in a headdress resembling an ear of corn, was especially revered. The Maya worshiped the rain god Chak, the sun god Kinich-Ahau, as well as the god of the valleys, the god of deer, the god of hunters, the jaguar gods and many others.

Among the numerous female deities, the "red goddess" Ish-Chebel-Yash was especially revered. She was often depicted with the paws of a predatory beast and a snake instead of a headdress. Another highly revered goddess - Ish-Chel (Rainbow) - was considered the wife of Itzamna. Ish-Chel, goddess of the moon, was the patroness of medicine, childbirth and weaving.

Of particular interest is the worship of jaguar gods, possibly very ancient, of Olmec origin. These gods were related to the underworld, death, hunting, military cults. "Black" and "red" jaguars were associated with the gods of rain and cardinal points. Jaguar, obviously, was also a tribal deity of the ruling dynasties of some city-states.

One of the most revered Mayan gods is Quetzalcoatl (Kukul-kan), the god of the wind, the god of the planet Venus, etc. In addition to the main deities, local gods and faith in deified ancestors and heroes played an important role in the religious life of the Maya.

The Maya also had such unusual gods for other peoples, such as, for example, Ishtab, who was the patroness of all suicides.

Mayan ritual life

To get the attention of the gods, the Maya fasted for a long time (sometimes up to three years), did not eat meat, salt, pepper, and did not use the spicy Mexican chile seasoning. Sexual abstinence was also encouraged. True, most of these restrictions applied only to priests. The rest had more freedom, but, being under the great influence of the priests, sought to follow the same methods of appeasing the gods. The Maya turned to the gods with a prayer and, above all, asked to ease the hardships of life, get rid of diseases, provide a harvest, good luck in hunting and fishing, and contribute to success in war.

Communication with the gods was carried out by the priests during prayers and meditations, as well as by "sending messengers to the gods", that is, sacrifices, including human ones.

Divination, prophecy and oracles played a huge role in the ritual life of the Maya. Mayan religious ceremonies include various types of ceremonies. The preparation and conduct of any religious ceremony included at least six elements: preliminary fasting and abstinence; choice by the priest, who is in a state of divine illumination, have a great day for the celebration; the expulsion of evil spirits from the venue of the holiday; fumigation of idols; prayers. The culmination of the holiday was a sacrifice, "the sending of messengers to the gods."

Usually the Maya did not resort to human sacrifice, limiting themselves to fruits, animals, birds, fish and various decorations. However, in days of heavy defeats or resounding victories in wars with their neighbors, during a period of drought and famine associated with it, during epidemics - that is, when, according to the Maya, only the gods are able to prevent trouble and send good luck - in the sacrifice was brought either by fellow tribesmen, or prisoners captured in battles.

There were several types of sacrifice. The most popular and solemn was the one in which the victim's heart was torn out. Usually the victim, covered with azure, four black-painted chaaka priests (usually they were venerable elders) in black robes were laid supine on a jasper altar. It had a rounded shape, so that when a person was placed on it, the chest protruded forward, and it was very convenient for the nakom priest to cut it with a razor-sharp obsidian knife and tear out the still beating heart.

The Maya believed that uncurled blood and a beating heart were carriers of the soul, which "sent as a messenger to the gods" with especially important assignments or requests. Therefore, the heart had to be torn out very quickly in order to have time to bring it to the statue of the god still trembling (until the soul “flew away”). The priest-soothsayer (chilan, or otherwise, chilam) in a cloak of scarlet feathers watered the image or statue of the god with the blood of a pulsating heart.

It was the chilan prophets who enjoyed special honor among the Maya, usually given only to rulers. Chaaks threw the body of the victim from the steps of the pyramid. Downstairs, other priests tore off the skin from the still warm corpse, which the chilan immediately pulled over himself, performing a frantic ritual dance in front of thousands of spectators. Then the body of the victim was buried; less often, if the victim was reputed to be a courageous warrior, the nobility and priests ate his remains, probably believing that in doing so they acquire the best qualities of the deceased.

According to another ritual, the chosen victim - an innocent young man (for the priests the purity of the "soul-blood" was important, besides, it was necessary to exclude extraneous influence) - was tied to a pole in the square and slowly shot either with spears or from bows, like a target. Such fanaticism was explained by the fact that at the beginning of the ritual it was strictly forbidden to inflict a mortal wound on the victim - the victim had to die long and painfully from the general loss of blood, with which the soul “flew away” to God.

Along with grandiose and solemn national holidays-sacrifices, there was also a blood donation ritual that did not require the death of the victim: her forehead, ears, elbows were cut; pierced cheeks, nose and even the genitals.

The ceremonial dance of fiery cleansing was very important, which was always performed in the years that were considered the most unlucky and dangerous according to the Mayan calendar. The ceremony took place late at night, which gave it solemnity and created a unique effect. When only glowing coals remained from a large fire, they were leveled and scattered around. The procession of barefoot Indians walking over the coals was led by the chief priest: some were burned, others were badly burned, and others remained unharmed! Many sacrificial rituals were accompanied by music and dancing. Temples. In the life of the Maya, urban centers played a significant role, the oldest of which were formed at the turn of a new era (Tikal, Vashaktun, Copan, Volaktun, Balakbal, etc.). In Kopan, for example, about 200 thousand people lived. Between 756 and 771 there were erected three temples up to 30 m high each. In addition, the city center was decorated with terraces, steles and statues of gods.

There were similar religious-secular centers in other cities. They are characteristic of Mesoamerica as a whole. Many monuments (tomb pyramids, the Pyramid of the Inscriptions and the Temple of the Sun in Palenque, the Temple of the Warriors, the Temple of the Jaguars and the Pyramid of Kukulkan in Chichen Itza, the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon in the "city of the gods" Teotihuacan) have survived to this day.

The centers of the Maya civilization were the cities: Chichen Itza, Palenque, Mayapan. Numerous temples were built in them. Mayan sanctuaries were in the form of stepped pyramids. Sacrifices, often human, were made to the gods, but among the inhabitants of Yucatan they did not play such a role as in the bloody rituals of the Aztecs. The Maya priests conducted regular astronomical observations of the Sun, Moon and planets and developed a calendar system more accurate than the Julian calendar in Christian Europe. Maya beliefs, the religion of ancient American cultures, are characterized by complex, sophisticated rites, rituals, the fundamental purpose of which was to receive indulgence from the gods in the form of all kinds of benefits. The Mayan religion boasted a huge variety of rituals from the incense of fragrant resins, cult dances and chants to vigils, fasts and prayers.

The religion of the ancient Maya was arranged in such a way that sacrifices occupied a special place in it. As a sacrifice, the Mayan religion, the tribe and its beliefs accepted both the inhabitants of flora and fauna: jaguars, turkeys, turtles, flowers, fruits of trees, and more common victims in the form of handicrafts and, of course, human lives. An indispensable attribute of the religion of May and the rites of sacrifice was a special blue ceremonial paint, with which offerings were smeared. Mayan religion, the religion of the inhabitants of ancient America. Obviously, with such a reverent attitude to traditions and rituals, priests occupied a special place in Mayan society, and the Mayan people and religion created such conditions for them that the priests, like many other peoples of Mesoamerica, constituted a special social stratum, a caste dominated by unshakable hierarchy.

In the Maya empire, the religion of ancient civilizations, power went from the high priest to the young servants. The religion of the Maya peoples was distinguished by the fact that the priests performed the functions of scientists, they were engaged in research of the surrounding world and accumulated scientific knowledge. According to the information provided by the chroniclers, according to the images and codes related to the culture of the ancient Indians, it is possible to partially restore the rituals through which the religion of the Mayan tribe manifested itself. It is known that most of all the inhabitants of Mesoamerica were concerned about such problems as obtaining food and extending life. The religion of the Maya civilization dictated to the Indians that this could be achieved through various rituals, collective or individual.

Religious preferences, Mayan religions were also distinguished by the fact that ceremonies accompanied almost all significant moments of people's lives. For example, the Maya perceived religion as a kind of duty, and therefore agricultural work, handicraft work and other aspects of life were accompanied by appropriate rituals of praising the gods. Like the later peoples who settled Central America, the beliefs held by the Maya tribe, the religion of the Mesoamericans, literally depended on the cult of blood. Ancient civilizations are categorical people. With regard to religion, the Maya adhered to customs absorbed over a long history. So, according to the household items that have come down to the present day, discovered by researchers - vessels, small-model utensils, ritual tools - one can judge the specific attitude of the Mayans to the rite of bloodletting, which distinguished the Mayan religion from later analogues.

Priests have practiced bloodletting since ancient times. The religions of the Mayan tribe dictated their rules to them. It cannot be said that the religion of the Mayan tribes, common in Central America of that era, imposed cruelty. This was formed by itself over time and under the pressure of the harsh surrounding reality of those times. According to the ideas of the Mayans, which were recently discovered, life energy, the soul, was in the blood. And therefore, the engravings that the Mayan civilization, the Mesoamerican religion, is rich in, depicting rulers with their hands down, from which liquid flows, today are perceived only as illustrations of bloodletting rites. The Mayan religion is a centuries-old tradition of Mesoamerica. The ritual calendar for each day contained the most detailed predictions for newborn children. These predictions, which were directly related to the religion of May, described the future qualities of the baby, his future fate and the appropriate type of activity.

The Maya people existed for more than one century, and therefore managed to develop many catchy traditions and rituals in their own way. The unique approach is what distinguished the Mayans, the religion of this people. So, archaeologists have established that, depending on the rank of the deceased, simple pits dug in the ground, stone chambers covered with a lid on top, or halls with a vaulted ceiling served as a grave for him.

The religion of the Mayan civilization did not allow concessions and did not make exceptions. Social status was everything. People either rested under the floor of the hut, or prepared magnificent funeral processions for themselves. The ancient religion, the Mayan civilization and their beliefs were cruel, but fair in their own way. The empire dictated its own rules and followed them without looking back. Religion of the ancient Maya: the cult of blood. Returning to the topic of sacrifices, without which not one significant event in the life of the Mayans took place. To say that human sacrifice was common in the religion of the ancient Maya is like saying nothing. The religion of the ancient Maya sacrificed people through hanging, beating, poisoning, drowning, burial alive and through many other cruel and sophisticated methods.

The Indian religion, the Mayan tribe and their religion taught that the gods depend on human blood, they feed on it. Therefore, all the blood flowing from the victim was collected in special vessels. After opening the chest, the priest tore out the still beating heart from the victim, which was handed over to the chilan, the elder. The final stage, as dictated ancient religion, the Mayan tribes, the action became when the statue of the god, in whose honor the sacrifice was performed, was sprinkled with blood gushing from the heart. As a sacrifice, Maya rituals were used both by those captured during the battles of the war from hostile tribes, and by volunteers from their own people, including people from the upper strata of society, to know. The researchers found that people were sacrificed on a huge scale. Evidence was found saying that during one of the celebrations, about five thousand slaves and prisoners of war were sacrificed in just a few days. One cannot blame the beliefs of the Mayans, as well as the ancient people themselves. The life of that era dictated its own rules, which had to be put up with and which had to be obeyed.

Conclusion: Religion, along with temple attendants, played an important role in the life of the Maya. In the period from 250 AD. years before 900 AD at the head of the city-states were rulers who included, if not the highest, then at least a very important religious role. Representatives of the upper strata of society took part in religious rituals. The Mayan religion was polytheistic. At the same time, the gods were mortal beings similar to people. In this regard, human sacrifice was considered by the Maya as an act that contributes to a certain extent to prolong the life of the gods. Human sacrifice was common among the Maya. As a sacrifice, a person was brought by hanging, drowning, poisoning, beating, and also by being buried alive. The most cruel method, like that of the Aztecs, was ripping open the stomach and tearing out the still beating heart from the chest. Both captured captives from other peoples and representatives of their own people, including members of the upper classes, were sacrificed.

Maya religious beliefs are shaped by the notion that virtually everything in the world contains k'uh or sacredness. K'uh and k'uhul, similar terms that are used to explain the spirituality of all inanimate and animate things, describe the most divine life force of existence. The Mayan faith establishes the creation and sanctity of people, the earth, and all that is holy. This divine holiness can also be translated into Mayan creation myths.

MYTH CREATION MYTH
Before explaining the Mayan creation myths, it is important to understand the difference between these two sources in which the Mayan creation stories have been found. These sources include the Popol Vuh and the Books of Chilam Balam. Popol Vuh is associated with the mountain Maya of what is today Guatemala. It contains text about human creation, prophecy, and traditional myths and stories. Chilam Balam's books are usually associated with the lowland Maya of the Yucatán region of Mexico. There are several books by Chilam Balam that are named after the area in which they were written. The most famous and influential books include those of Chumael, Tizimin, Mani, Kaua, Ixil, Tusik, and the Peres Code. The books are written by Jaguar Priest, a literal translation for Chilam Balam. These books are from colonial Spanish times, around 1500 CE, and there is a clear influence of Spanish colonialism on the creation stories of Chilam Balam.

For the Maya, the creation of the earth is said to have been the work of Huracan, the god of wind and sky. Heaven and earth are connected, leaving no room for any creatures or vegetation to grow. To make room, a Ceiba tree was planted. The tree grew in all levels of the underworld, and its branches grew into the upper world. The trunk of the tree has grown to leave space on earth for animals, plants and people. According to the Mayan belief, animals and plants survived before humans. The gods were not satisfied only with animals, because they could not speak to honor them. From there, humans were created to honor the gods.

LOTS OF THE MAYAN AGE
According to the Mayan texts, there have been three creations so far. Two of these creations ended or, in other words, the beings were destroyed. There are many variations of the three creations. Some of them were influenced by Christianity, but the main events of creation are described in detail in the following explanation from Popol Vuha of the mountain Maya.

Built from dirt

The first creation saw people who were made of dirt. The dirt people were not the most productive, since many could not think in the capacity of modern people and, according to the sacred texts of the Maya, these people "talked, but had no mind." They couldn't move because they were made of mud, and they weren't technically mortal either. The gods were unhappy with their first creation, so they destroyed the dirty people with water.

Built from wood

For the second creation, the deities made people out of wood and women out of reeds. These people could function as humans, but didn't have a soul and didn't respect the gods. They were also immortal. When they died, they remained dead for three days and rose from the dead. The destruction of trees and reed women was caused by the flooding of boiling hot water. The few who may have survived this apocalypse are considered to be the apes that exist today.

Built from corn

The third creation saw the birth of modern humans. These people are made of white and yellow corn dough and the blood of the gods. The first people were four men and four women. These men and women were considered too wise by the gods. The Mayan gods believed that these intelligent people were a threat to their power and nearly destroyed them. However, the Heart of Heaven (also known as Hurakan, but in the creation story he is the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of the Earth, or the Heart of Heaven) clouded their minds and eyes to make them less wise.

Various Maya groups believe in many creation myths. The most important concept in understanding Mayan religious belief is that time and the creation of humans are considered cyclical. This means that some Maya believe that modern humans will be destroyed and another creation is inevitable. However, this does not necessarily fit with the popular notion that the Maya believed in an "end of the world" event. Faith at the end of humanity is not the end of the world, it is the end of an era and perhaps the beginning of a new age of the gods.

The gods destroyed different versions of "humans" because they either couldn't or didn't worship their creators. This is an important consideration for the gods. They could not afford to create creations that were unworthy and incapable of providing life for the gods.

MAIN MAY GODS AND RICH
As a rule, the Maya gods are alive and have different personalities. Sometimes this makes it difficult to distinguish one god from another. However, it may be easier to keep in mind that although Maya deities are numerous, the most consistent gods sometimes transform with lesser known gods and exchange the characteristics of both deities. The introduction of connectivity in Maya culture, not surprisingly, applies to Maya gods as well. Some deities even have conflicting character traits.

Their diversity has expanded. Many gods are the union of a person and a particular animal. They are also associated with different cardinal directions, and the importance of an individual god may vary depending on the historical context. This fluidity is why scientists refer to some of the Mayan gods with letters of the Latin alphabet.

Itzam Na & Ix Chebel Yax

Itzam Na is the god attributed to creation. Little is known about him, and the same can be said about his colleague, Ix Chebel Yax. Yitzam Na is often depicted as a cross-eyed, long-nosed old man, or sometimes even an iguana. Ix Chebel Yax was the wife of Itzam Na and is also depicted as an iguana. Both she and Yitzam Na are considered high in the hierarchy of the gods. The spelling of their names can vary, as do the spellings of many Mayan names.

Huracan, another significant Maya god, is often referred to as the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of Heaven, or the Heart of the Earth. Although there is no direct evidence that Hurakan is the supreme creator god, Popol Vuh implies in one of his prayers that Hurakan is the "giver of life". This same prayer also refers to Hurakan as the Heart of Heaven and Earth, which also testifies to his importance as a creator. Because of the fluidity of the Maya gods, it is not necessary to have an absolutely clear distinction between the creator gods. Having said that, however, Huracan is generally associated with the Quiche Maya of Guatemala. The Quiché believe that Huracan created the earth and created it for the people. He also educated people, exposing them from corn dough and the lord of fire, storms and wind.

K'inich Ajaw (pronounced Ah-how), sometimes referred to as God G or Kinich Ahau, is the "Sun-protected Lord". Kinich Ajau is typically depicted as rising or born in the East and aging like the sun. This cruel solar deity will transform into a jaguar and become an adviser of war in the underworld. Sun deities are worshiped and feared because although they offer the life-giving properties of the sun, they can sometimes provide too much sun and cause drought.

Maize wealth, Hong Honghpu is perhaps the most important of the heavenly beings. Also referred to as God E, Hun H'unahpu is considered the creator of the modern Yucatec Maya lowlands. This is because his corn and blood is what made humanity possible. He is a symbol of life and fertility and is depicted as a young, long-haired man.

Chak, a seeming counterpart of Kinikh Ajav, is a rain god or God B. Chak is part human and partial reptile and is usually shown with a lightning bolt, snake, or axe. This fearsome god is sometimes depicted as blue and with a serpentine mustache protruding from his face. Maya believes that Chuck lived in caves where he made lightning, thunder and clouds. Chuck was also afraid and worshipped. He brought the necessary rains for the people, but also produced floods by threatening lightning and behaving like a wild storm. He also demanded blood sacrifices in payment for the rains he provided.

God K, or K'avil, keeper of the scepter. He is predominantly a protector of the royal line and is known for being associated with lightning. He is usually depicted with a smoking torch or a terrible ax pierced. In addition to his scary piercing, he also has a snake like one leg and an upside down muzzle for the other. K'awil is credited with discovering cocoa and corn after hitting the mountain with one of his lightning bolts.

Kisim, or God A, is known as "pompous". Don't let the humorous name fool you. This deity is a terrible god of death and decay. Kizim was depicted as a real decaying skeleton or zombie. Sometimes Kisim accompanied an owl. According to the Maya, owls are messengers of the underworld.

God O, or X Chel, the goddess of rainbows. While the rainbow may symbolize goodwill in Western culture, X Chel should not be confused as a god. good will. The Maya actually believe that rainbows are "flatulence of demons" and bring bad luck and disease. Ix Chel also represents these things because of her association with rainbows. In its typical form, Ix Chel is a brittle, clawed and dilapidated crown. However, combined with the duplicity of Mayan beings, Ix Chel also has a more benevolent form. She sometimes represents childbirth and childbirth, and in these settings she is depicted as young and beautiful.

Hero Twins

Finally, the legend of the Hero Twins entails the adventures of two brothers, Xbalanque and Hunahpu, in the underworld. The legend recorded in the Popol Vuh begins with the concept of brother gods. The father of the twins was the god Hunahpu. Hong Hongpu and his brother were lured into the underworld to sacrifice them by decapitation. However, since Hong Honghpu was immortal, his decapitated head survived and became a fruit on a tree. Hun Honghpu's fruit head spat into the hand of the goddess Xquic, who eventually gave birth to Xbalanque and Hunahpu, the twin heroes.

The twins faced many challenges, but the most epic story is their journey through Xibalba (pronounced Shee-bahl-bah), the Mayan underworld.

The twins were summoned to the underworld by playing a raucous and loud ball over the heads of the lords of Xibalba. The lords disputed the twins many times, but thanks to their wit and cunning, the twins were better than the lords of Sibalba. Xbalanque and Hunahpu grew tired of the endless problems and devised a way to escape the underworld. They disguised themselves as travelers and entertained the gods of the underworld with tricks and games. The masters were so impressed with their trick of bringing a person back to life after being sacrificed that they asked the twins to sacrifice them and bring them back to life. However, instead of bringing the gods back to life, the twins left them for dead and made the underworld a place for the miserable. The twin heroes and lords of Xibalba now live in the night sky like stars. The kings were supposed to have followed the trials of the hero twins after their death and traveled to the heavens or the upper world.

There are many more celestial beings, but above all are those that occur most frequently. They can come in many forms, and their plurality is a pillar of the connecting ideals of the Mayan religion.

HEAVENLY, THIS AND CARDINAL DIRECTIONS
Contrary to modern Western notions of heaven and hell, the Maya believed in different levels these kingdoms. However, there are three main areas to distinguish from each other. Maya understands the supernatural levels not as heaven and hell, but as the upper world, the middle world, and the underworld.

The upper world has thirteen levels, the middle world has one level, and the underworld has nine levels. The Ceiba tree is believed to grow through all realms, from the highest level of the upper world to the lowest level of the underworld. The Ceiba tree is vital to understanding the importance of cardinal directions in the Maya world.

Mayan deities in particular are associated with cardinal directions. While we are familiar with the four main directions, Maya understood that there are five elements in the main directions, in the four directions and in the center. Perhaps the most significant cardinal direction of the Maya is the east. The sun rises in the east and is associated with birth due to the Mayan belief that the sun is born daily from the east.

These principles were also part of Everyday life Mayan. The houses were designed to reflect the main directions and the Ceiba tree. The Maya even built hearths in the center of their homes to represent the center of the Ceiba tree of cardinal directions.

MAYA RITUALS
Maya participated in various religious rituals. Not all of them involved human sacrifice, although sacrifice was a common practice in religious ceremonies. Contrary to popular belief, ritual sacrifice was not limited to the gruesome death of a poor captive. Although this happened several times in the Mayan world, it was a relatively rare occurrence. The most common sacrificial ritual was bloodshed.

bloodletting

Bloodletting sounds exactly the same as shedding blood as a practice of sacrifice. In the case of the Maya, bloodletting was limited to the royal line. The gods demanded blood because of the original creation, where the gods shed their blood to give life to mankind. Also, but not as often, there was bloodshed to communicate with the ancestors.

The practice of bloodletting marked dates in the Mayan world. Members of the royal family involved in this practice will spend, sometimes days, performing purification rituals to prepare for the bloodshed. Both male and female royals are expected to perform these rituals. Mayan kings and queens would engage in various forms of bloodletting, even making sacred instruments to perform the ritual. Blood was usually taken from different parts of the body with specialized instruments designed to get more blood and possibly more pain. The instruments were usually made of thorns and decorated with various glyphs to show their religious significance. One gruesome example of sacrifice noted by Rubalcaba described how women, typically royal women, would use a spiked rope to pierce their tongue and draw blood to scatter Mayan icons. On the other hand, men will do the same, except on the penis and not on the tongue.

The practice of bloodletting often serves to celebrate and consecrate important events such as births, ascension to the throne, and anniversaries. On the other hand, human sacrifices were reserved for greatest events Mayan.

human sacrifice

While wars were usually fought for reasons other than religion, when wars did occur, religion was included. Often shamans or priests helped plan military strategies. The military priest was called nacom. The Maya often combined aspects of warfare and religion. As a rule, this was in the form of taking prisoners for sacrifice.

Sacrifices were essential to the maintenance of the gods and were vital to securing military victory. When a king or queen rises to the throne and the captive captive is captured, they will introduce life-changing life to human sacrifice. Typically, these prisoners would be royalty or the elites of the enemy state. The most senior royal families were rescued for the sole purpose of recreating the events from Popol Vuh.

These sacrifices were performed in many ways, but there were three methods that were most common. The first method is decapitation. The next method was the popularized method of removing the heart from a living person. The last and most popular way was to throw a living person into a centot, or natural well, as an offering to the gods.

Other offerings and rituals

Although the most common ritual associated with the ancient Maya is the practice of sacrifice, they also performed other types of rituals. Not all Maya offerings were so bloody and horrifying. While they may not seem entirely logical to Westerners, the alternative offerings provide interesting ways to communicate and please the deities.

One rather startling and overlooked way of communicating with the gods involves demoting children to cenotes. Children were placed in wells so they could talk to the god or gods. After a few hours in the well, the children will be restored so that the message of the gods can be heard. Of course, the Maya also participated in offering precious objects to the gods, such as jade, gold, masks, shells, carved human bones, and ceremonial or sacred tools.

Marriage was another religious ritual and cause for celebration. In May marriages, marriages in the same social class were usually taken. Age at marriage varies, but experts suggest that age at marriage has been linked to population growth and decline. When the Maya population declined, the youth married at a younger age. Couples will mate at a very early age, sometimes even when they were babies.

Marriages were performed by priests in the wedding house. The priests burned incense to bring about an accidental marriage, and then a feast or other feast would come. If the marriage was not considered a success by either the husband or wife, the couple could "divorce". There is no known divorce ritual, but it is intriguing that divorce was more or less an acceptable act.

The dance is another missed ritual. Dance rituals were held to communicate with the gods. The dances were attended by luxurious costumes, which depict images of deities. Often the Maya would wear or include ornaments such as pants, spears, rattles, sceptres, and even live snakes as dance aids. Maya believed that by dressing and acting like a god, they would be overtaken by the god's spirit and thus be able to communicate with him or her.

The ancient Maya maintained a complex religion. Multifaceted gods and rituals were even preserved in today's Maya culture, however, they were syncretized. Their ideologies of creation, sacrifice, holiness and plurality are the key to understanding Maya religion.

“The Maya believed that the universe consists of 13 heavens and 9 underworlds. In the center of the earth was a tree that passed through all the heavenly spheres. On each of the four sides of the earth there was another tree, symbolizing the countries of the world - the east corresponded to a mahogany, to the south - yellow, to the west - black and to the north - white. Each side of the world had several gods (wind, rain and holders of heaven), who had the corresponding color. Since the time of the conquest, Europeans have called them pagans. The Maya worshiped nature, the stars, the sun, water, animals, in general - the world around them. The Spanish priests repeatedly tried to convert them to the "true" faith. But they did it with difficulty or did not succeed at all. Neither threats, nor the destruction of idols, nor torture could stop paganism.

The main Mayan god, the Sun Kinich-Ahau, is one of the main gods; the appearance of the world and the Maya themselves is associated with him. Numerous bloody sacrifices were intended for the sun, the Indians believed that God feeds on fresh human hearts. And the solar eclipse was perceived as a great calamity that can only be "corrected" by a multitude of human hearts that have just been taken out and are still trembling. But there is no life without water. The frog and the turtle were associated with the god of rain. The frog heralds rain with its croaking, and the tortoise "because its cry supposedly causes rain." The Maya believed that there was a god Chaak, but in four forms, one on the side of the world. He lives at the bottom of the cenote, so they regularly threw into the well, seeking his favor and patronage, not only jewelry and luxury items, but also children, because. their crying was associated, according to the Maya, with rain. Thick smoke from burning rubber or a special powder could also help in causing rain, because. looked like clouds. Wind, lightning and thunder were also revered by the Maya.

The goddess Moon (Ixchel) occupied a special place in religious life. The belief that the moon influences the health of people and the growth of plants made Ixchel the patron goddess of medicine. The figurine was placed on the mat of the woman in labor to facilitate her childbirth. The Moon also patronized weaving. There were also one on the side of the world - four types. In general, it was a "female" goddess. Only the most beautiful girls were sacrificed to her.

The Maya have long deified maize. According to the Popol Vuh, the Mayan body was created from maize flour. God E (according to P. Schellhas) is a young man whose head ends in the form of an ear or is surrounded by maize leaves. Often he is depicted doing some agricultural work. Therefore, the decapitation of the victims is associated with the worship of maize. Cacao plants were also worshipped.

The God of Yamtz is the creator god of the world and the sky, day and night, the god of day and night. All weather conditions depended on him, they asked him for rain and a good harvest. He was depicted as a toothless old man with a hieroglyph in the form of leaves on his forehead. They were very afraid of the god of death, whose name was different in different places - Chak Mitun Ahav, Ah Puch, Ah Pukukh. He was depicted as a skeleton with bracelets - bells on his arms and legs, a bone in his ear, cadaveric spots on his body, a headdress in the form of an owl or a caiman. There were also gods who patronized various activities- hunters - god Siba; warriors - Sith Chak Koha and many others. Considered sacred animals - deer, jaguar, bee, monkey and others; they were sacrificed. God Kavil - the god of the elements, was responsible for earthquakes. In some tribes, he was revered as the god of war. God Kamashtli - one of the four gods who created the world; gave people fire. Another creator of the world and man is Quetzalcoatl. Depicted as a snake covered with green feathers. In the myths, it was he who taught culture, stone processing and, of course, getting food. Patron of priesthood and culture, morning star, twins. Kukulkan is the image of a winged serpent. “Kukulkan was considered a benevolent deity. He taught people agriculture, fishing, various sciences, gave them a calendar, writing, invented ceremonies and a code of laws. In the history of the Maya, the cult of Kukulkan was transformed into a kind of cult of nobility, Indians, selected only from the noble class, were sacrificed to him, and all this was arranged with the highest degree of solemnity. Ishtab is the goddess of suicide. It was depicted as a corpse that accepted death by hanging. Among the Maya, such a death was considered noble and revered on a par with death in battle.

“According to the beliefs of one of the Maya tribes, it was believed that before the beginning of the existence of all life on earth, a god lived in the form of a tree, who once became pregnant with potential life. Then this god began to bloom and the fruit that had ripened on him fell off him, split into many small pieces, scattering everything that now exists on the ground. The cult of sacrifice among the Maya was inextricably linked with life. It was believed that the more painful the death, the more benevolent and benevolent the gods would be. Therefore, the victims were tortured in all sorts of ways. Families, with a sense of duty, gave their children to a painful death.

Human blood was seen as the food of the gods. If a warrior of his tribe was sacrificed, then his body was eaten with special reverence. The meat was cut into small pieces and, first, by the nobility, and then by all the other tribesmen, was eaten. A person destined "as a gift" to the gods was undressed, his body was painted blue (the color of sacrifices) and brought to a specially designated place for this. Four assistants Chakami (in honor of the god of rain) held the victim by the arms and legs so that the chest was open, which was opened by the priest, nicknamed Nak, took out the heart and presented it on a platter to the ceremonial priest Chilan. The latter solemnly collected the flowing blood and smeared it with the idol of the god in whose honor the sacrifice was made. These ceremonies were usually held in the temple. “If the sacrifice was arranged at the top of the pyramid, then the final chord of the holiday took on a slightly different color. After the heart burst out, the victim was thrown down, where the skin was torn off (except for the arms and legs). The priest took off his ceremonial clothes and donned his still warm, bloody skin. Then, together with other participants in this act, he whirled in a ritual dance, being its main performer. The legs and arms of the victim were his "legitimate trophy", as, for example, the ear of a downed bull for a bullfighter in a Spanish bullfight.

Bloodletting rituals were especially popular among the Maya. Only the nobility and the elite had a “legitimate” right to this. Especially "tasty" for the gods was considered blood from the earlobes, genitals and tongue. Most likely, this was done under the influence of some kind of drugs. The families of the rulers were given the right to conduct bloodletting on all holidays. “During the rite of bloodletting, crowds of people gathered in the central square of the city, including dancers, musicians, warriors and nobility. At the climax of the ceremonial action, the ruler appeared, often with his wife, and bled himself with a plant thorn or an obsidian knife, making an incision on the penis. At the same time, the ruler's wife pierced her tongue. After that, they passed a coarse agave rope through the wounds to increase bleeding (Fig. 3). Blood dripped onto strips of paper, which were then burned at the stake. In addition, the idols were smeared with blood thus obtained, then the priests smoked them with resin and rubber and performed ritual feedings on them.

Ritual ball games were not bloodless harmless either. The rules of the game have not reached our times, it is known that the loser was just sacrificed - his head was cut off. Sometimes the prisoner was bound in such a way that he looked like a ball, and played with it until his death.

Before the construction of the temple, young men and women were also sacrificed, whose bodies were buried in its foundation. “The Maya were very attentive to what year, good or bad, foreshadowed various signs for them. Misfortunes that might follow unfavorable omens could be warded off with redemptive rituals, such as the well-known fire-walking ritual, during which the priest walked barefoot over red-hot coals.

You can treat such religious beliefs as you like, but this is the Mayan culture, their customs; you can blame, resent and feel disgust for this kind of "entertainment", but it was and this is their story that you just need to respect.

Maya beliefs, the religion of ancient American cultures, are characterized by complex, sophisticated rites, rituals, the fundamental purpose of which was to receive indulgence from the gods in the form of all kinds of benefits. The Mayan religion boasted a huge variety of rituals from the incense of fragrant resins, cult dances and chants to vigils, fasts and prayers.

Religion of the ancient Maya was arranged in such a way that sacrifices occupied a special place in it. As a sacrifice, the Mayan religion, the tribe and its beliefs accepted both the inhabitants of flora and fauna: jaguars, turkeys, turtles, flowers, fruits of trees, and more common victims in the form of handicrafts and, of course, human lives. An indispensable attribute of the religion of May and the rites of sacrifice was a special blue ceremonial paint, with which offerings were smeared. Mayan religion, the religion of the inhabitants of ancient America. Obviously, with such a reverent attitude to traditions and rituals, priests occupied a special place in Mayan society, and the Mayan people and religion created such conditions for them that the priests, like many other peoples of Mesoamerica, constituted a special social stratum, a caste dominated by unshakable hierarchy.

Religious preferences, Mayan religions were also distinguished by the fact that ceremonies accompanied almost all significant moments of people's lives. For example, the Maya perceived religion as a kind of duty, and therefore agricultural work, handicraft work and other aspects of life were accompanied by appropriate rituals of praising the gods. Like the later peoples who settled Central America, the beliefs held by Mayan tribe, religion Mesoamericans, literally depended on the cult of blood. Ancient civilizations are categorical people. With regard to religion, the Maya adhered to customs absorbed over a long history. So, according to the household items that have come down to the present day, discovered by researchers - vessels, small-model utensils, ritual tools - one can judge the specific attitude of the Mayans to the rite of bloodletting, which distinguished the Mayan religion from later analogues.

Priests have practiced bloodletting since ancient times. Mayan religions dictated their rules to them. The priests pierced tongues, earlobes, thighs, genitals, bloodletting was done, and all this with the help of fish bones and obsidian knives, unsuitable for such operations. It cannot be said that the religion of the Mayan tribes, common in Central America of that era, imposed cruelty. It formed by itself over time and under the pressure of the harsh surrounding reality of those times. During the operation of piercing organs, body parts, mainly the penis, tongue and lips, which the Mayans were famous for, the religion inherent in them, a rope was pulled into the resulting hole.

According to the recently discovered ideas of the Mayans, the life energy, the soul, was in the blood. And therefore, the engravings that the Mayan civilization, the Mesoamerican religion, is rich in, depicting rulers with their hands down, from which liquid flows, today are perceived only as illustrations of bloodletting rites. - ancient traditions of Mesoamerica. The ritual calendar for each day contained the most detailed predictions for newborn children. These predictions, which were directly related to the religion of May, described the future qualities of the baby, his future fate and the appropriate type of activity.

As the religion of the Mayan Indians said, the influence of the predictions of the ritual calendar should have a direct impact on the future of a person, on his personality. In addition, the signs of the prediction read by the priests of the Maya religion could be not only favorable, but also negative. In especially severe cases, the parents of the child, under the pressure of the Mayan religion and the predictions of the priests, decided to kill the baby or sacrifice it to the gods so as not to torment him with the hardships of the forthcoming predicted life. Speaking about such a topic as the religion of the Mayan peoples, one cannot help but touch upon the issue of funeral rites. They, like many other things in the life of the Mayans, differed from the funeral ceremonies of their predecessors and descendants. The religion of the Mayan tribe said that, depending on his social category, the deceased must be buried in suitable conditions and according to the proper rules: important persons and rulers were cremated, their ashes were stored in urns, while the religion of the Mayan civilization forced ordinary peasants to arrange burials in graves under their own houses.

Mayan civilization religion did not give indulgence and did not make exceptions. Social status was everything. People either rested under the floor of the hut, or prepared magnificent funeral processions for themselves. The ancient religion, the Mayan civilization and their beliefs were cruel, but fair in their own way. The empire dictated its own rules and followed them without looking back. Religion of the ancient Maya: the cult of blood. Returning to the topic of sacrifices, without which not one significant event in the life of the Mayans took place. To say that human sacrifice was common in the religion of the ancient Maya is like saying nothing. The religion of the ancient Maya sacrificed people through hanging, beating, poisoning, drowning, burial alive and through many other cruel and sophisticated methods.

In the city of Chichen Itza, the ancient religions of the Maya and the sacrifices associated with it were perceived in their own way. Volunteers, slaves and prisoners of war were thrown into special wells, cenotes: the lucky survivors received a pardon. Such a ritual was aimed at calming the gods of the water element. Religion of the Mayan civilizations said that the god of rain, Chaak, lives in the cenotes. The most brutal known Mayan sacrificial ritual was in many ways similar to the Aztec rite. A man prepared for murder and painted, as dictated by the religion of the ancient Maya, in a special blue paint, was led to the top of the temple-pyramid. There, four assistants to the chief priest laid the victim on a special altar and literally gutted it. The chest was opened with a stone knife.

The Indian religion, the Mayan tribe and their religion taught that the gods depend on human blood, they feed on it. Therefore, all the blood flowing from the victim was collected in special vessels. After opening the chest, the priest tore out the still beating heart from the victim, which was handed over to the chilan, the elder. The final stage, as dictated by the ancient religion, the Mayan tribes, was the action, when the statue of the god, in whose honor the sacrifice was performed, was sprinkled with blood splashing from the heart. as a victim Mayan rituals used both captured during the battles of the war from hostile tribes, and volunteers from their own people, including people from the upper strata of society, to know. The researchers found that people were sacrificed on a huge scale. Evidence was found saying that during one of the celebrations, about five thousand slaves and prisoners of war were sacrificed in just a few days. One cannot blame the beliefs of the Mayans, as well as the ancient people themselves. The life of that era dictated its own rules, which had to be put up with and which had to be obeyed.