Ancient Mayan Religion

Mayan history narrates the rich civilization of the Mayans who lived in southern Mexico and northern Central America around 3,000 years ago. It was a colorful and rich culture, before Mexico and the nearby regions were conquered by Spain. The Mayan civilization is one of the prominent civilizations of Mesoamerica and it was established around 2600 BC in Yucatan. Southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Northern Belize and the western region of Honduras belonged to the Mayan empire during the 3rd century AD.

Ancient Mayan Religion

The Mayan tribes have left behind a grand and awe-inspiring culture and traditions. The Mayan culture supported religion and the Mayan tribes worshiped nature gods such as God of Rain, God of Sun and God of Corn. The Mayans gave importance to astronomy and astrology. Human sacrifice was a part of the ancient Mayan religion.

The Mayan temples followed the architectural style of step pyramids. The religious writings of the Mayan culture included "hieroglyphic writing, art and literature and architecture".

A class of people called "Mayan Priests" performed the rituals of the Mayan temples. The followers of the Mayan religion believed in a relationship between human beings and supernatural beings. Mayan priests carried out the human sacrifice. The chief priest held down the victim, while another priest cut his heart. The chief priest was known as "Ah Kin Mai".

Ancient Mayan religion gave importance to agriculture and the timeliness of harvests. The religious calendar of the Mayan culture was called as "tzolkin" and it comprised only 260 days and two cycles. These cycles consisted of 20 days and 30 days week. "Tun", another Mayan calendar, comprised 360 days. "Katun" was a calendar derived from "tun" and the total number of days in this calendar was 20 times that of the "tun" calendar.

As per the beliefs of Mayan religion, agricultural produce was the gift of god; hence they paid great attention to the cycles of rain and harvest. The Mayans appeased their gods with the human blood collected from the human sacrifice. During the festival time, the Mayans organized music, dances and prayers to please the Mayan gods.

Mayan pyramids were constructed for religious and burial purposes. There are Mayan temples for the moon and the sun. A few popular temples are Chichen Itza, Temples of Tikal, Temple of Inscription. Mayan cosmology and myth creation reveal a great deal about the beginning of Mayan civilization, their beliefs and traditions.

The Mayan religion also includes the Mayan architecture. The most dramatic and easily recognizable Maya architectural style is the stepped pyramid with a temple at the top. There are also cave sites like the Jolja, Naj Tunich, Candelaria and Witch that speak volumes about Mayan architecture. Every fifty-two years, the temples and pyramids were remodeled and rebuilt.

The art works that were the integral part of ancient religion is not only sophisticated but also beautiful. Maya art that survived include funerary pottery, ceramic work and murals that survived by serendipity. The Maya blue, a beautiful turquoise blue color was associated with the Mayan art and has survived through the centuries.