The Ancient Mayans in Antiquity

The Ancient Mayans worshipped nature gods such as Chac or Chak who was the god of rain, Cisin who was

the god of death, Hun Hanaphu the god of maize. When Hun Hanaphu is under the protection of Chac he

flourishes but when he is under the famine or drought (Cisin) he dies off. They also worship the gods such

as Hunaphu, Hun Hanapu’s son. He is one of the gods of the sun. The Ancient Mayans believed that maize

(corn) grew underground and that is why the sun “disappeared” underground each day. Some of the

other gods were Xbalanque, the god of the moon. He and his twin brother, Hunaphu, went into the

Underworld to challenge the death god to raise their father, Hun Hanaphu, back to life. After tricking the

death god to bring their father back to life they split the sky with Xblanque getting the moon and Hunaphu

getting the sun. Ixchel is the goddess of rainbows, family, and healing. The older brothers of Hunaphu and

Xblanque were also twins. They were named Hun Batz and Hun Chuen. They were transformed into

monkeys after trying to stop Hunaphu and Xblanque rescue their father. Hunaphu and Xblanque tricked

them into a tree that they could not descend from. They are the patron gods of writing, dance, the visual

arts, and calculating. Ahaw K’in is also the sun god, however he transforms in to the Jaguar God of the

underworld at night. Ix Ch’up is the goddess of the moon. She is married to the god of the sun. She is

sometimes depicted as missing an eye due to her and her husband fighting. Itzamna was believed to have

created the world. He invented the calendar and writing. The Mayans had over 800 glyphs.

The Mayans made sacrifices in the “step pyramids”; pyramids that recede at each level instead of

being smooth sided. The pyramid represented the mountains where some gods were said to live and the

entrances were made to be similar to the caves that the gods lived in underground. Some people were

thrown into sinkholes to catch a glimpse of the gods. If they survived, they were told to report what they

saw to the king. The kings and priests performed religious practices that involved the burning of

ceremonial materials. They had a certain class of people called Mayan Priests that performed the

religious practices. The ancient Mayans did not have 1 single king; they had multiple kings each ruling over

a section of Ancient Maya. The Mayan Kings were considered to be descendants of the gods, particularly

Ahaw K’in. The Ancient Mayans practiced a religion made up of astrology, divination, and rituals involving

animal and human sacrifices. The Mayans believed that if they didn’t celebrate different festivals disaster

would strike. Many towns had “Shaman” which also performed some practices. The Shamans were mainly

called upon to ward off evil spirits. They used the Jaguar symbol to ward away evil.

The Mayans also paid great attention to the various cycles of rain and the harvest. The Mayans

performed religious dances and various acts to please the gods before harvest time and thanked them

with various other celebrations after the harvest. They had many forms of art to show the gods as they

saw them and in the different forms.

The Mayans believed in the afterlife. Commoners were buried under their houses with the

families. The Mayans believed that if you had a rough life but did good deeds you would have a good

afterlife. They also believed the world had 3 layers – The Heavens, Underworld, and the Earth.

Bibliography

http://www.rightreading.com/mayan/mayagods.htm#

World History Societies of the Past Grade 8 Textbook