Rituals – The Mayan Civilization
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The pyramids served as their temples, and the faithful attended outdoor ceremonies below and in front of the pyramid-temple. They sought the gifts of life, health, and sustenance from their gods, in exchange for which they performed a series of offerings and purifying ceremonies immersed in a complex ritual.
They practiced bloodletting and threw children, maidens, and gold pieces into the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza as an offering to the god Chaac. Self-sacrifice had many variations, such as when they drew blood from various parts of their bodies using bone needles or maguey thorns and offered them on strips of paper.
Sylvanus G. Morley, in his work «The Ancient Maya,» observes that: «Prayers formed an essential element of Maya ritual, and the help of the gods was sought in all sorts of activities, in divination, prophecy, and horoscopes, in puberty and marriage rites, in all kinds of general ceremonies, to ward off difficulties and to suppress the devil who caused them, to obtain motherhood for a childless woman, to expel evil spirits before starting any ceremony, to prevent drought and locust plagues that caused hunger, illness, theft, and discord, and dynastic and hierarchical changes that led to war, and to achieve success in all kinds of endeavors—agriculture, hunting, fishing, and trade.»
Ritual Dance
Dance was also an important part of the ritual. Both men and women had their own specific dances and rarely danced together. For example, the Holcan Okot dance was performed by 800 warriors who moved with absolute precision while invoking the aid and protection of Kakupakat.
Festivals dedicated to the gods were celebrated on fixed dates established by the tzolkin or ritual calendar. The priests organized the ceremonies, the decoration of the temples, and the presentation of offerings. There were also ball games (pot-a tok), dramatizations, processions, and other celebrations.
Elements of the Ceremonies
Self-sacrifices: They pierced their tongues, earlobes, and sexual organs and offered the collected blood. The blood was burned along with paper, vegetable resins, rubber, and the instruments of self-sacrifice such as stingray spines, ropes, etc. There were sacrifices of animals, human sacrifices (war prisoners, slaves, or individuals chosen for their birth), whose hearts were removed or who were decapitated. There were dances, songs, dramatizations, prayers, fasting, sexual abstinence, the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, fermented beverages (balché), wild tobacco, special foods, and psychoactive flowers. Offerings included animals, plants, flowers, statues, incense, ornaments (feathers, shells), turquoise, obsidian, jade, copper, gold, among others.
The Maya had a calendar for various festivities and ceremonies. Among the ceremonies that are still practiced today is the Ch’a Chaak, led by the Hmen (a type of shaman), to invoke the Chaques, the assistants of the rain god when the rainy season is delayed. It was believed that the caves of the peninsula, especially Loltun and Balankanche, were places to enter the underworld.
In the mid-19th century, during the Caste War, the Talking Cross played a prominent role, which is a distinctive element of Maya religion independent from the Christian cross. The Maya Cross can be seen in Palenque (Chiapas) and is a stylized representation of the cosmic tree or the corn plant. This cross symbolizes the four directions or angles of the world and is considered a deity on its own.
The use of the Talking Cross among the Maya participants in the Caste War (mid-19th century) was a factor that united them and enabled them to withstand very difficult situations. The location where the Talking Cross was found was known as Chan Santa Cruz, and it is now called Felipe Carrillo Puerto. It is important to emphasize that the Caste War allowed the Maya to regain sovereignty in a territory, and this is the only case of its kind in the Americas. The cross continues to be revered today and is adorned with hipiles (traditional dresses), mirrors, flowers, and various decorations among the Yucatan Maya and the Tzotzil people of Chiapas.
Death in Maya Religion
According to Maya religion, after death, the soul embarks on a journey to Xibalba (Metnal, the Underworld), where it must cross a river aided by a dog (the xoloitzcuintle). Carrying a piece of jade will make things easier. The pilgrimage ends in the south, where the soul arrives (the Underworld is associated with the north and the color black for Nahua cultures, including the Aztecs or Mexicas, but with the south and the color yellow for the Maya). However, there is a paradise in the sky where the fortunate souls of warriors who died in combat (sacred death) accompany the Sun.
Among the various types of sacred death in Mesoamerica are: pregnant women who die during their first childbirth, those who drown, commit suicide, die of leprosy, are sacrificed, and warriors who die in battle because the quality of life (good or bad) was not as important as the manner of death. In the end, the souls of those who died in a sacred manner also descend to the Underworld.
The Maya believed that the soul of a person who went to the Underworld would be reborn (reincarnation) in an individual of the same species, without any memories of their previous life. It is important to note that when people from central Mexico interacted with the Maya, we sometimes find intertwined religious ideas and ideas from other places, so we must be cautious in distinguishing, if possible, whether they are Maya ideas or ideas from elsewhere.
Furthermore, the Maya preserved the skulls of their ancestors and made food offerings to them (ancestor rituals).
Human Sacrifices
Human sacrifices were a common practice among the peoples of Mesoamerica. To better explain the origin of human sacrifices, we must understand the reason for the creation of humans in a sacred book of the Maya: the Popol Vuh. This Quiché book narrates how the original gods agreed to create the world, as the world would serve as the dwelling place for humans.
The mission of humans is to venerate and nourish the gods. But just as humans eat corn, which is a material food, the gods, being supernatural beings, needed to feed on a supernatural food: the cosmic energy found in the blood and heart of the sacrifices. Some authors (including Marvin Harris) argued that human sacrifice in Mesoamerica was due to the protein needs of the peoples in the region.
However, it should be noted that although cannibalism was practiced, it was never widespread among the entire population nor a daily occurrence. Cannibalism was a ritual act from which the lower classes of society were excluded. Furthermore, lethal sacrifice was not the only type of sacrifice practiced by Mesoamericans, as shown in the paintings of Bonampak, where members of the ruling class (both men and women) are depicted pricking their tongues until they bled. The purpose was to offer their blood, which, coming from someone higher in the social structure, was more valuable and cherished by the gods.
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