Spiritual beliefs
The Mayan world is a place full of spirits and ghosts. They believed that every creation had un unseen power and they make a distinction between natural and supernatural power.
This is something the Maya had in common with people throughout Mesoamerica and a notion that is very much alive in today’s Latin America. A mountain can hold a deity and a rock a spirit, ghosts come out at night and spirits roam the jungle. The Mayan world is a place full of spirits and ghosts. They believed that every creation had un unseen power and they make a distinction between natural and supernatural power.
To get in touch with the supernatural, like the jaguar spirit, shamans would use one of over 40 hallucinogenic plants that grow in the jungle.
Cosmology and religion
The ancient Maya believed in recurring cycles of creation and destruction and thought in terms of eras lasting about 5,200 modern years. The current cycle is believed by the Maya to have begun in either 3114 BC or 3113 BC of our calendar, and is expected to end in either 2011 or 2012 AD.
The Mayans, although worshipping Plaedes (the Seven Sisters), devoted a lot of their time to the sun. They based their entire calendar on its behaviour. They observed that it 'travelled' right across the sky, and how it was sometimes high and sometimes close to the horizon and that it took 365 ¼ days to complete this cycle. The ancient Maya believed in recurring cycles of creation and destruction and thought in terms of eras lasting about 5,200 modern years. The current cycle is believed by the Maya to have begun in either 3114 BC or 3113 BC of our calendar, and is expected to end in either 2011 or 2012 AD.
So their year was the same length as ours; they even had a leap year of sorts, making up the difference over a period of years.
The sun has more cycles than a bike shop and the Maya discovered this too. The largest of their cycles translates as a 'Sun'. The current Sun began in 3114BC and is calculated to end on 22 December 2012. Scientists have proved their calculations to be correct as to the length of a complete solar cycle (1,366,560 days).
This is the length of time it takes all the - ions to fight and become embroiled in the + ions, decide that they don't really like each other and then run away from each other as fast as they can.
Every 11.75 years (another of the Mayans' calendar periods) the + and - ions get into conflict on the sun's surface resulting in a smaller, incomplete sun cycle. Scientists have noticed that there is an increase in magnetic storms at the end of these cycles and also a likelihood of extreme weather conditions on the Earth.
In the year 2012 the sun will complete its present Mayan Sun duration. The Mayan year will be at an end and all the little -s and +s will go back to their rightful places.
Unfortunately, scientists have predicted that this will result in the reversal of the poles on the Earth (N becomes S etc.). Don't be too afraid, this will probably only take the form of hurricanes and tidal waves, something that happens on the Earth all the time!!
Cosmological mythologyUnfortunately, scientists have predicted that this will result in the reversal of the poles on the Earth (N becomes S etc.). Don't be too afraid, this will probably only take the form of hurricanes and tidal waves, something that happens on the Earth all the time!!
The Maya believed the earth was flat like a horizontal plane with four corners, each represented by a colour. East was red, symbolising the rebirth of the sun. West was black, the place for the sun’s death. White represented north and yellow was south.
A fifth vertical coordinate lay at the earth’s centre and its colour was blue-green. In this centre a big Ceiba tree grew, uniting the Mayan universe. Its roots reached down to the underworld of the dead and its trunk stretched up into heaven, where the gods lived.
Topography affects belief systems
In a landscape full of caves, it’s easy to see how nature supports such a belief. The caves are cool and damp, much like one would imagine the Underworld to be. Often the roots of the trees stretch right through the roofs of caves in search of water.
In a landscape full of caves, it’s easy to see how nature supports such a belief. The caves are cool and damp, much like one would imagine the Underworld to be. Often the roots of the trees stretch right through the roofs of caves in search of water.
The mountains and caves were seen as the transition points between the physical and the spiritual worlds. As the Yucatán is nearly flat, the pyramids were seen as manmade mountains - a centre of power. A temple doorway represents a cave leading into the centre of that mountain - and into the Underworld.
Some Maya also believed that the sky was multi-layered and that it was supported at the corners by four gods of immense physical strength called "Bacabs". Other Maya believed that the sky was supported by four trees of different colours and species, with the green ceiba, or silk-cotton tree, at the centre.Symbolic protection
Earth in its flat form was thought to be the back of a giant crocodile, resting in a pool of water lilies. The crocodile's counterpart in the sky was a double-headed serpent - a concept probably based on the fact that the Mayan word for "sky" is similar to the word for "snake".
In hieroglyphics, the body of the sky-serpent is marked not only with its own sign of crossed bands, but also those of the Sun, the Moon, Venus and other celestial bodies. The image of a human face emerging from the jaws of the serpent is a recurrent theme in Mayan art.
| Pantheon of Gods Heaven was believed to have 13 layers, and each layer had its own god. Uppermost was the muan bird, a kind of screech-owl. The Underworld had nine layers, with nine corresponding Lords of the Night. The Underworld was a cold, unhappy place and was believed to be the destination of most Maya after death. Heavenly bodies such as the Sun, the Moon, and Venus, were also thought to pass through the Underworld after they disappeared below the horizon every evening. |
Very little is known about the Mayan pantheon. The Maya had a bewildering number of gods, with at least 166 named deities. This is partly because each of the gods had many aspects. Some had more than one sex; others could be both young and old; and every god representing a heavenly body had a different Underworld face, which appeared when the god "died" in the evening.
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