Mayan Religious Beliefs

Mayan Religious Beliefs

The Mayans were simple hunters and gatherers that managed to turn their cultivation of Maize into the highly advanced civilization that we associate with them today.

In the beginning, the Mayans believed that their makers Tepew and Q'uk'umatz met together in the darkness to think and reflect. They had to decide as to what would be the proper material for the creation of man, or the first mother and father. In their wisdom, they decide that the flesh would be made from white and yellow corn. (www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-religion-popol-vuh.html)

This story of creation is told in the Mayan sacred book named the ‘Popol Vuh’. The book accounts previous unsuccessful attempts to make human beings also. Apparently, it took the gods several tries before the found the correct ingredient to create the first human beings. (www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-religion-popol-vuh.html)

Mayan religious ritual was very elaborate. Festivals were frequently thrown in the honor of their gods. They worshipped the gods of the cardinal points, the harvest and of birth and death. There was also the god of wind, the god of rain, and the god of war. Specific national heroes were also deified and worshipped like Itzamn and Kukulcan. There was also a special "feast of all the gods", where homage was paid to all the gods at once. It was a very elaborate setup that could go on for days. (www.pantheon.org/mythica.html)

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