Among the civilizations of pre-Columbian America, the cultures of the Maya, Aztecs, Incas, who reached their greatest prosperity, are usually distinguished. They were formed in areas that were relatively isolated from each other. So, the Maya lived in the Yucatan Peninsula and present-day Guatemala, the Aztecs - Mexico, the Incas - Peru.
However, according to researchers, for all their differences, the cultures of the Maya, Aztecs and Incas have a number of common features. These peoples began to create state systems, and a social stratification of society took shape. Crafts, fine arts, astronomical knowledge, construction, and agriculture reached a high level. Today's review will provide information about the religion and culture of the Maya.
Periodization of history
The history of the Mayan culture can be summarized as the following threeperiods:
- I period (from ancient times to 317) - the emergence of city-states. Primitive slash-and-burn agriculture. Production of cotton fabrics.
- II period (IV-X century), classical, or the period of the Old Kingdom, - the growth of cities such as Tulum, Palenque, Chichen Itza. The mysterious departure of their inhabitants at the beginning of the X century.
- III period (X-XVI century) - postclassical, or New Kingdom - the arrival of conquistadors from Europe. The adoption of new laws and styles in art and in life itself. Mixture of cultures. Fratricidal wars.
It seems that for a more detailed acquaintance with the unusual and interesting culture of the Mayan peoples, one should turn to the research of specialists. To date, there are many books devoted to archeology, history, art of this people. One of these is the “Culture of the Ancient Maya” by Kinzhalov Rostislav Vasilievich, a Soviet and Russian historian, ethnographer, and writer. It was published back in 1971, but does not lose its relevance to this day. According to the author himself, the task of his work is "to give (for the first time in Russian) a general description of the ancient culture of the Mayan peoples for all its more than two thousand years of development, from the earliest stages to the tragic death by the sword of the Spanish conquistadors." The ethnographer deals with such topics as economy and material culture, their social structure, scientific knowledge, architecture and the fine arts of civilization, literature, dance, music and, of course, religious performances.
Architecture
Next we will touch onthe main aspects of the Mayan culture, briefly describing the architecture, sculpture and painting of the ancient civilization.
In architecture, there were two types of buildings - residential and ceremonial.
Dwellings were built of stone on platforms, were rectangular with peaked straw roofs. In the center was a stone hearth.
The second type included high pyramids, which served as the basis for the temple, raising it to the sky. They were a square with thick walls and were decorated inside with ornaments and inscriptions. Buildings were built in 5, 20, 50 years. Any important events were noted in the altar records.
Sculpture and painting
In the culture of the ancient Maya, architecture was harmoniously combined with sculpture and painting. The main themes of the images were deities, rulers, scenes from public life. Many sculptural genres were used: bas-relief, high relief, carving, modeled and round volume.
The Maya used various materials such as flint, obsidian, jade, wood, bone, shells. Cult objects were made from clay, which were covered with paintings. Of great importance was the expression of faces, details of clothing. The traditions of the Mayan Indians in sculpture and painting were characterized by brightness, energy and realism.
Mayan cosmology
For a long period, the Maya deified natural phenomena. The first objects of their worship were the Sun, the Moon, wind, rain, lightning, forests, mountains, waterfalls, rivers. But over time theya pantheon of gods was formed, corresponding to their cosmological ideas, which were as follows.
The universe consists of 13 worlds located in heaven, and 9 - underground. The lords of heaven are hostile to the lords of the underworld. Between the heavenly and underworlds is a flat rectangular earth. After death, the soul will enter one of the worlds. The souls of warriors and women who died in childbirth immediately fall into paradise, to the god of the Sun. Most of the dead are threatened by the dark realm.
World Tree
According to Mayan beliefs, in the center of the universe is the World Tree, which permeates all the celestial layers. Next to it, on the cardinal points, there are four more trees:
- in the north - white;
- in the south - yellow;
- black in the west;
- East is red.
The gods of wind, rain and the holders of the sky live on the trees. These deities also correspond to the cardinal directions and are different in color.
Creator of the world
The Maya god Unaba (Hunaba Ku) is the creator of the world. In the sacred book called "Popol Vuh" it is said that he created all of humanity from corn. He was also called the Great Father (Kukumai). But in the transformation of corn into a man, the Great Mother (Tepeu) also played a big role.
First, the first four men were created from corn dough, and then beautiful women were created for them. From these first people came small and large tribes. In accordance with later beliefs, the world was created four times, and three times wasdestroyed by the Flood.
Good and evil gods
In the religion of the ancient Maya, the gods were divided into good and evil. The first gave people rains, helped to grow a good crop of corn, contributed to abundance. The second was mainly engaged in destruction. They sent droughts, hurricanes, wars.
There were also deities who had a dual nature. These include four brothers-bogatyrs. According to the Creator's instructions, after he created the world, they stood at the four corners of the Universe and held the sky on their shoulders. In doing so, they did a good deed. But at the beginning of the flood, the brothers got scared and ran away.
Pantheon of Gods
The chief in the Mayan pantheon of gods was Itzman, the Lord of the world. He was depicted as an old man with a wrinkled face, a toothless mouth and a huge aquiline nose. At the same time, he acted as the Creator of the world, the god of Day and Night, the founder of the priesthood, the inventor of writing.
The god of corn, who was given the appearance of a young man, enjoyed special reverence. He wore a headdress shaped like a corncob.
The Maya also worshiped the gods of the Sun, rain, valleys, hunters, deer, jaguar gods, the god of death Ah Puch and many others.
Quetzalcoatl, or Kukulkan, who was the god of the wind and the planet Venus, was also among the most revered gods.
The worship of the jaguar gods, who had a very ancient origin, originating in the Olmec culture, deserves special attention. These gods were associated with the underworld, death, hunting, and the cult of warriors. "Red" and "black" jaguarswere also associated with the gods of the cardinal points and rain. According to researchers, the jaguar acted as a tribal deity of some ruling dynasties.
In addition to the circle of the main deities, in the Maya religion, a large role was assigned to local deities, deified ancestors and heroes.
Female Goddesses
There were also many female deities in the Mayan religion. Especially among them, the so-called red goddess - Ish-Chebel-Yash was revered. Often she was depicted with a snake, which replaced her headdress, and with paws, like those of a predatory beast.
Another goddess who enjoyed special reverence was the goddess of the Rainbow - Ix-Chel. She was the wife of the main god, Itzman, and also the goddess of the Moon, patronizing medicine, childbirth and weaving.
The Mayans had deities that were unusual for other peoples. For example, such was the goddess Ishtab, the patroness of suicides.
Connection with the gods
In order to attract the attention of the gods, the Maya observed long fasts, which sometimes reached a period of three years. They did not eat meat, pepper, s alt, spicy chili, and abstained from intimacy. It should be noted that such strictness concerned mainly the priests. But the rest sought to imitate them in order to appease the gods.
The Maya addressed prayers to the gods, which, first of all, contained requests for relief from life's hardships, getting rid of diseases, ensuring the harvest, good luck in hunting and fishing, and success in military operations.
The connection with the gods was carried out through the priests, who immersed themselves in prayers andmeditation. They also practiced “sending messengers to the gods”, that is, sacrifices, including human ones.
Ritual life
A big role in the Mayan religion was played by such rituals as prophecy, divination and oracles, as well as various ceremonies. The preparation and implementation of each religious ceremony took place in six main stages:
- Prior fasting and abstinence.
- The appointment by the priest, who was in a state of divine illumination, of a suitable day for the celebration.
- The rite of expelling evil spirits from the place where the festival was supposed to be held.
- Fumigation of idols.
- Saying prayers.
- Climax - Sacrifice.
As a rule, human sacrifices were made infrequently. They were mainly limited to animals, birds, fish, fruits, and ornaments. But there were days when, according to the ideas of the Maya, it was necessary to sacrifice their fellow tribesmen or captives so that the gods would prevent trouble or send good luck. This happened in times of heavy defeats or high-profile military victories, epidemics, during periods of drought and the famine that followed it.
Before the soul has flown away
There were several varieties of sacrifices. The most solemn and popular was the one during which the victim's heart was torn out. It happened as follows.
The sacrifice was covered with azure and laid on an altar of jasper. This was done by four priests, venerable elders in black robes smeared with black paint. The top of the altar was rounded, which contributedlifting the chest. This made it possible to easily and conveniently cut the victim's chest with a sharp knife and pull out the beating heart. It was considered the bearer of the soul, which was sent to the gods as a messenger with very important requests or assignments.
The heart had to be torn out as quickly as possible in order to bring it closer to the statue of the god, while it was still trembling, that is, before the soul had “flew away” yet. At the same time, the priest-soothsayer irrigated the statue of God with the blood of a pulsating heart.
Then the body of the victim was thrown by the priests from the steps of the pyramid. Other priests who were below were skinning the warm corpse. One of them pulled it over himself and performed a ritual dance in front of thousands of spectators. After that, the body was buried, but if it was the body of a courageous warrior, it was eaten by the priests. They believed that by doing so, the best qualities of the victim pass to them.
Purity of soul is important
There was a ritual according to which an innocent young man was chosen as a victim, since the purity of the "soul-blood" was very important for the priests. In addition, it was necessary to exclude outside influence. The victim was tied to a post in the square, and was slowly shot, like a target, from bows or spears. Such fanaticism had its explanation. At the beginning of the ritual, it was strictly forbidden to inflict a mortal wound on the victim. She had to die long and painfully from loss of blood. With this blood, the soul "flew" to God.
Along with the described rituals, there was also blood donation, which did not require the death of a person. The victim was only made incisions on the forehead, ears, elbows. They also pierced her nosecheeks, sexual organ.
Great importance was attached to the ritual dance of fiery purification. It was performed in those years that, according to the Mayan calendar, were considered the most dangerous and unlucky. This ceremony was carried out late at night, which gave it solemnity and produced a great effect. The glowing embers left over from the large fire were scattered around and leveled off. The chief priest led a procession of barefoot Indians walking over the coals. Some of them were burned, others burned very badly, and someone remained unharmed. This ritual, like many others, was accompanied by music and dancing.
Temples
In the Mayan religion, great importance was attached to urban centers. The most ancient of them were formed at the turn of a new era. These were Vashaktun, Kopan, Tikal Volaktun, Balakbal and others. They were religious and secular in nature. For example, about 200 thousand people lived in Kopan. In the VIII century, three temples were erected there, each of which reached a height of 30 meters. In addition, in the very center of the city there were terraces decorated with steles and statues of gods.
Such religious and secular centers were located in other cities. They are inherent in all of Mesoamerica as a whole. Many of the monuments have survived to this day. These include:
- In Palenque: Pyramid of inscriptions, Temple of the Sun, pyramid-tombs.
- In Chichen Itza: Temple of the Jaguars, Temple of the Warriors, Pyramid of Kukulkan.
- In Teotihuacan - the "city of the gods": the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon.
According to one of the beliefs, when a person stopsreflected in the mirror, he approaches death. By the end of the 10th century, the Mayan civilization was no longer reflected in the mirror. Her sunset has come. Many cities were abandoned by their inhabitants, and they were destroyed. The Maya civilization died out. Why? There is no exact answer, there are only hypotheses: wars, earthquakes, epidemics, sudden climate change, a decrease in soil fertility … However, the true reason is not known to anyone.
