The ancient Mayan civilization that has disappeared has left many descendants of mysteries and secrets. These tribes, who had extensive knowledge in astronomy, mathematics, and cosmology, were among the most developed on the entire South American continent. But at the same time, they actively practiced human sacrifices, and the Mayan gods still seem to scientists an extremely confusing system of beliefs and ideas about the universe. Unfortunately, many written sources of the time were ruthlessly destroyed by the conquistadors. Therefore, the names of the Mayan gods reached the researchers in an incomplete version, many of them over the course of many decades underwent serious changes on the part of Catholic priests. And others sunk into oblivion, never revealing to the scientists their secret. Despite this, the gods of the Aztecs and Mayans, as well as the cults of their praise, continue to be carefully studied and surprise researchers with their versatility.
The world in the view of the South American Indians
Before proceeding to consider the pantheon of these peoples, it is necessary to understand how their ideas about the world were formed. After all, the gods of the Aztecs and Mayans were a direct consequence of the cosmology of the Indians.
A great difficulty for scientists who study Mayan life is the huge number of gods and their relationship with their own kind and ordinary people. Maya endowed with divine power not only natural phenomena, but also celestial bodies, various crops and animals.
South American Indians represented the world as a quadrangular plane, at the edges of which stood trees symbolizing the cardinal points. Each of them had its own color, and in the center was the most important green tree. It penetrated into all worlds and connected them with each other. The Mayans claimed that heaven consists of thirteen different worlds, each of which is inhabited by its deities and has a supreme god. Underground spheres, too, according to representatives of ancient civilization, had several levels. In the nine worlds inhabited by the gods of death, who arranged the souls of the dead the most terrible trials. Not all souls could pass them, in the most sad case they remained forever in the realm of darkness and sadness.
It is interesting that the origin of the world, as well as its structure, the Mayans had several interpretations. For example, some peoples believed that in the corners of the world are not trees, but Bacaba - four deities holding heavenly worlds on their shoulders. They also had a different color. For example, bacaba in the east was painted in red, and in the south - yellow. The center of the earth has always been green.
Maya had a very peculiar attitude towards death. It was considered a natural continuation of life and was considered in great detail in all its forms. Surprisingly, where a person gets after the end of the earthly path directly depended on how he dies. For example, women who died in childbirth, and warriors always fell into a kind of paradise. But natural death from old age doomed the soul to wandering in the kingdom of darkness. There, great trials awaited her, after which she could forever remain within the dark gods of death. Suicide was not considered among the South American Indians weakness and something forbidden. Quite the contrary - the one who himself had put it in his hands, fell into the sun gods, and always rejoiced at his new afterlife.
Features of the Mayan pantheon of gods
Mayan gods amaze scientists with their multitude. According to some reports, there are more than two hundred of them. Moreover, each of them has several incarnations and can be represented in at least four different forms. Many of them have a wife, who is also one of the incarnations. This dualism can be traced among the gods of Hinduism and Buddhism. It is not known which of the religions was primary and influenced the other, but scientists know that some of their Mayan gods were taken from an even more ancient culture, about which almost nothing is known today.
Surprising at the first meeting with the pantheon of deities is the fact that most of them are mortals. This is evidenced by the surviving stories and images of deities. It was quite common to portray them at different periods of maturity, and old age did not symbolize senility and weakness, but wisdom. It was necessary to feed the gods with sacrifices, because the blood of the victims gave them longevity and energy.
The gods of the heavenly bodies died more often than others, and before a new appearance in heaven, they had to roam the kingdom of the dead in their new incarnation. Then they again regained their former appearance and returned to their intended place.
The Mayan gods depicted on the bas-reliefs of temples and pyramids, at the first examination, scared scientists with their appearance and complexity of perception. The fact is that symbolism was adopted in the culture of South American Indians, and a special meaning was put into each image. Often the gods looked like creatures with animal claws, coiled snakes instead of eyes and oblong skulls. But their appearance was not frightened by the Mayans, they saw this as a special meaning, and each object in the hands of a deity or on his costume was called upon to consolidate his power over people.
Mayan calendar
Almost every modern person knows the Mayan calendar, which predicts the end of the world in 2012. It caused a lot of scientific debate and hypotheses, but in fact it was just another version of the reckoning, which the Mayans, as told in the legends, learned from the gods. The Mayan gods taught them to count epochs as a time span of approximately five thousand two hundred years. Moreover, representatives of a mysterious civilization were sure that the world had already lived and was dying earlier. The Mayan gods told the priests that the world is now experiencing its fourth incarnation. Previously, it was already created and perished. The first time human civilization perished from the sun, the second and third time from wind and water. For the fourth time, death threatens the world from the god Jaguar, who will break free from the kingdom of the dead and destroy all life on the planet. But in the place of the destroyed, a new world will be reborn, rejecting everything evil and mercantile. The Mayans considered this order of things to be natural and did not even think about preventing the death of humanity.
Sacrifices in honor of the gods
The ancient Mayan gods demanded constant sacrifices, and quite often they were human. Historians believe that almost every deity service was accompanied by a sea of blood. Depending on its quantity, deities blessed or punished the people. Moreover, the sacrificial rituals were worked out by the priests to automatism, sometimes they were extremely cruel and could hit the European.
The most beautiful young girls every year were appointed brides of the god of fertility - Hume-Kasha. After a certain ritual, they were thrown alive into a deep stone well together with gold and jade, where they died for a long and painful time.
According to another ritual, a person was tied to a sculpture of a deity, and the priest ripped open his stomach with a special knife. The whole idol was covered in blood, and then the victim's body was painted in bright blue. White was applied to the area of the heart, where members of the tribe shot from a bow. No less bloody is the rite of tearing the heart out of a still living person. At the top of the pyramid, the priest tied the victim to the altar and brought him into a trance state. In one deft movement, the priest tore open the chest and with his hands tore out the still beating heart from the body. Then the body threw itself down to the crowd roaring in ecstasy.
Another way to honor the gods was a ritual ball game. At the end of the game, the Mayan gods necessarily received their long-awaited sacrifice. Usually the sites where the two teams fought were located in a quadrangle closed on all sides. The walls were the sides of the temple pyramids. All members of the losing team were cut off their heads and planted on spears at the Skulls special site.
To nourish their gods between large ritual sacrifices, the Mayan priests constantly bleed themselves, irrigating the altar with it. Several times a day, they pierced their ears, tongues and other parts of the body. Such respect for the gods should have drawn the latter to the tribe and bestowed on them well-being.
The main Mayan god, creator of all living things
God Itzamna was the most important deity in the Mayan pantheon. Usually he was portrayed as an old man with a large nose and one tooth in his mouth. He was associated with a lizard or iguana and was often portrayed surrounded by these creatures.
The cult of Itzamna is one of the oldest, most likely it appeared when the Mayans still revered totem animals. Lizards in the culture of South American Indians were considered sacred creatures who, even before the advent of the gods, held the sky with their tails. The Mayans claimed that Itzamna created the earth, people, gods and all worlds. He taught the people to count, cultivate the earth and showed important stars in the night sky. Almost everything that people knew how to do, brought them the main god of the Maya Indians. He was simultaneously the deity of rain, harvest, and earth.
Companion of Itsamna
No less revered among the Mayans was the wife of Itzamna - the goddess Ish-Chel. She was simultaneously the goddess of the moon, rainbow and the mother of all the other deities of the Mayan pantheon. It is believed that all the gods came from this couple, therefore Ish-Chel simultaneously patronizes women, girls, children and expectant mothers. She can assist with childbirth, but sometimes she takes newborn babies as a sacrifice. Maya had such a custom according to which for the first time pregnant girls went alone to the island of Cosmel. There they had to appease the goddess with various victims, so that the birth would go well, and the baby was born healthy and strong.
There are legends that on the island quite often sacrificed young virgins and babies. Surprisingly, even the patroness of women, who was supposed to be reverent and tender, recognized human sacrifices and fed on fresh blood, like all other Mayan deities.
Kukulkan, Mayan god
One of the most famous and revered Mayan gods was Kukulkan. His cult was widespread throughout Yucatan. The very name of God is translated as "a feathered serpent" and he often appeared before his people in various incarnations. Most often, he was portrayed as a creature similar to a winged snake and with a human head. On other bas-reliefs, he looked like a god with a bird's head and the body of a snake. Kukulkan controlled the four elements and often symbolized fire.
In fact, the most important Mayan god was not associated with any of the elements, but he skillfully controlled them, using it as a special gift. The priests of the cult were considered the main expressors of the will of Kukulkan, they could communicate directly with God and knew his will. Moreover, he defended the royal dynasties and always advocated their strengthening.
In honor of Kukulkan, the most magnificent pyramid was built on the Yucatan. It is made so amazing that on the day of the summer solstice the shadow from the structure takes the form of a winged snake. This symbolizes the coming of God to his people. Many note that the pyramid has a very special acoustics - even in complete silence it seems that birds are shouting somewhere nearby.
The scariest of the pantheon of Mayan gods
The Mayan god of death, Ah-Puig, was the lord of the lowest tier of the underworld. He devised monstrous bloody trials for lost souls and often liked to watch the ritual game of the match between the souls of the Indians and the gods of the kingdom of the dead. Most often, he was depicted as a skeleton or a creature covered with cadaverous black spots.
In order to get out of the kingdom of the dead, it was necessary to outwit the deity, but the Mayans claimed that for the entire time the worlds existed, only a few daredevils succeeded.
The bright deity of the sky
Maya were excellent astronomers, they paid a lot of attention to the Sun and the Moon. Dependent on the daylight was how fruitful the year would be. But observing the moon and the stars allowed the Indians to keep a calendar and mark the days of rituals, sacrifices and sowing. Therefore, it is not surprising that the gods of these heavenly bodies were among the most revered.
The Mayan Sun god was named Kinich Ahau. He was also the patron saint of warriors who, dying, nourished the god with their blood. Maya believed that Kinich Ahau at night should gain strength, so it is necessary to nourish it with blood daily. Otherwise, he will not be able to rise from the darkness and illuminate the new day.
Most often, God appeared as a young man with red skin. He was portrayed sitting with a solar disk in his hands. According to the Mayan calendar, it was his era that began after 2012. After all, the fifth era belongs entirely to Kinich Ahau.
God of rain chuck
Since the Mayans were mainly engaged in agriculture, it is not surprising that the gods of the sun and rain belonged to the supreme pantheon of deities. God Chuck was feared and revered. After all, he could give good and timely watering to crops, and he could punish with drought. In such years, he received sacrifices in the hundreds of human lives. Altars did not have time to dry out from the sea of spilled blood.
Most often, Chuck was portrayed in a lazy reclining position with a large sacrificial bowl on his lap. Sometimes he looked like a formidable creature with an ax, which could cause heavy rain and lightning, considered satellites of a good harvest.
Fertility god
Yum-Kash was simultaneously the god of fertility and corn. Since this culture was the main one in the life of the Indians, the fate of the whole city depended on its productivity. God was always portrayed as a young man with an elongated head, which passed into the cob. Sometimes his headdress resembled corn. According to legend, the Mayan gods gave corn, they brought seeds from heaven and taught to cultivate corn fields. Surprisingly, until now, scientists have not found a wild ancestor of corn, from which modern cultivated varieties of this popular and today species should have come from.
Be that as it may, the culture of the Mayan people and their religious beliefs are still not fully understood by modern scholars. They believe that the knowledge gained with great difficulty about the life of South American Indians is just the top of the iceberg, but the real achievements of this civilization, which will lead to an understanding of its lifestyle, were irrevocably destroyed by the conquistadors.