Maya religion
The Maya believed in many gods, and they believed that these gods could help or harm them. The Maya people like many other people of the world at this time believed in many elemental and animal gods. The Mayas believed that the world was created by one deer, and that deer created the mother and father gods, and they then created the rest of the gods. One of their gods that is well known is Kukulcan (also known as Quetzalcoatl) he is the commonly shown flying snake associated with the Maya, and was one of their main gods. For the Maya people the world of the living and the world of the Gods their ancestors, and the monsters were all very real. They believed that there were three different "regions" of the spiritual world and that they were very strongly interconnected, these were the heavens, the earth, and the waters of the underworld. The height of the Maya Civilization in the Classic Period
produced the incredible cultural advances for which they are well known. The
Maya believed deeply in a cycle of life, nothing really ever died, or was born.
This belief strongly impacted their view of their world. Their ideas involving
outer space encouraged their efforts in architecture, math, and astronomy.
Beneath the earth was the dark realm of Xibalba and which meant, or was
translated to be, “place of fear”. From Xibalba grew the great Tree of Life
which came up through the earth and towered into the heavens, through thirteen
levels, to reach the paradise of Tamoanchan meaning “place of the misty sky”,
where beautiful flowers bloomed. In Mayan belief, however, one did not die and
go to a `heaven’ or a `hell’ but, rather, embarked on a journey toward
Tamoanchan. This journey began in the dark and treacherous underworld of
Xibalba where the Xibalbans who lived there were more likely to try to trick
and destroy a soul than help one.
maya culture and values
The Maya culture was very complex and they had many beliefs that shaped their culture. The Maya people were very interested in time and space. They based many of the things that they made off of what they had observed, and or things that they had predicted. If you don't remember it was the Mayan calendar that said the world would end in 2012, and they had festivals based off of the positioning of the planets, and stars.
The Maya people also put a very high value on body modifications. The nobles most commonly would get their teeth sharpened,or get shapes or gems implanted or carved in their teeth to show their status as nobility.
The Maya people also put a very high value on body modifications. The nobles most commonly would get their teeth sharpened,or get shapes or gems implanted or carved in their teeth to show their status as nobility.