Religion

A single Mayan could pierce his tongue, ears or lips, as long as there was bloodletting. Sometimes, a Mayan would have his heart ripped out. Why on earth would a Mayan give up so much blood and remove his life? The life of the Mayan was completely dedicated to Gods and the religion. The gods were arranged in their daily lives and in nature, always watching over them. Mayans believed that the Gods needed nourishment from the hard work they put into everyday. Unlike many other civilizations, the Mayans believed in several gods to represent each element of their life. Some gods held good aspects, while others did not, and their appearances differed much. There was a rain god named Chaac, a Sun God named Kinich Ahar, a moon goddess named Ix Chel, a death goddess named Yum Cimil, and even a suicide goddess named Ixtab.
The cycles of the universe played an essential role in religion, as well as time. The cycles showed when ceremonies were held. Tzolkin, Tun, and Venus calendars interpreted when and what they did for ceremonies. In two hundred sixty days, there were two cycles in the Tzolkin calendar. The Tun was considered a ceremonial calendar as well. Every three hundred sixty days there were five unlucky days. The Venus calendar was five hundred eighty-four days and there were sky god cycles. Once a Mayan was a ruler, they believed when he died he also would join the Gods, and be worshipped forever.
The most important, and extreme, work for the gods was religious sacrifice. As I mentioned before, sacrifice could include the tongue, ear, or even the heart. At the top of a sacrificial pyramid, the victim would stand on his knees, and an incision was made below the ribcage, and then the heart was ripped out. The higher in the hierarchy you were, the more sacrifices were expected. Some religious aspects were required and were intertwined with the rules. If you were an important person in the society, you were required to sacrifice. Also, the civilians were required to take part in important events and know that the Gods controlled their everyday life and they were to worship them.
 

Studies

Besides the sacrificial and religious activities of the Mayans, art and studies were a vast part of their history. In time, they attained information in the areas of mathematics, astronomy, literature and writing, artwork, and architecture. The numeral system differed greatly from ours today. The Mayans base was 20 and 5. The Mayans, interestingly, had founded the number zero, in the year 36 BC. Their measurements were the most accurate seen by humans, mostly with astronomy, and their year, alike to ours, is three hundred and sixty-five days. The astronomy known about the Mayans was picked up from an ancient folk tale, where the sun was represented by the “Driving Sun”. In the theory, or tale, there was a hearth with a smudge of glowing light, which indicated that Mayans appreciated the sun very much. An interesting fact was that the only “pre-telescopic” civilization to ever sight the Drion Nebula was the Mayans. Mayans were fascinated with zenial passages, which is the time when the sun passes directly overhead. Another finding was that of the Dresden Codex. It shows that Venus was even more important to the Mayans then even the Sun.
Writing and literature is what the Mayans are also known for because they are the only pre-Columbian people to complete a spoken language. This language was satiated with phonetic characters, and syllables held a key role. Obsolete scripts full of glyphs were made at the earliest of 200-300 BC, which was part of the “Epi-Olnec”, or pre-Mayan time. A bulk of Mayan art was made from stucco, elaborated with intense designs. The other portion of the Maya’s art was their pottery, ceramics, painting, and murals. Turquoise was a precious color to the Mayans. It is referred to as Maya Blue, or Azul Maya. The Mayans are definitely known by extreme architecture that was built so long ago, it doesn’t seem possible. They’re creativity brought ideas of pyramids, as well as public plazas and fortresses. Their careful layouts represented religious platforms and palaces where sacrifices were held. This type of art and creativity is parallel to the Olmecs. Science explains that they lived in similar times, which makes it probable that they picked ideas up from each other.
 

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Agriculture

In the Mayan’s lifetime, agriculture was grown to help them survive. In order to produce fine and ripe, yet natural food, they invented a practical and contradicting style of food growth. In their diverse land, they had both highlands and lowlands. The Mayans had raised fields and forest gardens, and flat terraces in the highlands. A raised field, which was found in the lowlands, was created to avoid flooding when they were tending to the crops. Also in the lowlands, where weather was difficult and the soil wasn’t fertile, the stout Mayans would take the mud from the bottom of rivers and spread it amongst the field. Skilled farmers often would eradicate large sections of land to uncover groundwater. Then, they made underground reservoirs out of them. The Mayans were also specialized hunter-gatherers and used a slash- and-burn system. This process was when they would cut trees and dry them. Afterwards, they burned them and used the ashes to fertilize the soil.
With these techniques, the Mayans produced efficient food including corn, beans, maguey, bananas, cotton, manioc, avocado, melon, chili, squash, tomatoes, pumpkin, and they ate sunflower seeds. They added lime to the majority of their meals and boiled kernels and used tortillas, or mano. From the bees, they collected honey and wax. As you can see, little meat was eaten, however, fishing villages were invented. Joining the farmers, skilled weavers and potters would travel through extensive trade routes, enduring into jungles and swamps. When they got to the distant lands, the Mayans would frequently trade their items, usually honey for things like copper and cocoa beans, considering chocolate was a relatively favorite drink. Trade played an important role to help gain food they could not grow in their land, which helped their economy. In our world today, raised fields are used, which shows that the Mayan’s agriculture had influenced us. These raised fields contributed to the trade we enrich, which creates trends in our society. Mayans cultivated healthy food, used it to trade with other societies, and then influenced us, as well as continue the trends of trade and agriculture.
 

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Changes in their Life

Time kept rolling as usual with the Mayans, as it had been for many years, until one day, new people came, the Spanish. The Spanish set off millions of problems, and it made a huge difference on the lives of the Mayans. Spanish explorers came to the country, full of dignity and hopes of setting up colonies. If the Mayans had never let the Spanish come at all, they would have remained their happy way. This was a definite paradox situation. The Spanish kept trying to manipulate the Mayans, but soon found that they were much more difficult to take control from. Unfortunately, the Mayans let the Spanish control them after one hundred seventeen years of trying. Their presence brought about disease and killed off a great many people in their villages. Once the Spanish had the Mayans at their feet, they created establishments of buildings and villages in the new land. The Mayans began living their lives in misery, paying taxes to the Spaniards and abiding by the laws made by the Spaniards for their needs. One of these laws was that there could not be any Mayan political center around, for the Spaniards are the only rulers. Another was their tax, which were paid to the Spanish.
This paradox situation definitely changed the course of lifestyle for the Mayans. These Spaniards were motivated by the Mayan’s land and the wealth they hoped would come from it. Some of this wealth included gold and silver. However, the Mayan lands lacked these resources, which led the Spanish to thinking that they should keep the land and go to Peru or Mexico and discover riches. Power also subdued the Spaniards. Every Mayan land was theirs by 1697, as well as every life inhabiting the land, that was now owned by the Spaniards. Soon, the Mayans grew exhausted of living through the rules of strangers and brought about the Caste War of Yucatan. The purpose of this war was to regain political control of the lands against the Mayan descent of Europeans. The Spanish experience brought pain and anguish to the Mayan peoples. If the Mayans had never allowed the Spanish into their land, they may have been able to maintain their culture.