Maya

Culture area: Mesoamerica

Language group: Mayan

Primary location: Central America, Southern Mexico

Mayas inhabited southern Mexico and most of Central America. The heart of their territory was located in the present Mexican state of Chiapas, the Yucatán peninsula, and the countries of Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Origins

The origin of the Maya is unknown, although some believe their roots were in the Petén region of Guatemala, where old and relatively crude ceremonial centers have been discovered. Others locate their roots more northerly, in the Olmec region of Mexico, because of traces of Olmec culture seen in the Maya dot-and-bar calendar system and in ceremonial centers with their early round mud pyramids.

One reason that so much mystery surrounds such a relatively advanced civilization as the Maya is that Spanish bishop Diego de Landa, in his fervor to convert the Maya to Christianity, publicly burned almost all hieroglyphic books of Maya history and religion in 1562. Hundreds of idols, inscribed stelae, and altar stones were also destroyed. Ironically, however, Landa is credited with providing the single best source of information about the Maya; his book on the Maya, titled Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (Report of the things of Yucatán), includes not only details of their life but also some explanation of their calendar, which contained two main cycles, one of 260 days and the other of 365 days.

Only four Maya hieroglyphic texts, or codices, are known to have survived. Today they are known by the names of the places where they are or were preserved. These are the Dresden Codex in Dresden, Germany; the Paris Codex in Paris, France; the Madrid Codex in Madrid, Spain; and the Grolier Codex (sometimes called the Sáenz Codex), previously displayed at the Grolier Club in New York City but since moved to the Museo Nacional de Antropología (National Museum of Anthropology) in Mexico City. Unlike the first three, the Grolier Codex was only discovered in the 1970s, and its authenticity remains a matter of debate. In 2015, archaeologist Michael Coe and colleagues published a study detailing their extensive efforts to authenticate the codex, along with their conclusion that it is genuine.

In addition to these codices, a number of stelae also exist; however, not all Maya hieroglyphics have been deciphered. A few later textual records also exist. The Popol Vuh, which deals primarily with the story of creation, was written by the Quiche Mayas in historical times using letters of Spanish script. The Books of Chilam Balam are mythological histories of the Maya, and the Annals of the Cakchiquels presents a genealogical history of the Cakchiquels and relates the events of the Spanish conquest. In all these works, religion and myth are intertwined with factual history.

History

Scholars who study Maya history have divided it into three major periods. The Preclassic or Formative period (ca. 2000 BCE–ca. 250 CE) was characterized by the gradual development of complex ceremonial centers, monumental architecture, hieroglyphic writing, calendrics, social stratification, trade networks, and city states. The Classic period (ca. 250 CE–ca. 1000 CE) saw the maturation of the above, resulting in large, powerful ceremonial centers, ritual and solar calendrical systems, large agricultural bureaucracies, and often violent competition between ceremonial centers. This period is sometimes referred to as the “Old Empire.” The Postclassic period (ca. 1000 CE–1523 CE, the beginning of Spanish conquest of the Maya) was a time of renaissance in the northern, or Yucatán, region under Toltec influence. Religious compulsion was largely replaced by military concerns, resulting in secular government gaining ascendance over religious leadership. This period is sometimes referred to as the “New Empire.”

In reality, the Maya never formed an empire, since there was no dominant capital city or single ruler. Rather, there was a loose federation of city centers bound together by similarities of culture and religion under the control of religious leaders. These priest-rulers, who maintained power by virtue of their superior education and knowledge of the supernatural, shared common interests and concerns. Under their leadership, Maya civilization witnessed extraordinary achievements in fine arts, architecture, engineering, astronomy, mathematics, and hieroglyphic writing. Two accomplishments deserving special mention were the development of the mathematical concept of zero and a calendar that was more accurate than the Gregorian calendar introduced in Europe in 1582 CE. These accomplishments enabled Mayas to record the dates of important events accurately on Katun stones, or stelae, every twenty years.

Building was a constant part of Maya life. Ceremonial centers were built, rebuilt, and enlarged. These centers typically included one or more pyramids with a temple on top, a paved courtyard or plaza, and a number of low stone buildings. Often there was a ball court where a game was played using a small hard rubber ball, leather hip pads, and stone rings on the walls. The marketplace was set up, especially on important ceremonial days, near the temple-pyramid. These ceremonial centers were ruled by a largely hereditary class of priest-aristocrats who had almost a total monopoly on education, wealth, and power. The great Maya centers of Tikal, Uaxactún, Palenque, and Copan experienced long dynasties of priest-rulers. Copan, one of the longest-lived dynasties, had sixteen rulers. One, Smoke Imix, ruled for sixty-seven years.

Around 800 CE, Maya civilization in the southern lowlands began to decline; it had virtually collapsed by 900. Maya civilization continued to flourish in Yucatán. Possible explanations for the demise in the southern area include natural causes, such as disease, soil exhaustion, or change of climate, as well as social causes, such as continued warfare or the loss of control by the priest-aristocracy. Whatever the reasons, the result was the end of the classic indigenous cultures in Mesoamerica.

The conquest of the Maya by the Spanish began around 1523 and ended with the defeat of five thousand Itzás at Lake Petén Itzá in 1697 by Martín de Ursúa. During these years some fierce battles took place, but the Maya were unsuccessful in defending their land against the invaders from Spain. Meanwhile, after years of resistance, Spanish soldiers under the command of Francisco de Montejo subdued the Maya in Yucatán, where they were aided by a prophecy that had foretold the coming of white men with beards. Because of the efforts of missionaries such as Franciscan friar Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola, who learned their history, culture, and language, the Maya were converted to Christianity.

Religion

Religion was at the heart of Maya life. Religious ceremonies controlled the activities of the seasons and the growth of crops. Religion was also the driving force in the development of science and art. The Maya universe contained an array of divinities who controlled every aspect of nature. Each day of the week was regarded as a god whose behavior could be divined through the use of an intricate calendar system. Mathematics and astronomy were important to divinations and astrology, which were basic elements of their religious beliefs. At birth, children were taken to priests who predicted the future of the baby with the aid of astrological charts and sacred books. They also identified the specific god to whom the child would owe lifelong devotion based on the exact time and date of birth. A perpetual round of sacrificial ceremonies, prayers, fasting, and incense burning was required to please the gods. The elevated status and power of priests was thus ensured. The gods also required human blood. Accordingly, human sacrifices were offered, as was self-mutilation. Priests and other pious individuals pierced their tongues, earlobes, and genitals in order to draw blood and thereby please the gods.

According to the Chilam Balam, one of their sacred books, the earth was flat with four sides, each with its own color: white for north, yellow for south, red for east, and black for west. The color of the center was green. Four gods upheld the sky, and on each side there was a sacred ceiba, or wild cottonwood tree. In the center stood a giant green ceiba with its roots in the underworld and its branches in the upperworld. Surrounding the earth were thirteen heavens and nine hells. The heavens were ordered in six ascending and six descending steps, with the seventh at the top. Similarly, the nine hells were arranged in four descending and four ascending steps, with the fifth at the bottom. This structure of the universe is reflected in the form of the stepped pyramids crowned with temples. They served as the link between heaven and earth, with the priests as mediators.

In another sacred book, the Popol Vuh, the story of creation is recorded. The gods inhabited a dark world when they decided to create humankind. First they created men from mud, but they were soft and pliable, without mind or soul. The gods destroyed these men. Men were created a second time from wood, but they were stiff and inflexible without mind or soul, unable to remember their creator. Most of these were destroyed by a flood of fiery rain, while those who survived were changed into monkeys. The gods created men a third time. Four men were formed from the dough of white and yellow corn. They possessed intelligence and wisdom, but these powers were limited so they would be less than gods. Next, four women were created to be wives for the men. After the humans multiplied in the world of darkness the gods created the Morning Star, Icoquih, which precedes the sun. Then the sun arose and humankind rejoiced. Maya tradition locates the birthplace of the gods and man in the Usamacinta Valley in the region near Palenque.

Although the Mayas recognized and served a multitude of gods, not all were of equal rank. Belief in the Feathered Serpent god was shared with other indigenous people of Mesoamerica. This god, commonly known as Quetzalcóatl by the Aztecs, was called Kukulcan by the Mayas and became one of their most important deities.

Art and Architecture

Mayas have been called the Greeks of the New World not only because of their level of civilization but also because of the development of their art and architecture, both of which were ancillary to religion. Artists painted murals in bright colors recording selected aspects of Maya life. These paintings, as well as stone carvings and vase decorations, often show priests as they receive offerings, give orders, or pass judgments. Artists also worked in stucco and formed large plaster masks of rulers, which symbolized the institution of kingship. Mosaic jade masks and small busts were also made of important individuals.

Works of art that are particularly noteworthy include the sarcophagus lid of the ruler Pacal, which was found in a hidden chamber at Palenque, and the large carved jaguar throne found in a sealed chamber at Chichén Itzá. The lid was carved in bas-relief on a single twelve-foot slab of limestone. It depicts the cosmos at the time of Pacal’s death, including his image and a large cosmic tree decorated with jewels, mirrors, bloodletting bowls, dragons, bones, and a celestial bird on top. The gaping jaws of the underworld await at the bottom in the form of two huge skeletal dragons joined at the chin. At Chichén Itzá, the throne carved in the form of a jaguar was discovered in the Temple of Kukulcan. It was painted bright red, with eyes of jade and fangs of flint. The spots on its coat were made of inlaid jade disks.

Certain symbols or images appear repeatedly in Maya art and architecture. These include the jaguar, earth-dragon or crocodile, screech owl, bat, rattlesnake, snail, and butterfly. These and other animal forms served as guardian spirits and were found in the sacred calendar. Not all art was dedicated to religious purposes, however; common people and daily activities were also represented, especially on pottery and clay figures.

Professional musicians also flourished. A wide array of musical instruments was used, including wooden drums, hollow tortoise-shell drums, reed flutes, bone whistles, clay whistles, long wooden trumpets, conch shell trumpets, and rattles. Music was utilized for battles, celebrations, and funeral processions.

Maya architecture was among the most impressive in the New World. The use of cut stones made their structures strong and durable, able to survive the passage of centuries. They were often monumental in scale. They built pyramids topped with temples which soared more than 200 feet in the air, a ball court the size of a football field, a 320-foot-long building on the top of a hill, a stone arch 20 feet high, a four-story stone tower, and a building with scores of stone columns which supported a vaulted stone roof. They also built celestial observatories, water reservoirs, and irrigation systems.

Common architectural features include majestic temples topped with stone combs, the use of corbeled roof vaults or the “false arch,” carvings on the facades and lintels of stone structures, steep-sided pyramids crowned with temples, and paved courtyards. It was customary to cover older structures such as pyramids or courtyards with new ones. At the end of the Classic period, some architectural changes occurred in Yucatán. Pyramids were smaller, stone combs on the top of temples were smaller, and ornamental figures on facades became more abstract designs.

Although the culture of the Maya gradually disappeared, there are still more than thirty living Mayan languages, with an estimated total of six million indigenous speakers. Mayan speakers primarily reside in Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. According to the UK-based Minority Rights Group International, as of July 2008, Guatemala was home to twenty-one different Maya groups, the members of which made up approximately 51 percent of the country's population.

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