Religion
Religion was
important to the Mayans. They worshipped everything in nature and tried to explain how
things happened because of the Gods. The Mayans believed that the world was made up of
heavens and underworlds. They were linked together by a giant tree, which had its branches
in the heavens, and it's roots in the underworld. Another Mayan explanation of the world
was that the world was a giant crocodile or turtle and that Gods lived in the sky and
heavens and there was a watery underworld below. People could communicate with the Gods
through prayers, sacrifices and visions.
Many Mayan Gods were
seen as forces of nature. The Mayan people were farmers so that many of the Gods were
agricultural. Chac was the rain God. He would bring rain, which was very important to the
Maya people. Chac was often represented in art with a reptile face and fangs and he
carried a lightning ax. Itzamna was the reptile god and he was the lord of both day and
night. The Mayans thought of him as their first priest, the inventor of writing, and the
god of medicine. Yum Kaax was the god of corn and one of the most important Gods to the
Mayan farmers. He was thought of as the father of the Hero Twins. Ix Chel was a rainbow
deity and one of the few Gods that was seen as a woman. She was known as the rainbow
goddess. She was associated with healing, childbirth, and foretelling the future.
The Mayans often
made sacrifices to the Gods. Some sacrifices were just offering of food but sometimes
people would be sacrificed. The Mayans did not sacrifice their own people, they took
captives from war and sacrificed them. Another Mayan form of sacrifice was bloodletting.
The Mayans would cut themselves to make them bleed because they believed that their blood
nourished the Gods. Bloodletting was also believed to help people connect with their
animal spirits. The Spanish Colonization didn't change their belief and strength on their religion.
