Maya religion and Culture

In Mayan religion sacrifice was a huge part. The Mayans believed that sacrificing a human heart would result in Kinich Ahau (also known as the sun god) rising. They thought this because they did not have any other explanation for the sun rising. They did not have the scientific advancements like what we have today. Therefore, they came up with stories and myths to explain why the sun rises. This is the reason Mayans practiced human sacrifice.

The Mayans worshipped all sorts of gods and goddeses. For example, they worshipped a goddess called Ixtab, the goddess of suicide or Yumil Kaxob a god that represents ripe grain.

Maya facts and achievementsThe Mayan civilization lasted from 2000 B.C to the 16th century, approximately.They lived on Yucatan Peninsula in Mesoamerica for over 3000 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The Mayan population was approximately 13 million. The Mayan civilization was one of the first to create a 365 day calandar that was accurate.By 700 b.c they created a writing system

Maya Religion and cultureby Jay

The Mayans practiced human sacrifice as part of their religion

Yumil Kaxob the Maize god or reprezentative of ripe grain

http://www.jacksbromeliads.com/Yumil_3_phixr.jpg

Ixtab, the goddess of suicide

The Mayans were polytheistic. They worshipped over 165 gods.

http://www.jacksbromeliads.com/Ixtab_4_phixr.jpg

https://bonesdontlie.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/human-sacrifice.jpg?w=331&h=217

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Region_Mesoamerica.png

Mayans were more than just a culture that sacrificed people they also practiced arts such as painting, music, poetry and writing. The Mayans made tens of thousands of books.

I would like to live in this civilization if I did not get sacrificed! I would enjoy it because the civilization was very advanced for its time and it was a very creative civilization because it practiced all sorts of arts.

The Mayans believed the gods were human like and did human like activities such as create, plant, harvest maize, do buisness and fight in wars.

Mayans belived that every person had an animal conpanion who shared their soul. The mayan religion said that every person could turn into their conpanion animal spirit. Every king had a jaguar as their animal companion spirit. Most Mayans had one animal spirit, but some Mayan priests could have more than one.

The Mayans built temples and pyramids for religious purposes such as rituals and sacrifices. There were two main types of pyramids. One had a temple on top that priests walked up to make sacrifices to the gods.The other pyramid was a sacred pyramid that no human could climb or even touch, it was only for the gods. The pyramids had carving and statues to honor the gods and their kings.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/img/palaeo/mayan_pyramid.jpg