Mayan Rituals

Mayan History The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador, and northern Belize. Building on the inherited…

The Mayan religion is a polytheistic one, and the main gods are Itzamná, Kukulcán (also known as Quetzalcóatl), Bolon Tzacab and Chac. The worship of these deities has been carefully recorded thanks to the Mayan hieroglyphic language, which explained areas of their society that were based in religion…

The Olmecs The first civilization to evolve in Mesoamerica was that of the Olmecs. Around 1500 B.C., villages in Mesoamerica became more complex and specialized. These people formed a nation which they called Olmec. The Olmecs built huge religious stone emblems of their gods and rulers. Some of these…

Is this what our own Milky Way Galaxy looks like from far away? Similar in size and design to our home galaxy, spiral galaxy NGC 3370 is about 100 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA) This article is Part One of Two in a series on the…

Bloodletting-cutting part of the body to release blood-is an ancient ritual used by many Mesoamerican societies. For the ancient Maya, bloodletting rituals constituted a way to communicate with the gods and royal ancestors. This practice was usually performed by nobles through the perforation of body…

Maya Gods The Maya believed in a large number of nature gods. Some gods were considered more important and powerful than others. Itzamna - The most important Maya god was Itzamna. Itzamna was the god of fire who created the Earth. He was ruler of heaven as well as day and night. The Maya believed that…

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