Maya religion facts for kids

The traditional religion of the Maya people is a very old and special part of their culture. The Maya live in places like Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and parts of Mexico. Their religion is part of a bigger group of beliefs called Mesoamerican religion.

For hundreds of years, Maya religion has mixed with Roman Catholicism. But even before Christianity arrived, Maya religion had been around for over 2,500 years! Back then, many different Maya kingdoms had their own local traditions. Today, Maya religion continues to grow and change, sometimes mixing with new ideas and different Christian groups.

Learning About Maya Religion

We learn about traditional Maya religion from many sources. The most important sources are the Maya people themselves! This includes religious leaders, fortune-tellers, and storytellers. Many anthropologists and historians have also studied their beliefs.

Here are some of the main ways we know about ancient Maya religion:

• Old Maya Books: We have three special books with Maya hieroglyphs (picture writing). These are called the Maya codices (Dresden, Madrid, and Paris). There's also the Grolier Codex. These books are from after 900 AD. We also learn from pictures and writings on pottery and ancient wall paintings.
• Stone Carvings: Many inscriptions carved into stone from between 200 BC and 900 AD tell us about their religion.
• Early Spanish Writings: Books from the 1500s, like the Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam books, give us important information. Spanish writers like Diego de Landa and Bartolomé de las Casas also wrote about Maya beliefs.
• Archaeology: Studying old Maya cities, buildings, and artifacts helps us understand their rituals and beliefs.
• Modern Studies: Anthropologists have been studying Maya communities since the late 1800s, adding to our knowledge.

Maya Rituals and Customs

Maya religion is often called costumbre, which means 'custom' or 'habitual practice'. It's a complex set of rituals. For example, a village priest in Yucatán is simply called jmen, meaning "practitioner."

Sacred Places and Time

The Maya see their land as sacred. Mountains, wells, and caves are often linked to specific ancestors and gods. For example, the town of Zinacantan is surrounded by seven 'bathing places' for mountain ancestors. Many rituals happen in or near these special places, like the cenotes (sinkholes) in Yucatán.

Rituals are also guided by the Maya calendar. In some places, certain days are linked to specific mountain shrines, telling people when to use them for rituals.

Journeys to Sacred Sites

Maya people often go on pilgrimages to sacred places. These journeys connect communities and even wider regions. Today, villages might visit each other's saint statues, or people might travel to distant holy mountains.

Around 1500, the great Chichen Itza cenote attracted pilgrims from many kingdoms. Other people visited islands off Yucatán's east coast to worship goddesses like Ix Chel. Long before that, noblemen from ancient kingdoms visited caves like Naj Tunich and left carvings on the walls.

Offerings and Sacrifices

Offerings are a way to build and renew relationships with the spirit world. There are strict rules about what to offer, how many items, how to prepare them, and how to arrange them. Common offerings include special maize breads, drinks made from maize and cacao, honey liquor, flowers, and incense.

In ancient Maya cities, offerings were also buried in special places under buildings, stelae (carved stone slabs), and altars. These were often dedications to a specific religious purpose.

In the past, animals like deer, dogs, quail, turkeys, and fish were sacrificed.

Cleaning and Preparing

Before important rituals, people often purify themselves. This can involve fasting, bathing, and, in ancient times, confessing. Purification is also needed before entering places where gods live. In Yucatán today, people might drink water from a rock and spit it out when entering the forest. This makes them "pure" to do their work in the sacred forest.

Speaking to the Gods

Prayer almost always goes with offerings and sacrifices. Maya prayers are often long lists of names, including personified days, saints, rain gods, and mountains. Some Maya communities even have special 'Prayermakers'. These prayers often have a rhythmic, repeating structure. The oldest recorded prayers are in the Popol Vuh.

Maya Priests and Leaders

Traditional Maya communities have their own religious leaders. These leaders are often organized in a hierarchy and are responsible for praying and sacrificing for families, local groups, or the whole community. Many work within Catholic brotherhoods, which have helped keep ancient traditions alive.

Contemporary Maya priest in a healing ritual at Tikal

For example, the Tz'utujil Maya of Santiago Atitlán have brotherhoods and priests for their two main male gods, Martín and Maximón. In Yucatán, village priests called jmenob lead public rituals for farming and rain. In private, diviners (called 'seers' or 'daykeepers') and healers are very active. Many of these priests and healers show practices similar to shamanism.

We know about ancient Maya priests mostly from what Spanish missionaries wrote. The highest priests were very learned, knowing about history and family lines. Around 1500, Yucatec priests were organized from a high priest at court down to town priests. The high priest was likely seen as a reflection of the upper god Itzamna, who was the first priest and invented writing. The general word for priest was ah k'in, meaning 'calendrical priest'. Priests had many duties, from life ceremonies to managing monthly festivals. Some were oracles, astrologers, or even performed human sacrifices. In the K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj, the most important gods had their own high priests. Being a priest was usually for noble families.

We don't know as much about Classic Maya priests. However, old carvings show older, wise figures writing, reading books, and leading rituals. These likely represent professional priests and high priests. Kings also acted as priests.

Feasts and Performances

Maya feasts often include dramatic performances and people pretending to be gods.

Celebrations and Shows

Today, religious brotherhoods often organize feasts, with the most important roles costing the most. In ancient times, wealthy people likely sponsored feasts. These feasts helped share food and drink among the community. Drinking, which outsiders often commented on, helped create a strong bond among people and between people and the gods.

Both now and in ancient times, complex rituals included music, dance, processions, and plays. Important dances and dramas often happen during village patron saint feasts or Catholic holidays. In the past, specific dances were performed during New Year rituals or monthly feasts. The Maya maize god was often shown dancing, as he was a patron of feasting.

Becoming a God (for a while)

People pretending to be gods or animals was common in ancient Mesoamerica, including among the Maya. This included wayob (were-animals). Sometimes, humor was part of these events, with actors like opossums and spider monkeys.

Often, impersonation was a state-level ritual, shown on carved stone slabs (stelae) and ball game panels. On royal stelae, the king would wear the heads of important gods or forces of nature as a headdress or mask. He might carry a scepter shaped like a lightning god. These heads were often of the rain god (Chaac) or a water serpent. The queen often represented the main maize goddess. Young men might pretend to be the four gods who carry the earth (Bacabs). This impersonation could even mean a person felt they were transforming into a natural phenomenon.

Ritual Life Areas

Friar Diego de Landa wrote a lot about Maya rituals in the 1500s, especially in the kingdom of Maní. However, he didn't cover everything, like rituals for farming or kingship.

The Maya Calendar

The Maya calendar is central to Maya ritual life. It's connected to a network of sacred places for offerings. The 260-day cycle rituals are used for guidance in life.

For the highland Maya, community rituals follow the 365-day year, especially focusing on the 'Year Bearers'. These are the four named days that can start a new year. They were seen as divine lords and were welcomed on specific mountains, then worshipped throughout the year.

The calendar also includes a five-day period at the end of the year. In 16th-century Yucatán, a straw puppet called 'grandfather' (mam) was honored and then discarded. The god for the new year was also installed, and the old one removed.

The thirteen twenty-year periods (katuns) of the Short Count were also seen as divine lords and worshipped. They had their own gods and priests.

Daily Life and Festivals

The 18 months of the Maya calendar had festivals dedicated to specific gods. These were often celebrated by different groups of people, like hunters, fishermen, bee-keepers, cacao farmers, healers, and warriors. We don't know if all Maya kingdoms celebrated these festivals in the same way.

Jéets méek' ritual as practiced nowadays in Yucatan

Life's Big Moments

Life cycle rituals mark different stages of life. Landa described a ritual to prepare young boys and girls for marriage. Today, the Yucatec Maya still perform the Hetz mek ritual. This marks when a baby moves from being cradled to being carried on the mother's hip, usually around three months old. The child is offered tools (for boys) or cloth/thread (for girls). If they grasp them, it's seen as a sign of their future. All children are offered pencils and paper.

Weather and Farming

Many rituals aim to influence the weather, especially for rain. These rituals are found throughout the Maya area. Priests performing rain rituals are sometimes believed to go into the clouds and act like rain gods themselves.

The main focus of farming rituals is planting and harvesting maize (corn). The rituals of the Yucatec and Ch'orti' Maya have been described in great detail. For example, there are rituals to protect fields from bad influences, give thanks, and ask rain gods for help.

A large cave called Balankanche near Chichén Itzá was an important place for rain and maize rituals in ancient times.

Hunting Rituals

In one 16th-century Yucatec month festival, hunters danced with arrows and deer skulls painted blue. Hunters today still keep the skulls and bones of their prey. They deposit them in hunting shrines to return them to their supernatural Owners for new life. They also follow hunting rules and avoid hurting animals unnecessarily.

Land and Territory

Rituals were used to claim land for different social groups. These included rituals for waterholes, ancestral lands, and community boundaries. Often, these rituals focused on crosses or 'cross shrines', and prayers were directed at rain and earth gods. In ancient times, these crosses might have been linked to the central 'world tree' or 'tree of life'. The king was often seen as the embodiment of this central tree.

War and Warriors

In Maya stories, warfare involved warriors turning into animals (wayob) and sorcerers using black magic. In ancient times, war rituals focused on war leaders and weapons. The jaguar-spotted War Twin Xbalanque was a war god. Before a battle, rituals were held for him to give power to weapons. The Yucatec ritual for the war chief (nakom) was linked to a puma war god. In Classic war rituals, Maya jaguar gods were important, especially the jaguar god of fire, whose face often decorated the king's war shield.

Kingship and Power

Early Spanish writers didn't say much about the king's ritual duties. However, the Yucatec king (halach uinic) was sometimes called 'bishop', suggesting he played a leading role in public rituals. In the Classic period, kingship rituals were the most important at the Maya court. The idea of a "theatre state" suggests that the state's strength depended on elaborate royal rituals that showed the status of noble families.

On monuments, kings are sometimes shown dancing, suggesting their part in rituals on large plazas. On important occasions, the king might be shown to the crowd inside a shrine carried on a large platform.

The specific rituals kings performed are not fully known. Postclassic K'iche' kings and nobles regularly visited temples to burn offerings and pray for their people, while fasting. Classic Period kings sometimes scattered incense or maize. The king was not only a leader in rituals, but rituals also focused on his role. Setting up carved stone stelae showing the king marked important calendar dates and was a royal ritual itself. The king was seen as a divine lord. At San Bartolo, the divine hero Hunahpu sometimes stood in for the real king. Setting up a stela might also have meant the king was a protective 'tree of life'. Kings were often shown holding a cosmic serpent, from whose mouth gods of rain, lightning, and fire emerged. This act of raising the serpent and 'conjuring' the gods was likely part of a ritual.

Honoring Ancestors

In the Classic period, the North Acropolis at Tikal was a place for royal burials. In noble homes, tombs were often part of the residences. Besides the remains of ancestors, sacred bundles left by them were also honored. Carvings from the Classic kingdom of Yaxchilan show that royal ancestors sometimes appeared to their descendants during rituals, coming out of the mouth of a 'Vision Serpent'.

The monthly festivals of the Postclassic kingdom of Maní included a festival for an ancestral hero named Kukulkan, who was seen as the founder of Yucatec kingship. Around 1500, the ashes of important Yucatec families were put into wooden images. These images, along with 'idols', were placed on house altars and ritually fed during festivals. Sometimes, ashes were placed in an urn, and a temple was built over it.

Understanding Destiny

Numbers and Time

Besides writing, the main priestly sciences were math and calendrics. In Classic times, numbers and the basic day unit were seen as gods. The movement of time was like a relay race, with the 'burden' of time passed from one divine number 'bearer' to the next. The numbers were personified by main gods. Day units were often seen as patrons of scribes and diviners, like the Howler Monkey Gods, who were thought to be creator gods. In the Postclassic period, the katun (20-year period) was imagined as a divine king. The world was thought to be governed by numbers, especially 13 and 20.

Predicting the Future

Like other cultures in Mesoamerica, the Maya used a 260-day calendar called the tzolkin. This calendar's length is similar to how long a human pregnancy lasts. Its main purpose was (and still is) to guide life by looking at the combined meanings of the 20 named days and 13 numbers. It also showed the best days for offerings at special 'number shrines'. The days were often seen as gods and called 'Lordships'. The importance of divination is shown by the fact that the general Yucatec word for 'priest' (ah k'in) specifically meant someone who counted the days.

K'iche' daykeepers use wordplay to remember the meanings of the days. They predict the future by throwing and counting seeds, crystals, and beans. In the past, they also used magical mirrors and read signs from birds.

This calendar has lasted a long time. Today, a daykeeper might pray in Maya to the 260 days, the cardinal directions, ancestors, important Maya towns, lakes, caves, volcanoes, and gods from the Popol Vuh. People also ask daykeepers for baby names, wedding dates, and other special occasions.

Stars and Fate

What is often called Maya 'astronomy' is really astrology. This is a priestly science based on the idea that the movements of stars and planets affect events on Earth. Today, Maya people observe the sky for signs of seasonal changes important for farming. They also look at stars linked to hunting or certain illnesses.

Ancient Maya astrology was much more complex, found mainly in the Early Post-Classic Dresden Codex. It deals with lunar and solar eclipses and the different phases of Venus. Animals and gods symbolize groups of people negatively affected by Venus when it appears as the Morning Star. The Paris Codex contains what some believe to be a zodiac. In the Classic period, references to stars are common. A star symbol with rain signs often meant a major war, called a "star war".

How the World Works

Earth, Sky, and Underworld

The Maya see the Earth in different ways: as a square with four directions or as a circle floating on water. The square Earth is sometimes imagined as a maize field. Each direction has its own tree, bird, god, color, and meaning.

Vertically, the sky has thirteen layers, and Classic period gods are sometimes linked to one of these skies. The underworld is often thought to have nine layers.

In the center of the world is a 'tree of life' (the yaxche or ceiba tree). This tree connects the different parts of the world. In Palenque, the tree of life is a maize tree, with a curving, two-headed serpent around it, which some believe represents the ecliptic. The king was probably identified with this central tree and often carried the two-headed serpent as a ceremonial bar. The king also sat or stood on a mountain containing maize, perhaps as a protector of the kingdom's maize supply.

In the Classic period, Earth and sky are shown as long serpents or dragons (often two-headed) that carry gods and ancestors, making them appear from their mouths. Other serpents, shown rising vertically, seem to connect the different parts of the world, perhaps moving water from underground to the sky. Dragons combine features of serpents, crocodiles, and deer, and may have 'star' signs. They have been identified as the night sky and the Milky Way.

World's Endings and Beginnings

Some Yucatec Books of Chilam Balam describe a deluge myth (flood story). This tells of the sky collapsing, a great flood, and then the world and its five world trees being re-established. The lightning god (Bolon Dzacab), the divine carriers of sky and earth (the Bacabs), and the earth crocodile all play a role in this cosmic drama. The K'iche' Popol Vuh doesn't mention the sky collapsing or the five trees, but it talks about a series of previous human creations, the last of which was destroyed by a flood.

For the Classic Maya, the starting date of the Long Count (4 Ahau 8 Cumku) was a focus for specific acts of creation. The mythology of the Maya maize god seems to have been involved, with two 'Paddler Gods'. References to events on this date are few and hard to understand. They include a meeting of seven gods in the underworld and a concept of 'three stones' often thought to refer to a cosmic hearth.

People and the Other World

Soul and Spirit Companions

Traditional Maya believe that each person has several souls, described like 'shadow', 'breath', 'blood', and 'bone'. Losing a soul can cause specific illnesses. In ancient Maya texts, some symbols refer to the soul.

We know more about 'co-essences'. These are animals or natural things (like comets or lightning) linked to a person (usually male) that protect them. Sometimes, especially with black magic, a person can change into a co-essence, acting like a 'werewolf' (see also nagual). Classic Maya nobles had many such soul companions, called wayob, with their own hieroglyphic names. These included ghost-like creatures and even violent stars.

Life After Death

In ancient times, there might not have been one single idea of the afterlife. Among the Pokoman Maya, the hero Xbalanque was said to go with the dead king, suggesting a journey into the underworld (called xibalba 'place of fright'), like in the Popol Vuh Twin myth. The Yucatec Maya had two ideas: bad people went to an underworld (metnal) to be tormented, while others, led by the goddess Ixtab, went to a kind of paradise. Ancestors of Maya kings are shown growing from the earth like fruit trees, forming a happy orchard. The 'Flower Mountain' has been seen as a watery and sunny paradise.

Beings of the Other World

Ancestors

Traditional Maya live with the constant presence of their '(grand)fathers and (grand)mothers'. These are usually unnamed ancestors who, in the highlands, are thought to live in specific mountains, expecting offerings from their descendants. In the past, ancestors were also important, especially for noble families who focused more on family lines. The Popol Vuh lists three family lines of high lords who came from three ancestors and their wives. These first male ancestors received their private gods in a legendary land called 'The Seven Caves and Seven Canyons'. When they disappeared, they left a sacred bundle.

Heroes

A special group of ancestors are the heroes. The most famous are the Maya Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, from the 16th-century K'iche' epic, the Popol Vuh. In the Classic period, the adventures of these two heroes were known throughout the Maya area. Other ancestral heroes exist among different Maya groups, like the dwarf Ez among the Yucatec Maya. Heroes' actions can be recent and semi-historical, or from the very distant past. In principle, heroes can be prayed to and receive some form of worship. Sometimes, they have merged with military saints.

Gods and Goddesses

The ancient Maya idea of 'deity' or 'divinity' is not fully understood. It's more than just personifying nature. For example, the life cycle of maize is central to Maya belief, but the main Maya maize god's role goes beyond farming to include basic parts of civilized life, like writing. Gods have many social roles related to human activities like farming, healing, trade, and warfare. They can also be patrons of large family groups or communities.

From the many god names in early writings, about twenty have been linked to figures in the three Postclassic hieroglyphic books and Classic pottery art. These have been given letter names (like God A, God E). The books show that gods were constantly being arranged and rearranged. Maya gods often work in different areas and change their appearance accordingly.

Here are some main groups of gods shown in the ancient books (with 16th-century Yucatec names):

• The main creator god (Itzamna);
• Sky gods, especially the sun god (Kinich Ahau), the Maya moon goddess, and gods of the Venus cycle;
• Gods of weather and crops, especially the rain god (Chaac), the lightning god (Bolon Dzacab), the old gods of the underground, water, and thunder (Bacabs), the Maya maize god (God E), and a young god of flowers and food (God H);
• Gods protecting natural resources, like the Owner of deer and god of the hunt, the Sip (God Y);
• Gods of different jobs, like merchants (Ek Chuah), black sorcerers, midwives (Ixchel), and hunters;
• A young goddess of marriage (Goddess I);
• Death gods (God A and God A');
• The deified Maya Hero Twins.

In the ancient books, male gods are very diverse, but female roles seem mostly concentrated in the young goddess I ('White Woman') and the old goddess O ('Red Woman'). The Postclassic Maya god Kukulkan ('Feathered Serpent') is almost absent from these books.

In modern Maya folk religion, Catholic figures like the Trinity, Virgin Mary, saints, archangels, and the devil have often blended with traditional gods, patron gods, and ancestral heroes. For example, angels often represent rain gods. The complex figure of the Mam Maximón in Santiago Atitlan is another example of this blending. Gods who rule wild plants, animals, and fish are often called 'Owners' or 'Masters'. The living Earth and its male form are often called 'World' (Mundo).

Animal Beings

Animal beings (mammals, birds, insects) seem to have their own independence, unlike animal 'co-essences'. Perhaps they represent transformed humans from an earlier creation. They act like humans in society. In the Popol Vuh, for example, grandfather 'Great White Peccary' and grandmother 'Great White Coati' are healers. Owl messengers of the underworld lords have military titles.

In ancient pottery art, animal beings often dress and act like people at court, especially the court of the upper god, Itzamna. The howler monkey, for example, is often shown as a writer and sculptor, and is a divine patron of these arts. Other mammals are musicians. In the Dresden Codex, some animals (dog, jaguar, vulture, owl, parrot, frog), often dressed as humans, sit among gods, treated as equals. Other animals act as humans and play important ritual roles. For example, in New Year rituals, an opossum traveler introduces the god of the incoming year.

Ghosts, Demons, and Forest Spirits

The power of a god is seen as rightful, which justifies offerings. But ghosts (apparitions) and demons do not have this right. Ghosts only frighten people (and can cause illness), while demons are devourers. However, the line between them can be thin. One famous ghost is an attractive woman who drives men crazy if they give in to her charms (known in Yucatec as the xtabay 'Female Ensnarer'). Tzotzil ghosts include figures like the 'charcoal-cruncher' and 'one who drops his own flesh'. The main demon of the Tzotzil area is the 'Black-man' (h?ik'al). An ancient bird demon, called Vucub Caquix in the Popol Vuh, was known even before the Classic period. Kings sometimes took the forms of ghosts and demons to scare their enemies. Forest spirits (like the 'Wild Man') live in uninhabited areas and can be frightening, but they are not apparitions.

Goblins and Dwarfs

According to Yucatec belief, indigenous priests can create goblins (aluxob). If treated well, these goblins help farmers by protecting their fields, bringing rain gods to them, and making maize grow. In the same area, dwarfs and hunchbacks are linked to times before a great flood. They supposedly died in the flood when their stone boats sank. The childlike dwarfs and hunchbacks in Classic art often accompany the king and the Tonsured Maize God. They often have water features and may be the same as the dwarf helpers of rain, lightning, and thunder gods mentioned in Aztec sources.

Maya Stories and Myths

Recent Maya stories are very diverse. They include moral tales about meeting mountain spirits and supernatural 'Owners', as well as myths about heroes and gods. You can often see Catholic ideas mixed into stories about the creation of the Earth and the origin of useful plants. Some well-known myths are about the Lightning gods opening the Maize Mountain, the struggle of the Sun and his older brothers, and the marriage of the Sun and Moon. The ancient K'iche' Twin myth from the Popol Vuh is not fully passed down today, but parts of it are still recognized in modern stories. The name of one of its heroes, Xbalanque, was still known in the Alta Verapaz around 1900. Early creation myths are found in the Popol Vuh and some of the Books of Chilam Balam.

Even with progress in understanding hieroglyphs, the most important sources for Classic mythology are still scenes painted on pottery and monumental carvings. The two main stories identified so far are about demigods close to humans (the Maya Hero Twins and the main Maya maize god). These stories have to be put together from scenes where stories and rituals are often mixed.

Religious Movements

Since the Spanish conquest, Maya societies have had religious 'revitalization' movements. These were often violent and happened because of unfair treatment. These movements usually followed appearances of supernatural beings. In Chiapas, cults focused on female saints like the Virgin Mary or Saint Rose of Lima. In eastern Yucatán, during the late 19th-century 'Caste War', crosses dressed as women, especially a 'Talking Cross', played main roles. In the Alta Verapaz, male mountain gods demanded the destruction of coffee farms and a return to old ways. In each case, certain people were seen as speaking for these supernatural beings.

Maya Ethics

It's hard to compare polytheistic religions like the Maya's with monotheistic world religions. However, the idea of 'covenants' or agreements between gods and humans is common to both. Fulfilling the ritual requirements of these 'covenants' should ideally lead to a state of harmony. The ancient practice of human sacrifice should be understood within this framework.

Images for kids

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  Contemporary Maya priest in a healing ritual at Tikal

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  Jéets méek' ritual as practiced nowadays in Yucatan

• Naj Tunich Cave.jpg

  A cave like Naj Tunich was a sacred pilgrimage site for the ancient Maya.

• Vision Serpent Yaxchilan Lintel 25.jpg

  A Classic Maya king and queen performing a bloodletting ritual, with a Vision Serpent emerging from a bowl.

See also

In Spanish: Religión maya para niños