Human Sacrifice In Mayan Culture

The connection between the ritual sacrifice and the ballgame is evident in the Mayan language. According to Stern, the Mayan translation for the word ball, quiq, means sap or blood (35). The sap which flows out of the tree can be seen as the implication of the ritual sacrifice of the ballgame. The notion that the ball, of the ballgame, is round can be symbolized and interpreted as the human head. Which implies that death is important for the completion of the ritual. The act of human sacrifice in the ballgame can could be connected to the movement of the cosmos and the death and rebirth of the agricultural season. Scarborough noted in his book, The Mesoamerican Ballgame, that the seasonality of the movements of the cosmological phenomena as the sun, moon, and constellation (1991:320).
Some are found in lecture slides created by Dr. Stanton.
The Popol Vuh Mythical Legend Although there are numerous ways in which the human sacrifice were performed in the Mayan culture, the engagement of human sacrifice along with the ballgame can be further explain in detail via the mythic narrative of Popol Vuh. The association of the underworld, the ballgame, and sacrifice significant can be reveal in this legendary context. In Popol Vuh, the Hero Twins engaged in a ritualistic game with the Lords of the Underworld, which provides the further understanding on the significance of the ballgame and the aspect of human sacrifice. The story begins with the two brothers, one named One Hunahpu and the other named Seven Hunahpu. They were extremely talented at sports. The brothers would bounce the rubber ball all day. One day, while playing with the rubber ball on the way to Xibalba, they disturbed the Lords of the Underworld by playing loudly. The Lords of the Underworlds postulated that the brothers were disrespecting them, and demanded the brothers to be summoned so they could defeat