Mayan Religion

Ciana Lancaster
11/12/12
Mayan Civilization Religion
C & CM

The Mayans loved their Gods; to show their love for the Gods, they would sacrifice humans. Maya religion was polytheistic- which means they worshipped or believed in more than one god. The Mayan gods were seen as forces of nature. Since so many Mayans were farmers, most of their gods were related to agriculture. Religion was the most important thing in life to the Mayan people. Just about everything in their lives revolved around religion, “to the Maya, religion was ultimately their creator and destroyer” (RELIGION AND THE MAYA). Even their architecture reflected their beliefs and ways of life. Mayan religion is not so different from other religions either, in fact, Mayan
the lowest underworld. The Mayan people were major believers of the afterlife. Hun Camé ruled the underworld with the help of the lords of death. Hun Camé was the god of death. It is believed that he ruled over all of the other gods (A Day With A Maya). The lords of death, Hun Camé, and some of the ordinary Mayan dead all lived in Xibalbá. The Mayan people believed that the soul never died, but instead continued on a very dangerous journey through the after world. The Mayans believed in heaven, but thought that it was reserved only for the people that died during childbirth, and also the men and women who were used as sacrifices to the Gods (Mayan Religion - Ancient Mayan Civilization). The Maya people buried their dead with food, drink, and other beautiful objects to give to the gods in the afterlife. The dead then used these objects to bribe Hun Camé to let them pass through Xibalbá to the Heaven of Dawn, a place where the dead guard their living relatives and to send them rain and prosperity (A Day With A Maya). The Heaven of Dawn is where the people who died during childbirth and sacrifice are. It is said that Hun Camé is very hard to bribe and most Mayans are stuck in Xibalbá because Hun Camé will not let them through (Mayan Religion – Ancient Mayan
When someone is born, the same soul that is found in the human would also be placed in an animal's body. The Maya thought that the same exact soul placed in them- as a human being- was also placed in an animal when they were born (Mayan Religion). The two souls would share the same fate- if the person was killed, the animal would die, and the opposite was true as well. This animal that shared a humans soul could be any kind of animal, any size, any species. Ordinary Mayans could not choose their animal, but they believed that kings could choose. Usually, the kings would choose to share their soul and spirit with a jaguar. A Jaguar was an animal that was highly respected and loved animal by the Mayan people (Mayan Religion - Ancient Mayan Civilization). By entering into a trance, a skilled shaman could transform into his or her animal spirit--good shamans probably had several animal companion spirits--in order to enter the supernatural world. Sometimes shamans achieved transformations through the use of hallucinogenic drugs or fasting. Often, though, the transformations were done along with Maya blood ceremonies. Bloodletting- a Mayan form of sacrifice where you cut yourself and offer the blood as food to the Gods- was also believed to help people connect with their animal spirits (Mayan Religion). The Mayan people would perform the bloodletting it was believed that their blood nourished the Gods (Mayan