In divination: Nature and significance …Etruscans in Italy and the Maya in Mexico as sacred; his concern was for the very destiny of his people. Divination has many rationales, and it is difficult to describe the diviner as a distinctive social type. He or she may be a shaman (private curer employing psychic techniques; see… Read More
In divination: Intuitive divination The idea behind Mayan maiden sacrifice was the same: a number of maidens were cast into a sacred cenote, or deep well, and those who survived after some hours were brought back to recite the messages received during their ordeal—a virtual enactment of the journey into the underworld.… Read More
feast and festival
In feast: The significance of seasonal renewal in areas of other religions Among the pre-Columbian Maya, the first month (uinal), Pop, of the New Year—which would be July in the presently used calendar—became a time for several renewal ceremonies. Old pottery and fibre mats were destroyed, and new clothes were put on. The temple was renovated to meet the needs… Read More
major references
In pre-Columbian civilizations: Classic Maya religion It has been denied that there was any such thing as a pantheon of deities in Classic times, the idea being that the worship of images was introduced by the Toltec or Itzá invaders, or both, in the Postclassic. Several gods who played… Read More
In Mesoamerican Indian: Social, political, and religious institutions Mesoamerican religion is a complex syncretism of indigenous beliefs and the Christianity of early Roman Catholic missionaries. A hierarchy of indigenous supernatural beings (some benign, others not) have been reinterpreted as Christian deities and saints. Mountain and water spirits are appeased at special altars in… Read More
Mayan society
In Maya …discoveries shed some light on Mayan religion, which was based on a pantheon of nature gods, including those of the Sun, the Moon, rain, and corn. A priestly class was responsible for an elaborate cycle of rituals and ceremonies. Closely related to Mayan religion—indeed, inextricable from it—was the impressive development… Read More
mushroom cults
In drug cult: History of drug use in religion …a mushroom cult in the Mayan culture of Central America. Columbus reported the use of snuffs, as referred to above. The Spanish priest-historian Bernardino de Sahagún reported with disapproval the cultic use of mushrooms in Mexico in the 16th century, and there were reports of the widespread use of psychotropic… Read More
mythology
In Bacab Mayan mythology, any of four gods, thought to be brothers, who, with upraised arms, supported the multilayered sky from their assigned positions at the four cardinal points of the compass. (The Bacabs may also have been four manifestations of a single deity.) The four brothers… Read More
polytheism
In polytheism: Religions of ancient Mesoamerica …civilizations, together with the associated Maya culture, laid great emphasis on astronomical observation and on a complex religious calendar. Important were the high god Ometecuhtli, the morning star Quetzalcóatl, and the various legends woven round Tezcatlipoca, patron of warriors, who in the form of Huit-zilopochtli was patron of the Aztec… Read More
symbolism
In religious symbolism and iconography: Diagrammatic and emblematic …in the religion of the Maya of Mexico and Central America with the four world directions—east (red), north (white), west (black), and south (yellow). The symbolism of metals and precious stones also is related to their colours (e.g., emerald with green). Read More
temples
In temple Mayan temples were constructed of stone and were often highly carved. In general, because of the available technology as well as the religious belief, they were stair-stepped pyramids, with the shrine at the top. Chichén Itzá, the ruins of which remain in the Yucatán Peninsula,… Read More
