Mayans :: History

MayansThe Mayans believe that Mother Earth was a gigantic monster. It was an alligator, toad, and a turtle combined. Above her was a sky with a layer for each planet and spheres of movement for the sun and the moon. Below her was the underworld where heavenly bodies passed when out of sight. All around her were the spirits of rain and thunder. The deities of the food plants and animals go to her. All nature was alive and it was constantly dying and being reborn (Burland 1771). The Mayans are American Indian people who lived in southern Mexico (Miller Maya Grolier). The Yucatan was the center of the Mayan elaboration from about the 1st century B.C. (Yucantan Grolier). They flourished in Mexico and central America from 250 to 1600 A.D. (History of Agriculture Grolier). Their ancestors had crossed the Bering land Bridge from Asia (Miller Maya Grolier). Honduras was once a part of the Mayan Empire. It had flourished between 250 and 950 A.D. (Seligson Honduras Grolier). The Mayans alik e had lived in Mexican states Yucantan and Chiapas, British Honduras, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (Burland 1770) By 1200 B.C., they had dominated trade routes. The trade routes extended from the modern Mexico state of Guerrero to Costa Rica (Miller Maya Grolier). The Mayans had constant heathenish and commercial contact from other tribes such as the Aztecs. They were with the central and coastal Mexican civilization that had influenced them and influenced other cultures (Harrison History of Latin America Grolier). The Mayans worshiped peace deities (Matthews 45). They also worshiped a creator who lived beyond the sky, and believed it was male and female. Mayans also believed that males were more important (Burland 1771). They explain this with the fact that man came first (Thompson Internet). They also believe in straightforward the creators and fear death. The Mayans had similar beliefs of creation and similar and not similar gods with the Greeks, had a belief in a Heave n and a Hell, four attempts at make humans and three different worlds made. The Greeks had believed there was nothing, that the world began with Chaos, which is similar to the Mayan belief that there was no Earth, no sun and no moon. The only existence was the home of Gucumatz, which is Heaven where the father and mother of all creatures lived. The other is the house of the Ahauab de Xibalba, which is Hell.