Who did the Mayans worship? What was their religion? What did the temples stand for?
The Mayans worshiped nature gods, (especially god of sun, rain and corn), a priestly class, the importance of astronomy and astrology, rituals of human sacrifice, and building elaborate pyramidal temples. Sacrifice was conducted using blood-letting performed by the community, but run by a priest.
They built their temples for religious reasons. They built two types of pyramids, one that was meant to be climbed. These were used during human sacrifice, which pleased their Gods. The second kind was not to be climbed or even touched. These pyramids were scared, built too steep of steps to climb, or a false door. When these pyramids were being used, a priest would use dangerous steps to get closer to the Gods. Each pyramid two or four stairsteps, including a platform between steps in the middle. The platforms were used during the priest-king rituals as well.
The Mayan religion was called Polytheist, and they worshiped more than 165 Gods, which were human-like. The Gods were born, grew up, and died. The Gods would do human like activities, including: creating, planting and harvesting maize, performing divination, conducting business, fighting wars, forming alliances, and intermarrying. Those behaviors led the Gods to having interrelated jobs within their hierarchy.
They believed that everyone’s souls vanquished to spend their afterlives in the underworld, even their rulers souls’ end up there. Only those who died at childbirth or were sacrifice would escape the underworld. The underworld was filled with evil Gods, represented as jaguars (the symbol of night.) The jaguar was also on kings helmets’. They also believed that everyone had an animal companion who shared their soul. They were called “Way’ ob”. The Mayan religion told that one could transform into their animal companion, and were often depicted with a jaguar in Mayan art. Most Mayans had one animal companion, but some every powerful Mayan priests could have more than one.
The Mayans worshiped nature gods, (especially god of sun, rain and corn), a priestly class, the importance of astronomy and astrology, rituals of human sacrifice, and building elaborate pyramidal temples. Sacrifice was conducted using blood-letting performed by the community, but run by a priest.
They built their temples for religious reasons. They built two types of pyramids, one that was meant to be climbed. These were used during human sacrifice, which pleased their Gods. The second kind was not to be climbed or even touched. These pyramids were scared, built too steep of steps to climb, or a false door. When these pyramids were being used, a priest would use dangerous steps to get closer to the Gods. Each pyramid two or four stairsteps, including a platform between steps in the middle. The platforms were used during the priest-king rituals as well.
The Mayan religion was called Polytheist, and they worshiped more than 165 Gods, which were human-like. The Gods were born, grew up, and died. The Gods would do human like activities, including: creating, planting and harvesting maize, performing divination, conducting business, fighting wars, forming alliances, and intermarrying. Those behaviors led the Gods to having interrelated jobs within their hierarchy.
They believed that everyone’s souls vanquished to spend their afterlives in the underworld, even their rulers souls’ end up there. Only those who died at childbirth or were sacrifice would escape the underworld. The underworld was filled with evil Gods, represented as jaguars (the symbol of night.) The jaguar was also on kings helmets’. They also believed that everyone had an animal companion who shared their soul. They were called “Way’ ob”. The Mayan religion told that one could transform into their animal companion, and were often depicted with a jaguar in Mayan art. Most Mayans had one animal companion, but some every powerful Mayan priests could have more than one.
Author: Diandra McCubbin