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Bell Ringer 1: (B) 4/18/11

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Bell Ringer #1: (B) 4/18/11 When the Mayans suddenly disappeared, they left behind an unknown writing system, monuments, artifacts, etc. leaving archeologists with ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Bell Ringer 1: (B) 4/18/11


1
Bell Ringer 1 (B) 4/18/11
  • When the Mayans suddenly disappeared, they left
    behind an unknown writing system, monuments,
    artifacts, etc. leaving archeologists with
    several questions about their cultures, beliefs,
    and intelligence.
  • Why do you think an entire civilization of people
    disappear into the jungle? What type of people
    do you think the Mayans were? How do you imagine
    they lived their daily lives? Explain your
    answer!

2
The Popul Vuh
3
The Popul Vuh
  • The greatest surviving Mayan document.
  • It was written anonymously in the Mayan language
    using the Latin alphabet between 1554 and 1558.
  • Scholars believe this document is either a
    translation of a manuscript in the ancient Mayan
    hieroglyphic language or a collection of stories
    and songs recorded directly from the Mayan oral
    tradition.

4
The Popol Vuh
  • In about 1700, a Catholic missionary translated
    The Popol Vuh into Spanish
  • He spoke the Mayan language fluently, and he
    persuaded the Maya to show him this manuscript of
    their ancient history.
  • There is no record that any other Spaniard ever
    saw the Mayan document.
  • The Spanish manuscript disappeared for 150 years.
  • In the 1850s, it was discovered in the library of
    the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City
    and was first published in Vienna in 1857.

5
The Popol Vuh
  • It reveals more than the talent of the anonymous
    recorder.
  • It reflects the thoughts and values of this
    ancient people and the ability of their language
    to express them.
  • The language and some of the ideas are similar to
    the opening chapters of the Old Testament. This
    is not surprising, given the fact that Spanish
    missionaries were already teaching the Maya about
    Christianty when The Popul Vuh was being
    recorded.

6
Things to consider
  • Compare the type of human beings the Maya gods
    wished to create and the relationship between
    these gods and their people with those of other
    creation myths.

7
Writing Assignment
  • You can only imagine the excitement when the
    lost translation of The Popul Vuh was
    discovered in the 1850s.
  • Your job today is create an archeologists
    profile of the Mayan people based on their
    creation myth.
  • What do you infer about the Mayan people?
  • What did they worship?
  • What were the goals of their society?
  • What were the like?

8
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11
The Mayans
  • Mayan World View
  • Creation Myth
  • Religion
  • Gods and Goddesses

12
Mayan World View
  • Maya conceived of the earth as flat and
    four-cornered.
  • Each corner had a color value
  • East-Red
  • White-North
  • Black-West
  • Yellow-South
  • Center-Blue-Green

13
World Supports
  • Each corner was held up by four Powahtuns (old
    deities)
  • The sky was held up by four Bakabs
    (Human/Atlantean figures) of the correct color
    for each direction.
  • Although sometimes these are represented as
    trees.

14
Mayan religion
15
Mayan Religion    
  • Religion was important to every part of Mayan
    life.  
  • The Mayas worshipped many different gods.  Each
    day, month, city, and occupation had its own
    special god or goddess.  
  • The Mayas had a variety of religious festivals
    and celebrations.  Most of these celebrations
    included human sacrifice.

16
  • Each Mayan city -state had a ruler called the
    halach uinic.  He may have also served as the
    high priest during religious ceremonies.
  • The Mayans believed halach uinic was a living
    god.  He ruled until his death.  At his death,
    his oldest son became the next halach uinic.   If
    the halach uinic did not have a son, his brother
    would rule.  If  he did not have a brother, the
    ruler's council elected a member of his family to
    serve.   
  • The halach uinic dressed in elaborate and
    colorful clothes.  He also wore a very large
    head-dress.  Temple wall paintings show him with
    large ear decorations, crossed eyes, and many
    tattoos.

http//www.spanishome.com/mayas/religion.htm
17
Priests
  • Many other priests served with the halach uinic.
     
  • These priests, named ahkin performed many duties.
     
  • They had the knowledge of mathematics and
    astronomy.  Some of the ahkin performed medical
    rituals.  
  • The Mayans believed that only the priests could
    explain the mysteries of life and death.  
  • They thought earth was on the back of a crocodile
    that floated in a large pond.  At another time
    they believed the earth was the floor of a lizard
    house.  

18
Mayan Worlds
  • The Mayas' religion taught that there were 13
    layers of heavens above the earth.  
  • They also believed nine underworlds were below.
     They thought that they lived in the fifth
    creation of the world.  
  • The previous four worlds had been destroyed by a
    great flood.  
  • At the beginning of the fifth world, the gods
    created humans from corn.

19
Sacrifices and Blood Offerings
  • Many of the Mayas religious ceremonies included
    gifts and sacrifices to the various gods and
    goddesses.  The Mayans believed the gods would
    give factors to them in return for prayers,
    offerings, and sacrifices.
  • In many ceremonies, the priests cut themselves to
    get blood to present to the gods.  
  • Other people like the king and high-ranking elite
    would pierce their tongues, or in the case of
    men, pierce their foreskin with a stingray spine.
  •  

20
Rituals
  • The Mayan ritual acts were generally dictated by
    the sacred almanac.
  • The numbers 4, 9, 13 and the color directions are
    prominent.
  • Before the rituals there are usually periods of
    sexual abstinence and food taboos.

21
Two women drawing thorn-ropes through their
tongues.
http//www.northstar.k12.ak.us/schools/tan/project
s/mayan/relegion.html
22
Sacrifices
  • The Mayas had several methods of giving the human
    sacrifices.  
  • Often, the priests took the victim to the altar
    at the temple.  Then the priests cut the heart
    out of the living victim and presented it to the
    god.
  • In another method, the priests tied the victim to
    a wooden pole.  Then they threw spears and arrows
    at the victim's chest in the area of the heart.
  • The priests were assisted by four old men, called
    Chacs.

23
Post-Classic
  • In the third type of sacrifice, they threw the
    victim into a sacred well.  the most famous of
    these wells is the Well of Sacrifices at Chichén
    Itzá.  
  • If victims survived the fall and did not drown,
    the priests pulled them back out of the well.
     The Mayas believed the gods had chosen to spare
    these victims.  
  • The priests then asked the victims what messages
    they brought back from the gods.  The victims
    received special treatment from then on since the
    Mayas believed they had spoken to the gods.

24
Sacred Cenote
http//www.mysteriousplaces.com/mayan/Cenote.html
25
Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza
This view of the wall of the cenote shows how
high it is from the water (72 feet). It also
shows the green algae that guards the secret of
its contents.The walls visible here are made of
limestone. http//www.isourcecom.com/maya/cities/c
hichenitza/cenoteside.htm
26
Ancestors
  • The Mayas also worshipped the dead.  They
    believed the dead became one with the gods.  
  • They worshipped their ancestors at many religious
    ceremonies.  
  • They also built pyramids over the sacred remains
    of their dead rulers.

27
Mayan Gods and Goddesses
  • Pre-Conquest codices mention approximately 30.
  • Post-Conquest manuscripts Ritual of the Bakabs
    (18th c) depicts 166 deities.

28
ITZAMNÁ
  • He was the head god, lord of the heavens and lord
    of the night and day.  
  • His name meant lizard.  Carved pictures show him
    as an old crossed-eyed man, and sometimes with a
    lizard's body.  The Mayas believed he invented
    books and writing.

29
KINICH AHUAU
  • He was the sun god and the god of the rulers.

30
CHAC
  • He was the rain god.  Carvings show him as a
    reptile with a large nose pointing down and
    curling fangs.  He had four aspects
  • Chac Xib Chac Red Chac of the East Sac Xib Chac
    White Chac of the North Ek Xib Chac Black Chac
    of the West Kan Xib Chac Yellow Chac of the
    South

31
YUN KAAX
  • He is the god of maize (corn) and agriculture.  
  • Pictures always show him as a young man either
    carrying a plant or has a plant as a headdress.

32
AH PUCH
  • He is the god of death.  Carvings of him show a
    skull and skeleton.

33
EK CHAUB
  • He is the god of trade.  Mayan artists painted
    his face black and he had a drooping lower lip.

34
IX CHEL
  • She is the moon and rainbow goddess.  She is also
    the goddess of weaving and childbirth.
  • Wife of Itzamna.

35
BULUC CHABTAN
  • He is the god of war and human sacrifice.
    Carvings of him show a black line around his eye
    and down onto his cheek.  He is at times shown
    with a torch or weapon in his hand.

36
Minor Gods and Goddesses
  • Cit Bolon Tum a god of Medicine.
  • Ekahau the god of Travelers and Merchants.
  • Ixtab the goddess of the Hanged. She receives
    their souls into paradise.
  • Kan-u-Uayeyab the god who guarded cities.
  • Kinich Kakmo the Sun god symbolized by the
    Macaw.
  • Mitnal Mitnal was the underworld hell where the
    wicked were tortured.
  • Nacon Nacon was the god of War.
  • Tzultacaj (Tzuultaq'ah) For the Mayan Indians of
    central Guatemala, known as Kekchí, this was the
    god of the mountains and valleys.
  • Yaxche Yaxche is the Tree of Heaven under which
    good souls rejoice.

37
Writing Assignment
  • Rituals, games, buildings, artwork, etc. from the
    Mayan culture were tied into their belief system
    concerning the gods, astronomy, calendar system,
    etc.
  • Your task is to design a building, calendar,
    mural, etc. that could have been used in Mayan
    worship or cultural interest.
  • Be sure to include both a picture and EXPLANATION
    that describes why the Mayan would use this as a
    part of their daily life.
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