Mayans - their faith and their gods

Religion is one of the most familiar and well-studied aspects of mesoamerikanskata culture. We know that these people have idols, temples, shrines and numerous rituals conquistadors destroyed and persecuted. In this religious ideology is the main motive for social activities rather than their domestic sphere, dominating over all life. Conquistadors, of course, had first-hand impressions of the Mayan religion and their chroniclers describe it in some detail. There is no doubt that the meetings with idols and shrines flooded with blood, human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism strike mission gentle souls who do not seem to have heard of the "Holy" Inquisition. They are convinced that they are dealing with people, numbness in the clutches of demonic forces, so that the predatory nature of konkistata be masked in the cloak of hypocrisy outraged, innocent modesty and false kindness. So forceful imposition of Christian faith and massacre us as an appetizer served the great delusion - mythical civilizing mission of the Spaniards. It should be noted something else: the Spaniards came in this period of the history of the Mayan deities when (under Aztec influence) became "bloodthirsty" when wars and sacrifices. And this is not typical of the Maya as a whole.
Simple description of deities and rituals in itself explains nothing. The Mayans had a whole pantheon of visible and invisible gods in human and animal images in tangible form to explain the world, life and natural phenomena. Their gods are not just in the sky - they are on the earth and under it, and among those who worship them, are depicted on stone, ceramics and murals dedicated their rituals reflect social relations, work and aspirations of the people, nature in its diversity. So there are visible gods in the sky - the sun, moon, Venus, the stars in the Milky Way, the gods of the land in which life disappears and is born again, god of rain, wind, water, fire, plants, animals, and foods that are vital for human existence - the corn, salt, "Puke" (alcohol is vital), various herbs. To this must be added the belief that the god of any activity is the first who has performed, the author who holds the "patent" of the invention. Goddess of birth first conceived, the goddess of the household is the first woman made corn bread, God invented fishing nets and hooks. Overall, this may be illustrated by the opinion of Pedro Carrasco: "Mexican pantheon is a picture of Mexican society in which the division of labor, social stratification, politichieskite and ethnic communities have their copies divine."
Mayan religion is very similar to other religions mesoamerikanski. If there are certain similarities in rituals and deities. Only, unlike any other in the Maya have a very sharp separation of the two deities "groups": the people's gods and deities of the ruling class. There are gods and controversial - as Ek Chuah - god of cocoa is controversial. As plants can not be away from the villagers, but also cocoa is monopolized product - his nipples serve as a bargaining chip, as a kind of money.

Gods of villagers

Gods of villagers related to the basic elements of human existence. Earth sinister deity who personifies death, but also the renewal of life. Her symbol is bare bones, human skeleton. In the bowels of the earth are located underground worlds that go not only dead, but also celestial bodies - the sun and moon at sunset dawn. Sun god Ah Kin, or Kinich Ahau is depicted as four-flower is revered for its beneficial role on the plants, but is more an object of fear: it causes you land.

The rain is vital for farmers, which is why god Chak Mool is found most often in codes and archaeological monuments. Depicted is the most distinct - rainy streams, boat, figure, empty water containers. When an ax in his hand symbolizes thunder, and with a torch - land. It is attached to some animals - frogs, turtle. Moreover, there was only Mool assistants are also deified - wind, lightning, thunder. These deities were not depicted (except as symbols Tsiminchak exception, which is the time of konkistata).

Another important deity was the moon - goddess Ishchel. This is especially temperamental wife of the sun, which on top of his affair with Venus. Is adored for their alleged impact on plants and human health. She is also the goddess of weaving and fabric and in a broader sense - a deity associated with the woman with her life and philosophy. But - as it often has a habit of looking in wells and lakes - it is also the goddess of water. According to Eric Thompson goddess of suicide Ishtab that in the Dresden Codex depicts hanged, is only another name for Ishchel.

Corn is also deified. In the code found in the image of a handsome young man whose head is extended by corn in, or is adorned with corn leaves. This young man, besides watch farm work, and is the patron of the figure eight and day kan, which means "ripe corn."

Gods of rulers

 The chief god of the ruling class is Itsamna - the creator of all that exists - the heavenly bodies, the earth, the people and their knowledge, animals and plants. Even the other gods. For it is only known from inscriptions, as it is known to have existed rites or temples in his honor. He was portrayed in a different way: the Dresden Codex is like two-headed monster snake with a human head, in Madrid - two-headed snake, in the monuments of Palenque - two-headed iguana. As the first and last instance, a deity with various features and options to it often praying to end a disaster or to stand for anything over other deities.

 In the minds of the Mayan sky god live 13 - Oshlahun-you-ku, one for each of its parts. Their antagonists are the nine gods of the underground worlds - Boulogne-you-ku, who are mortal enemies of man. Besides these there are many smaller and less known respectively less revered deities. Often they reflect and several things at once (which reduce the number of gods, can you imagine any thing to have one god). For example - Lahoul Chan (right sky) is Venus, which represents more than four deities, Shaman Ek is the god of the North Star, but represents the direction north; Chikchan, protector of the number nine is associated with rain and can be considered one of the gods of rain (chakoob).

As described in the Mayan bible - "Popol Vuh", the Creator, is the educational and Tepeu Gucumatz (Kukulkan). Two gods involved in the creation of the universe. Then it becomes clear that all is ordered by the gods, the Heart of Heaven, the name of which is Hurakan. He is so strong and powerful that it has become the name of the storm - Hurricane. It turns out that the heart of heaven is not a god, but three parvoroditeli. Sometimes two or three people talk like one, sometimes one speaks of three. Quite confusing, is not it? Like the Mayans intentionally made it so difficult to work Researchers later.

One of the most popular gods, the god of death. It occurs under various names - Sissy (stench) Uak Mitu Ahau (Lord of the seventh round), Hun Ahau (Prince of all Demons) and others. His character can not be wrong - human skeleton. According to the beliefs of the Mayan god of death is often accompanied by a dog to help the dead in their underground journey. He was portrayed as with the god of war and human sacrifice beside the dead body of a naked woman riding goddess Ishchel and others. Living in the lowest level of the underworld Shibalba. Interestingly, the Mayas had no such things as hell and paradise, where you go people's souls when they die, depending on whether they were righteous or not. After his death, they went straight into one of the underground worlds. Themselves underground worlds turn, were not as a ladder of nine steps leading down. In fact, reaching a depth of only the fifth step and again rise to the surface. Similarly oraganizirani are the things in the heavens, they rise only to the seventh, and then descend back to earth. The earth itself is represented as a rectangular surface, supported by a monster in the water. Heaven is supported by four gods bakab located in all the lines of the cardinal points in the company of a tree and a bird in the colors: the east - red for north - white, west - black and yuzh - yellow. Heavenly world is represented as a huge tree of life and its branches - the heavens - are complicated relationship with the roots - the underground worlds. It seems that the branches and roots of this tree are in constant battle with each other, but not both esavsem. It turns out that the sky gods and the gods of the underground worlds are the same. It is easy to be fine in this labyrinth of symbolic notions that gods alter personalities and their functions transferred from one world to another. Undercut the vital juices from the roots to the branches of a tree.

In this cosmogony their religious philosophy is fundamentally materialistic. They say life comes from a sphere in which are integral parts of heaven and earth. From this area, the fox, coyote and wild boar from the heart of heaven and earth, the sea and the sea is born man. The Mayans did not believe in spirit, for them there is only life.

To get an idea of ​​how the Mayans worshiped individual animals can serve as example of Tsiminchak. For him, there is a legend there and facts. Villa Gutierrez believes that everything is legend, as other scholars argue that the facts are indisputable. They show that Tsiminchak is none other than the horse of Cortes!

In the autumn of 1524. winner of the Aztecs Hernan Cortes set off through the jungle a long, tiring trip. His goal was to reach the Spanish colony Ibueras in Honduras. There his messenger Cristobal de Olid "forgotten" who is boss and declared himself an independent ruler, refused to obey the Cortes. So he took a long trip, during which, along with his soldiers reached the still rebellious town Tayyasal. Like Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital and Tayyasal was located on an island in the middle of a lake in the Peten-Itza case. The Indians met the bearded conquistadores hostile, prepared for battle; their real guy was not as fanatic as Montezuma to imagine he sees before him Kukulkan, the god of the sun. At fighters Tayyasal an impression made 'rattlesnake' horses since they are worth their horses shot themselves rather than Spaniards who ride them.

Ultimately, the mutual killing was not the as Cortes emerged as "good" doplomat. Kanek, leader of tayyasaltsite accepted the authority of the Spanish king, and even promised to destroy all the pagan idols in the city. It turned out that Tayyasaltsite well known and where the Spanish colony, to which Cortes was made so that the latter immediately proceeded to the rebellious Olid. But, as his horse was wounded Spaniards tayyasaltsite leave it to take care of him and treat him. His intention was to return to pick him up after giving tribute to the traitor, but eventually decided to avoid hard trek through the jungle and returned by sea. So tayyasaltsi sunk into oblivion ...

... up to 1618g when Franciscan monks BERTOLOTE to Buensalida and Juan de Orbita started from Merida to cock-Itza. Reached Tayyasal local ruler and allowed them to engage in Christian propaganda among the population. Considering the numerous temples Franciscans saw with amazement in a deity Tsiminchak. It was a statue of a horse, sitting on its hind legs. For them there was no doubt - this was the horse of Cortes. A horse in America was not known until the coming of the Spaniards.

 Remained to mention the sun god - Kukulkan. It seems really strange - but not for the authors of fantastic hypotheses - but this god is not included in conventional schemes Mayan religion. This fact can be interpreted as indirect evidence that it is "imported" god, that is carried by the invading Toltec around 1000g. They called their plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, but also as it was called then, and their ruler.

 So gradually it came to gender Kukulkan and Quetzalcoatl. In other Kukulkan's indigenous heritage NEAA. But the fact is that it says a lot, there are archaeological sites, but somehow absent from the religious hierarchy, as presented in the literature. For Daniken, aggressive and Kazantsev, there is no problem - it's just an alien from outer space. And it seems things are limited.

(Examples of such serious discrepancies between the researchers and authors of fiction there are many hypotheses, for example on the occasion of an image from Tulum, which is depicted - according to scientists - "coming" or "incident" god that absolutely nothing is known. It can not be found elsewhere. idol figure is falling upside down with outstretched legs, bird tail, wings and crown. According to them it represents sunset. Daniken, according to exactly what image is being shown in a spacesuit and Slam that manages a device with levers and pedals. interesting, huh?)