Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mayan Folktales,
edited by James D Sexton, brings together the myths and legends of the Lago de Atitlán
area, translated into English.
Thus their frame and shape were given expression by our first Mother and our first Father.
Their flesh was merely yellow ears of maize and white ears of maize…
MAYA BEAUTY
The ancient Maya considered flat foreheads and crossed eyes beautiful. To achieve these effects, children would
have boards bound tight to their heads and wax beads tied to dangle before their eyes. Both men and women
made cuts in their skin to gain much-desired scar markings, and women sharpened their teeth to points, another
mark of beauty - which may also have helped them to keep their men in line!
The Maya Cosmovision
For the ancient Maya, the world, the heavens and the mysterious underworld called Xibal-
bá were one great, unified structure that operated according to the laws of astrology, cyc-
lical time and ancestor worship.
The towering, sacred ceiba tree symbolized the world-tree, which united the heavens
(represented by the tree's branches and foliage), the earth (the trunk) and the nine levels of
Xibalbá (the roots). The world-tree had a sort of cruciform shape, so when the Franciscan
friars came bearing a cross and required the Maya to venerate it, the symbolism meshed
easily with established Maya beliefs.
Each point of the compass had a color and a special religious significance. Everything
in the Maya world was seen in relation to these cardinal points, with the world-tree at the
center.
Blood-letting ceremonies were the most important religious ceremonies for the Maya -
a way for humans to link themselves to the underworld - and the blood of kings was seen
as the most acceptable for these rituals. Maya kings often initiated blood-letting rites to
heighten the responsiveness of the gods.
Maya ceremonies were performed in natural sacred places as well as their human-made
equivalents. Mountains, caves, lakes, cenotes (natural limestone cavern pools), rivers and
fields were - and still are - sacred. Pyramids and temples were thought of as stylized
mountains. A cave was the mouth of the creature that represented Xibalbá, and to enter it
was to enter the spirit of the secret world. This is why some Maya temples have doorways
