Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Finally, the Maya had another system for marking the passing of history, which is used
on dedicatory monuments. Known as the
long count
, it's based on the “great cycle” of
thirteen
baktuns
(a period of 5128 years). The dates in this system simply record the
number of days that have elapsed since the start of the current great cycle - it dated
from 3114 BC and was due to terminate on December 21, 2012. Because of this, there
were worldwide doomsday theories that the world might come to an end in December
2012. But, serious Maya scholars scoffed at that - and explained that it simply means
the end of an old cycle, and the beginning of a new one. Also, other archeologists state
that Maya glyphs had long been uncovered that reference dates far beyond 2012.
Astronomy and religion
Alongside their fascination with time, the Maya showed a great interest in
astronomy
and devoted much energy to unravelling its patterns. Several large sites such as Copán,
Uaxactún and Chichén Itzá have
observatories
carefully aligned with solar and lunar
sequences; in all probability, a building or buildings in each city was dedicated to this
role. With their 365-day “vague year”, the Maya were just a quarter of a day out in
their calculations of the solar year, while at Copán, towards the end of the seventh
century AD, Maya astronomers had calculated the lunar cycle at 29.53020 days, just
slightly off from our current estimate of 29.53059. In the Dresden Codex their
calculations extend to the 405 lunations
over a period of 11,960 days, which set out to
predict eclipses. They also calculated with astonishing accuracy the movements of
Venus and Mars. Venus was important as a link to success in war; there are several
stelae that record the appearance of Venus prompting the decision to attack.
Maya
cosmology
is by no means straightforward; at every stage an idea is balanced by
its opposite and the universe is made up of many complex layers. To the Maya, the
current earth is the third version, the previous two having been destroyed by deluges.
This earth is a flat surface, with four corners, each associated with a certain colour;
white for north, red for east, yellow for south and black for west, with green at the
centre. Above this the sky is supported by four trees, each a different colour and
species, which are also depicted as
Bacabs
- gods. At its centre the sky is supported by a
ceiba
tree. Above the sky is a heaven of thirteen layers, each with its own god, and the
top layer overseen by an owl. However, it was the underworld,
Xibalba
, “the place of
fright”, which was of greatest importance, as this was where they passed after death, on
the way to the place of rest. Nine layers of “hell” were guarded by “lords of the night”,
and deep caves were thought to connect with the underworld.
The Maya's incredible array of
gods
each had four manifestations based upon colour and
direction, and many had counterparts in the underworld and consorts of the opposite sex.
There were also extensive patron deities, each associated with a particular trade or class.
Every activity from suicide to sex had its representative in the Maya pantheon.
The combined complexity of the Maya pantheon and calendar gave every day a
particular significance, and the ancient Maya were bound up in a demanding
cycle of
religious ritual
, upon which success depended. As every event, from planting to
childbirth, was associated with a particular divinity, most daily events demanded some
kind of religious ritual. For the most important, there were elaborate ceremonies, with
the correct day carefully chosen by priests and fasting and abstinence maintained for
several days beforehand. Ceremonies were dominated by the expulsion of evil spirits,
the burning of incense before idols, an animal or human sacrifice and blood-letting.
In divination rituals, used to foretell the pattern of future events or to account for the
cause of past events, the elite used various
drugs
to achieve altered states of
consciousness. The most obvious of these was alcohol, made from fermented maize or a
combination of honey and the bark of the
balche
tree. Wild tobacco, stronger than the
modern domesticated version, was smoked. The Maya also used a range of
hallucinogenic mushrooms, most importantly the
xibalbaj obox
, “underworld
mushroom”, and the
k'aizalah obox
, “lost judgement mushroom”.
