MAYAS -II-
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MAYAS -II-
The New Mayan Empire. Cities to the North of Yucatan. Mayan religion. The game of "pelota". The discovery of King Pacal's tomb. Noteworthydiscoveries of Mayan astronomers. Decadence of the Mayan civilisation. Their resistance to the Spanish invaders. Mayan spirit of liberty in today's world.
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INTRODUCTION
The Maya built wells in the Yucatan area due to the fact that water was scarce, they also created towns in the North. They reached this zone in the decline of their history. They were groups influenced by other cultures, but they still preserved their original Mayan culture.
They were invaded by the Toltecs, however they went on building following the Mayan technique, so both cultures combined efforts.
ART AND RELIGION
Then columns and the figures of serpents appeared. The worship to Chac, the God of rain, reached its climax.
They worshipped a countless number of gods.
Gods fed off blood. Sacrificial rites.
However the Mayan people had talent, a flourishing science and exquisite art.
Pyramid-shaped temples. Tikal.
Stone roofs. Frescoes and ceramics.
Massif stone stelae.
They buried their dead underneath their houses and they gave them a sort of “book of the dead”, written on earthenware pots with stories which would help the dead in their trip through the underworld.
The original beauty ideal. Their strabismus.
THE GAME OF “PELOTA”
This game prevailed from the times of the Olmecs until Aztecs times, through the Maya, for about 2,500 years.
What’s this game about?
Cosmic symbolism.
TEMPLE SECRETS
Palenque: The city of the gods.
The temple with the Inscriptions.
King Pacal’s tomb: One of the most remarcable finds of Mayan arqueology.
Astronomic observatory Caracol in Chichén-Itzá- Astronomic observations extremely concise without the help of optic instruments.
MAYAN DECADENCE
In the 9th. Century, nobody really knows why, the Mayan towns in the south were abandoned in the zenit of their splendour. The Maya emigrated northwards.
Uxmal and Chichén-Itzá in the North flourished during various centuries. From 1,200 onwards, the new inscriptions and buildings became more and more infrequent, until they stopped erecting stelae, they did not build any other monument and the civilization came to its end.
The Huetzotzingo songs.
In 1,440 only a small bunch of tiny Mayan communities remained, and these were involved in ceasless fraticidal wars.
When in 1,527 the Spanish Conquistadors arrived, it was discovered that not even memories of the Mayan civilization remained. The Maya at this time even ignored the Mayan writing and the Mayan history.
In the midst of every kind of oppression and misfortune, the Maya grappled themselves to their customs, to their freedom and to their independence. |
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