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'{{Maya civilization}}The traditional '''Maya religion''' of western Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico (Chiapas and Yucatan) is a southeastern variant of [[Mesoamerica]]n religion resulting from centuries of symbiosis with Spanish Catholicism. As a recognizably distinct phenomenon, however, traditional Maya religion, including its pre-Spanish antecedents, already exists for more than two millennia. Before the advent of Christianity, it was spread over many indigenous kingdoms, all with their own local traditions. Nowadays, it coexists and interacts with pan-Mayan syncretism, the 're-invention of tradition' by the Maya Movement, and Christianity in its various denominations. ==Sources of Traditional Mayan Religion== The most important sources on traditional Maya religion are the Maya themselves: the living incumbents of religious positions and tellers of tales, as well as those who shared their knowledge with outsiders (such as anthropologists) in the past, and continue to do this in our own day. What is known of pre-Spanish Maya religion stems from heterogeneous sources, primary ones of Maya origin, and secondary ones: (1) Primary sources from pre-Spanish times, first of all the three surviving, authentic hieroglyphic books (the codices of Dresden, Madrid, and Paris) dating from the Postclassic period (after 900 A.D.), then the 'ceramic codex' (the corpus of pottery scenes and texts) and petrographical texts from the Classic (200-900 A.D.) and Late-Preclassic (200 B.C.-200 A.D.) periods; (2) primary sources from the early-colonial (16th-century) period, such as the ''[[Popol Vuh]]'', the ''Ritual of the Bacabs'', and (at least partly) the various ''[[Chilam Balam]]'' books; (3) secondary sources, chiefly Spanish treatises from the colonial period, such as those of [[Landa]] and [[Las Casas]]; (4) archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic studies; and (5) extrapolations made from anthropological reports of traditional Maya religion over the last century and a half. ==Fundamentals of Ritual== Traditional Maya religion is often referred to as ''costumbre'', the 'custom' or habitual religious practice, in contradistinction to orthodox Roman Catholic ritual. To a large extent, Maya religion is a complex of ritual practices; therefore, the indigenous Yucatec village priest is simply called ''jmen'' 'practitioner'. The main concepts relating to Maya ritual are the following ones. ===Calendars and Shrines=== Present-day traditional Maya religion, in its public aspect, is largely governed by the Catholic feast cycle. Formerly, however, ritual had a complex organization governed by various interlocking calendars and by the lay-out of shrines and temples spread through the landscape, perhaps assigning specific numbers, or combinations of day-names and numbers, to them (as in the system described by B. Tedlock for Quichean [[Momostenango]]). An important part of the rituals took place in the temples and in large caves, in Yucatan also around karstic sinkholes (cenotes). The main calendars governing ritual were the divinatory cycle of 260 days, important for individual rituals, and the year of eighteen months (the [[Haab']]) and the monthly public feasts which, together with the elaborate New Year celebrations, have been described for the Yucatec kingdom of [[Maní]] by Diego de Landa (see 'Calendar' section). It is not known in how far this festival cycle was shared by the other Yucatec kingdoms, and if it was also valid for the earlier Mayan kingdoms. ===Priesthood=== {{main|Maya priesthood}} The traditional Maya have their own religious functionaries, often hierarchically organized, and charged with the duties of praying and sacrificing on behalf of lineages, local groups, or the entire community. In many places, they operate within the Catholic brotherhoods (or 'cofradías') and the so-called civil-religious hierarchy (or '[[cargo system]]'), organizations which have played a crucial role in the preservation of pre-Spanish religious traditions. In the private realm, the diviners ('seers', 'daykeepers') are active, together with the curers. The performance of many of the indigenous priests, but especially of the curers, shows features associated with [[shamanism]].<ref>Tedlock 1992:46-53</ref> Our picture of the earlier Maya priesthood is almost entirely based on what their Spanish missionary colleagues have to say about them (Landa for Yucatan, Las Casas and others for the Guatemalan Highlands). The upper echelon of the priesthood was a repository of learning, also in the field of history and genealogical knowledge. Around 1500 A.D., the priesthood was hierarchically organized, from the high priest living at the court down to the priests in the villages, and the priestly books were distributed along these lines. In the Quichean kingdom, the two most important deities (Gucumatz 'Feathered Serpent' and Tohil) had their own high priests. Priests had multiple tasks, running from performing life crisis rituals to divination, and held special offices, such as that of ''[[Katun (Maya calendar)|katun]]''-priest, <ref>Tozzer 1941: 26n136, quoting Avendaño</ref> oracle (''chilan''), astrologer, and sacrificer of human beings (''nacom''). At all levels, access to the priesthood was apparently restricted to the nobility. Surprisingly little is known about the Classic Maya priesthood, although one surmises that the aged, ascetic figures depicted as writing and reading books, aspersing and inaugurating officials, and overseeing human sacrifice, are likely to be representatives of the priesthood at court. [[Image:Mayan Ceremony - Blessing a child.JPG|right|thumb|Maya Ceremony - Blessing a Child.]] '''Bold text'''===Purification=== Purificatory measures such as fasting, '''sexual actions with young children''' - and, especially in the pre-Spanish past, confession - generally precede major ritual events. In 16th-century Yucatan, purification (exorcism of evil spirits) often represented a ritual's initial phase. The bloodletting-rituals (see below) may also have had a purificatory function. More generally, purification is needed before entering areas inhabited by deities. In present-day Yucatan, for example, it is customary to drink standing water from a rock depression at the first opportunity upon entering the forest. The water is then spat on the ground, and thus renders the individual 'virginal' (''suhuuy''), free to carry out the business of humankind in the sacred forest. ===Offerings and Sacrifices=== Offerings serve to establish and renew relations ('contracts', 'pacts', or 'covenants') with the other world, and the choice, number, preparation, and arrangement of the offered items (such as food and drink, flowers, incense nodules, and also, cigars<ref>Thompson 1970:112-113</ref>) obey to stringent rules. An example is the 'meal' offered to the rain deities in the Yucatec Ch'a-chaac ritual. Particularly [[Lacandon]] ritual was entirely focused on the 'feeding' of the deities, as represented by their incense burners. The forms sacrifice might take varies considerably. In the pre-Spanish past, it usually consisted of small animals such as quails and turkeys, of deer meat, and of fish, but on exceptional occasions (such as accession to the throne, severe illness of the ruler, royal burial, or drought) also came to include human beings. Partaking of the sacrifice was common, but ritual anthropophagy ('[[cannibalism]]') appears to have been exceedingly rare. A characteristic feature of Mayan ritual (though not exclusive to the Mayas) were the "bloodletting" sessions held by high officials and members of the royal families, during which the earlobes, tongues, and penises were cut with razor-sharp small knives. ===Prayer=== Maya prayer almost invariably accompanies acts of offering and sacrifice. It often takes the form of long litanies, in which the names of personified days, saints, features of the landscape connected with historical or mythical events, and mountains are particularly prominent. <ref>Köhler 1995</ref> These prayers, with their hypnotizing scansion, often show a dyadic couplet structure which has also been recognized in Classic period texts.<ref>Hull 2003</ref> The earliest prayers recorded in European script are in Quiché, and are embedded in the creation myths of the Popol Vuh. Some Maya communities in the northwestern highlands of Guatemala have a specialized group of 'prayermakers'. ===Dramatic Performance=== Both in recent times and in the Classic Period, more complex rituals would include music and dance, processions, and theatrical play. Nowadays, the performance of important dances (not always religious ones) often takes place on the feast of the patron saint of the village and on certain set occasions dictated by the Catholic Calendar (such as [[Corpus Christi]] and the Day of the Cross). For the late Postclassic period, Landa mentions specific dances, some with their proper names, executed during the New Year rituals (e.g., the ''xibalba okot'' 'dance of Xibalba') and the monthly feasts (e.g., the ''holkan okot'' 'dance of the war chiefs'). Classic dances also accompanied the ritual transformation into a ''way'' (were-animal or spook).<ref>Looper 2009:132-142</ref> Ritual humor (often a vehicle for social criticism) was part of pre-Hispanic dramatic performances (whether connected to the change of the year, or otherwise), involving such actors as opossums, spider monkeys, and the aged [[Bacab]]s, with women sometimes cast in erotic roles.<ref>Taube 1989: 351-382</ref> The god most often shown dancing during the Classic period is the [[Tonsured Maize God]], a patron of feasting. ===Impersonation of Deities=== The theatrical impersonation of deities is a Mesoamerican practice shared by the Maya, and often took place in the context of dramatic performance. With a view to such pageantry, the term 'theater state' ([[Geertz]]) has been used. Impersonation is also noticeable in the case of the Classic Maya king or queen. Quite commonly, the king, as depicted on his steles, shows the attributes and mask of the rain deity and of a rain serpent, but he (or the queen) could also represent other important deities, such as the [[Tonsured Maize God]]. Little is known about the way this impersonation was conceived, as a vicarious representation, a temporary possession, or, perhaps, as reflecting a basic identity. ===Pilgrimages=== Through pilgrimages, which create networks connecting places regionally as well as over larger distances, Maya religion transcends the limits of the own community. Nowadays, pilgrimages often involve reciprocal visits of the village saints (as represented by their statues), but also visits to farther-removed sanctuaries, as exemplified by the Q'eqchi' pilgrimages to their thirteen sacred mountains.<ref>Adams and Brady 2005: 301-327</ref> Around 1500, [[Chichen Itza]] used to attract pilgrims from all the surrounding kingdoms to its large cenote; other pilgrims visited local shrines, such as those of [[Ix Chel]] and other goddesses on the islands off Yucatan's east coast. ==Ritual Domains== The only extensive treatment of pre-Spanish Maya ritual by a near-contemporary concerns Yucatan, particularly the kingdom of Mani, and was written by Diego de Landa (ca. 1566). However, major ritual domains, such as those of agriculture and kingship, are hardly touched upon by Landa. ===Calendar=== The [[Maya calendar]], connected to networks of sacrificial shrines, is fundamental for ritual life. The rites of the 260-day cycle are treated below (see 'Sciences of Destiny'). Among the highland Maya, the calendrical rites of the community as a whole relate to the succession of the 365-day years, and to the so-called 'Year Bearers' in particular, that is, the four named days which can serve as new year days. Conceived as divine lords, these Year Bearers were welcomed on the mountain (one of four) which was to be their seat of power, and worshipped at each recurrence of their day in the course of the year. The calendrical rites include the five-day marginal period at the end of the year (''Uayeb'') and the New Year rites. For the 16th century, these have been described in great detail by Landa, more or less as they had been depicted in the Dresden Codex several centuries earlier. The four different New Year celebrations were governed by a single temporal and spatial model resting on a division of public space into four quarters. The four quarters were correlated with the four year cycle, and procession routes visualized these divisions.<ref>Coe 1965</ref> During the New Year rites, the incoming patron deity of the year was installed, and the outgoing one removed. Like the Year Bearers, the twenty-year periods ([[Katun (Maya calendar)|katun]]s) were viewed as divine lords. Since they had their own priests (Avendaño), they were apparently also worshipped. ===Occupational Groups=== The 18 months had festivals, dedicated to specific deities, which were largely celebrated by occupational groups (in particular hunters and fishermen, bee-keepers, cacao planters, curers, and warriors). They also included a commemorative festival for the hero [[Kukulcan]], viewed as the founder of Yucatec kingship. ===Life cycle=== The life cycle rituals (or rites of passage) demarcate the various stages of life. Landa details one of these rituals, destined for making young boys and girls marriable (''caput sihil'' 'second birth'). The Yucatec Maya continue the ritual (''hetz mek''<ref>http://www.calkini.net/leyendasytradiciones/jetz.htm</ref>) which marks a child's movement from cradling or carrying to the mother's hip. It is performed at about three months and has godparents of the ceremony. The child is offered implements appropriate to its gender, tools for boys and cloth or thread for girls. If the children grasp them, this is considered a foretelling. Of course, all children are offered pencils and paper. ===Health=== The main collection of ancient Yucatec curing rituals is the so-called 'Ritual of the Bacabs'. In these texts, the world with its four trees and four carriers of earth and sky ([[Bacabs]]) located at the corners is the theatre of shamanic curing sessions, during which "the four Bacabs" are often addressed to assist the curer in his struggle with disease-causing agents. Not represented amongst these ritual texts is black sorcery. Many of the features of shamanic curing found in the 'Ritual of the Bacabs' still characterize contemporary curing ritual. ===Weather and Agriculture=== Influencing the weather, in a negative or a positive sense, includes such rituals as 'Sealing the frost' just before the sowing season (Kanjobales), <ref>LaFarge 1947: 125</ref> and the (usually secretive) rituals of the rainmakers, found all over the Maya area. The other rituals for the rain deities had a more public character. Agricultural rites focus on the sowing of the maize and the maize harvest. Particularly the seasonal rites of the Ch'orti have been described in great detail (Rafael Girard). ===Territory=== The claims on territory by social groups of varying dimensions were expressed in rituals such as those for the waterholes, ancestral lands, <ref>Vogt 1976: 97-115</ref> and the boundaries of the entire community. <ref>LaFarge 1947: 126-127</ref> The focus of these rituals were often crosses, or rather, 'cross shrines', and prayers were directed at rain and earth deities. For earlier periods, such shrines can be thought of as being connected to the central 'cross', or world tree of the centre, which was personified by the king. ===The King=== Little is known about the king's (or, as the case might be, queen's) ritual duties; the early Spanish writers have little to say about this theme. Nonetheless, one finds the Yucatec king (''halach uinic'') referred to as 'bishop', <ref>Thompson 1970: 167</ref> so that, in virtue of his office, the king appears to have participated in major public rituals, perhaps including such things as initiating the season of sowing. On royal monuments of the Classic period, the king is at times shown in a dancing posture while being involved in specific rituals (e.g., handling snakes). However, the king not only took a part in ritual, but ritual is likely to have focused on his office as well. The erection of royal steles at intervals of five 360-day years was a ritual by itself, and involved the notion of a protective 'tree of life' (Schele). Moreover, in the Classic period, the king is commonly depicted holding a cosmic serpent from whose jaws the deities of rain and lightning emerge, and the king's raising and balancing of this serpent may have been expressed in, and supported by, ritual. ===Ancestor Worship=== Around 1500 A.D., the incinerated remains of the (male) members of notable Yucatec families were enclosed in wooden images which, together with the 'idols', were placed on the house altar, and ritually fed on all festive occasions; alternatively, they were placed in an urn, and a temple was built upon it (Landa). In the Verapaz, a statue of the dead king was placed on his burial mound, which then became a place of worship.<ref>Miles 1957:749, quoting Fuentes y Guzmán and Las Casas</ref> In Classic courts, tombs are found integrated in the residences of the nobility, and, in the case of royal families, in funeral pyramids. Apart from the ancestral remains themselves, sacred bundles left by the ancestors were also the object of veneration.<ref>Tedlock 1996:174-175</ref> Reliefs from the Classic kingdom of [[Yaxchilan]] show that royal ancestors were sometimes approached during bloodletting rituals, and then appeared to their descendants, emerging from the mouth of a terrestrial serpent (see also [[Vision Serpent]]). ==Sciences of Destiny== ===Numerology and Calendrics=== Apart from writing, the fundamental priestly sciences were arithmetics and calendrics. Within the social group of the priests at court, it had by Classical times become customary to deify the numbers as well as the basic day-unit, and - particularly in the south-eastern kingdoms of [[Copan]] and [[Quirigua]] - to conceive the mechanism of time as a sort of relay or estafette in which the 'burden' of the time-units was passed on from one divine numerical 'bearer' to the next one. The numbers were not personified by distinctive numerical deities, but by some of the principal general deities, who were thus seen to be responsible for the ongoing 'march of time'. The day-units were often depicted as the patrons of the priestly scribes themselves, that is, as [[Howler Monkey Gods]], who seem to have been conceived as creator deities in their own right. In the Postclassic period, the time-unit of the katun was imagined as a divine king, as the 20 named days still are among the traditional 'day-keepers' of the Guatemalan Highlands. ===Divination=== Like all other cultures of [[Mesoamerica]], the Maya used a 260-day [[Maya calendar|calendar]], usually referred to as ''[[tzolkin]]''. The length of this calendar coincides with the average duration of human gestation. Its purpose was (and still is) to provide guidance in life through a consideration of the combined aspects of the 20 named days and 13 numbers, and to indicate the days on which sacrifice at specific 'number shrines' (recalling the number deities of Classic times) might lead to the desired results. The days were commonly deified and invoked as 'Lordships'. The general Yucatec word for 'priest' (''ah k'in'') referred to the counting of the days. The mantic calendar has proven to be particularly resistant to the onslaughts of time (that is, of colonial repression, liberalism, ethnocide, and free market). Nowadays, a '[[daykeeper]]' (divinatory priest) may stand in front of a fire, and pray in Maya to entities such as the 260 days; the cardinal directions; the ancestors of those present; important Mayan towns and archaeological sites; lakes, caves, or volcanoes; and deities from the Popol Vuh. People also come to these daykeepers to know about baby names, wedding dates and other special occasions. Divinatory techniques include the throwing and counting of seeds, crystals, and beans, and in the past also - apart from the count - gazing in a magical mirror, and reading the various sorts of signs (auguries) given by birds; during the Classic period, pictures of such birds were used as logograms for the larger time periods. ===Astrology=== What is often called Maya 'astronomy' was really astrology, since it was a priestly science resting on the assumption of a correspondence between earthly events and the movements of heavenly bodies and constellations. The astrology of the traditional Mayas is extremely impoverished and fragmented, more so than that of other Mesoamerican groups such as the Totonacs. Usually, the names of certain stars and constellations is all that has been preserved, and the influence of star lore on social and professional activities can no longer be traced. The highly sophisticated pre-Spanish astrology is mainly found in the relatively late [[Dresden Codex]], and concerns lunar and solar eclipses and the varying aspects of Venus in the course of its cycles; animals and deities symbolize the social groups negatively affected by Venus during its [[heliacal rising]] as the Morning Star. The [[Paris Codex]] contains what some consider to be a [[zodiac]]. Some of the Books of [[Chilam Balam]] testify to the great interest the colonial Maya had for the astrology of their conquerors. ==Cosmology== ===Earth, Sky, Underworld=== Horizontally, the earth could be conceived as a square with its four directional - or, perhaps, solstitial - points, each with its own colour, tree / mountain, deity, and aspect, or as a circle without such fixed points; in the centre is the tree of life / dominant mountain. The square earth could be conceived as a maize field, the circular earth as a turtle floating in the waters; the centre as a ceiba or a maize tree. Vertically, the sky was divided into thirteen layers, while the underworld is often assumed to have consisted of nine layers (in parallel to the 'Nine-God', mentioned together with the 'Thirteen-God' by the [[Chilam Balam]] of Chumayel). The underworld of the Popol Vuh, however, does not know such a ninefold division. Moreover, whereas, in Classic Maya texts and iconography, it is rather common to find deities linked to some of the thirteen skies, similar references to layers of the underworld have not been identified. A central axis served as a means of communication between the various spheres; the king, identified with the tree of the centre, embodied this axis. In the Classic period, earth and sky are visualized as horizontally extended cosmic serpents and dragons (often bicephalic, more rarely feathered) which serve as vehicles for deities and ancestors, and make these appear from their maws. Other cosmic serpents, shown as vertically rising, seem to connect the various spheres, perhaps to transport the subterranean or terrestrial waters to the sky. Dragons combine the features of serpent, crocodile, and deer, and may show 'star' signs; they have been variously identified as the nocturnal sky and as the Milky Way. ===World Endings and Beginnings=== Within the framework of the post-Classic cycle of thirteen katuns (the so-called '[[Short Count]]'), some of the Yucatec Books of Chilam Balam present a [[deluge myth]] describing the collapse of the sky, the subsequent flood, and the re-establishment of the world and its five world trees. In this cosmic drama, the Lightning deity ([[Bolon Dzacab]]), the Earth Crocodile (Itzam Cab Ain), and the divine carriers of sky and earth (the [[Bacabs]]) have an important role to play. The Quichean Popol Vuh does not mention the collapse of the sky and the establishment of the five trees, but focuses instead on a succession of previous mankinds, the last of which was destroyed by a flood. For the Classic Maya, the base date of the [[Long Count]] (4 Ahau 8 Cumku) is generally assumed to have been the focus of acts of creation especially, though not exclusively, connected to the mythology of the [[Maya maize god]] (through the figures of the two so-called Paddler Gods). References to these primordial events (as on [[Quirigua]] stela C) are few in number, seemingly incoherent, and hard to interpret (among these is an obscure conclave of seven deities in the underworld, and a concept of "three stones", usually taken to refer to a hearth). Although no longer used by the 16th-century Yucatec kingdoms, theoretically the Long Count (which normally has the baktun as its largest arithmetical unit) could be extended indefinitely, with the thirteenth baktun then being completed in 2012. Since the thirteenth baktun is not completing the Long Count, however, it is unlikely that the end of the world (and [[Fifth World (Native American mythology)|beginning of the next]]) was expected to occur upon its conclusion (see also [[2012 doomsday prediction]]). Nonetheless, it is entirely imaginable that the completion of the larger calendric units was once accompanied by a recitation of cosmogonic narrative. ==Man== ===Soul and 'Co-essence'=== The traditional Mayas believe in the existence, within each individual, of various souls, usually described in quasi-material terms (such as 'shadow', 'breath', 'blood', and 'bone'). The loss of one or more souls results in specific diseases (generically called 'soul-loss', 'fright', or ''susto''). In Classic Maya texts, certain glyphs are read as references to the soul. Much more is known about the so-called 'co-essences', that is, animals or other natural phenomena (comets, lightnings) linked with the individual and protecting him. In some cases (often connected to black sorcery), one can change into co-essences acting like a sort of 'werewolves' (see also [[nagual]]). The Classic Maya grandees had a whole array of such soul companions, usually of a menacing nature, and called ''[[wayob]]''; these were distinguished by specific hieroglyphic names. Among them were spook-like creatures, but also violent stars. ===Afterlife: Underworld and Paradise=== In the pre-Spanish past, there may never have existed a unified concept of the afterlife. Among the Pokoman Maya of the Verapaz, Xbalanque was to accompany the dead king,<ref>Coe 1975:91, quoting Fuentes y Guzmán</ref> which suggests a descent into the underworld (called ''[[xibalba]]'' 'place of fright') like that described in the [[Popol Vuh]] Twin myth. The Yucatec Maya had a double concept of the afterlife: Evildoers descended into an underworld ([[metnal]]) to be tormented there (a view still held by the 20th-century Lacandons), while others went to a sort of paradise; into such a paradise, those who had committed suicide were conducted by the goddess [[Ixtab]]. The ancestors of Maya kings (Palenque tomb of [[K'inich Janaab' Pakal|Pakal]], Berlin pot) are shown sprouting from the earth like fruit trees which, together, constitute a blissful orchard. The so-called '[[Flower Mountain]]' has more specifically been interpreted as a reference to an aquatic and solar paradise. To judge by the aquatic imagery associated with Classic burials and depictions of ancestors, this paradise may have been the Maya variant of the rain gods' paradise (''[[Tlalocan]]'') in Central Mexico.<ref>cf. Thompson 1970:301</ref> ==Powers of the Other World== ===Ancestors=== The traditional Maya live in the continual presence of the '(grand)fathers and (grand)mothers', the usually anonymous, bilateral ancestors, who, in the highlands, are often conceived of as inhabiting specific mountains, where they expect the offerings of their descendants. In the past, too, the ancestors had an important role to play, with the difference that, among the nobility, genealogical memory and patrilineal descent were much more emphasized. Thus, the Popol Vuh lists three genealogies of upper lords descending from three male ancestors and their wives. These original ancestors - ritually defined as 'bloodletters and sacrificers' - had received their private deities in a legendary land of origins called 'The Seven Caves and Seven Canyons' (Nahua [[Chicomoztoc]]), and on their disappearance, left a [[sacred bundle]]. ===Heroes=== A special category within the group of the ancestors are the heroes, best known through the sixteenth-century Quichean epic of the [[Maya hero twins]], Hunahpu and Xbalanque. In the Classic period, the adventures of these two heroes were known all over the Mayan area. Most traditional Maya groups have their own heroes, such as Juan K'anil among the Jacaltecs of the northwestern highlands, <ref>Montejo 1984</ref> and Ohoroxtotil, who defeated the jaguars, among the Tzotziles of Chiapas. <ref>Guiteras 1961: 182-183, 262</ref> The heroes' actions can belong to a relatively recent past, and be semi-historical, or have occurred in the deep past, and be primeval; but in principle, the heroes can be addressed in prayer, and receive some form of worship. Sometimes, they are merged with specific military saints.<ref>e.g., Vogt 1976: 159-161</ref> ===Deities=== In Maya folk religion, the members of the Catholic Trinity, Mary, and the saints have usually merged with traditional deities and ancestral heroes ([[syncretism]]). The deities governing the wild vegetation, the game animals, and the fishes are often referred to as 'Owners' or 'Masters' (''Dueños''), like the 'Mountain-Valley' deities (or mountain spirits) of the highlands. The ancient Maya concept of 'deity', or 'divinity' (''k'u'' in Yucatec, ''qabuvil'' in ancient Quiché) is poorly understood, but should in any case not be reduced to a mere personification of natural phenomena; the deities' functions and interactions with other deities are much too complicated for that. The life-cycle of the maize, for instance, lies at the heart of Maya belief, but the role of the [[Maya maize god]] transcends the sphere of agriculture to embrace basic aspects of civilized life in general (such as writing). More generally, deities can operate within various fields, and change attributes accordingly; they can not easily be arranged hierarchically. The goddess of midwifery, for instance, is also associated with rain and with warfare, and the god of black sorcery (god L) with mercantile riches. From the multitude of deity names occurring in early-colonial sources (and especially in the medical 'Rituals of the Bacabs'), about twenty have been linked to deity figures from the codices and their correspondences in the corpus of ceramic representations; these have been assigned letter names (Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube classification). The three remaining codices demonstrate that deities were permanently being arranged and rearranged according to cultic criteria which usually are not immediately accessible to us. The main deities depicted in the codices can be roughly divided into the following groups (the names given are 16th-century Yucatec): *The principal creator god ([[Itzamna]]); *sky gods, particularly the sun god ([[Kinich Ahau]]), the [[Maya moon goddess]], and the Venus god; *gods of the weather and the crops, particularly the rain god ([[Chaac]]), the lightning god ([[Bolon Dzacab]]), the aged deities of the underground, terrestrial water, and thunder ([[Bacabs]]), and the [[Maya maize god]]s; *occupational gods, particularly those of merchants (Ek Chuah, [[god L]]), black sorcerers (god L), midwives (goddess O, [[Ixchel]]); *specific Owners, represented by an antlered god of the hunt; *a young goddess of eroticism and marriage ([[Goddess I]]); *death gods; and *the deified [[Hero Twins]]. Whereas, within the three codices, the group of male deities is highly differentiated, the female functions seem largely to have been concentrated in the young goddess I (the 'White Woman') and the old goddess O (the 'Red Woman'). The Postclassic Maya deity [[Kukulcan]] 'Feathered Serpent', tutelary deity of the Toltec invaders and of the Maya kings deriving their legitimacy from them, is not clearly represented. Missing from the three codices, but attested by Classic iconography are, amongst others, an important deity of the eastern ocean with the attribute of a shark tooth held in the mouth (the 'God I' of the Palenque Triad), and some of the [[Maya jaguar gods]] associated with warfare. ===Animal Persons=== Animal persons (usually mammals and birds, but including insects) appear to enjoy a relative autonomy which is lacking in the case of the animal 'co-essences'. They play varying social roles. In the Popol Vuh, for example, grandfather 'Great White Peccary' and grandmother 'Great White Coati' act as healers, whereas the owl messengers of the lords of the underworld wear military titles. Turning to the 'ceramic codex', one finds that animal persons are often clothed and acting like persons at court. The howler monkey, for example, is commonly depicted in the social role of a writer and sculptor, and functions as a divine patron of these arts. In the Dresden Codex, certain animals (dog, jaguar, vulture, owl, parrot, frog), most of them clothed as human beings, are seated in between deities, and seem thus to be treated on a par with the latter, while other animals, again acting as human beings, fulfill important ritual roles. In the New Year rites, for example, an opossum traveller introduces the patron of the incoming year. Similarly, in the Paris Codex, a turkey person alternates with deities in offering the head of the lightning deity ([[god K]]) to the new king. ===Spooks, Spectres, and Demons=== The power exercized by a deity is legitimate, and this legitimacy justifies offerings and sacrifice. Unlike the gods of disease and death, spooks (apparitions) and demons have no such legitimacy. Whereas spooks - like the spectres of the dead - only frighten (and in that way, can also cause disease), demons are devourers; in practice, however, the borderline can be thin. One of the best-known spooks is an attractive woman maddening the men who give in to her lures (known in Yucatec as the ''xtabay'' 'Female Ensnarer'). Spooks of the Tzotziles include such figures as the 'charcoal-cruncher', the 'one who drops his own flesh', and 'white-bundle'. The principal demon of the Tzotzil area is the 'Black-man' (''h?ik'al''), a kidnapper and rapist. <ref>Blaffer 1972</ref> An ancient Mesoamerican bird demon, which the Popol Vuh calls [[Vucub Caquix]], severed the limbs of his victims, and was already known in Preclassic [[Izapa]]. In order to terrorize their enemies, kings would at times assume the shapes of spooks and demons. ===Goblins and Dwarfs=== According to Yucatec belief, the indigenous priests can create goblins (''[[alux]]ob'') who, if properly attended, can assist the farmer in his work on the field, make the maize grow, and summon the rains. The child-like dwarfs of Classic iconography should perhaps be interpreted as such goblins. ==Religious Narrative== {{main|Maya mythology}} There is considerable diversity in recent religious narrative, which embraces stereotypical, moralizing stories about encounters with mountain spirits and supernatural 'Owners', as well as myths. Particularly in tales concerned with the creation of the earth and the origin of useful plants, a reworking of Catholic imagery is often noticeable. Among the best-known myths are those about the opening of the Maize Mountain by the Lightning deities, the struggle of Sun and his Elder Brethren, and the marriage of Sun and Moon. The early-colonial Quichean Twin myth, set out in the [[Popol Vuh]], has not been transmitted, although fragments are recognizable in recent narrative; the name of one of its heroes, Xbalanque, was around the turn of the 20th century still known in the Alta Verapaz. Early creation mythology is found in the Popol Vuh and in some of the Books of [[Chilam Balam]]. Notwithstanding the progress in hieroglyphic decipherment, the most important sources for Classic mythology are still scenes painted on pottery (the so-called 'ceramic codex') and monumental iconography. The two principal narratives recognized thus far are about demi-gods close to humanity (the [[Hero Twins]] and the [[Maya maize god]]), and have to be reconstructed from scenes in which often, narrative and ritual concerns are intertwined. ==Ethics== As ethical systems, polytheistic religions like those of the Maya are difficult to compare with the monotheistic world religions. However, the idea of 'covenants' <ref>Monaghan 2000: 38-39</ref> between deities and human beings is common to both. Fulfilling the ritual requirements of the 'covenants' should ideally lead to a state of harmony. The archaic practice of human sacrifice should first of all be viewed within this framework. ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References and Bibliography== *Abigail E. Adams and James E. Brady, 'Ethnographic Notes on Maya Q'eqchi' Cave Rites: Implications for Archaeological Interpretation', in James E. Brady and Keith M. Prufer eds., ''In the Maw of the Earth Monster. Studies of Mesoamerican Ritual Cave Use''. Austin: University of Texas Press 2005. *Sarah C. Blaffer, ''The Black-man of Zinacantan''. University of Texas Press, Austin 1972. *Michael D. Coe, 'A Model of Ancient Maya Community Structure in the Maya Lowlands', ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology'' 21 (1965). *Michael D. Coe, 'Death and the Ancient Maya', in E.P. Benson ed., ''Death and the Afterlife in Pre-Columbian America''. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington 1975. *David Freidel, Linda Schele, Joy Parker, ''Maya Cosmos''. William Morrow, New York 1993. *Rafael Girard, ''Los mayas eternos''. LibroMex, Mexico 1962. *Calixta Guiteras Holmes, ''Perils of the Soul. The World View of a Tzotzil Indian''. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe. *Kerry Hull, ''Verbal Art and Performance in Ch'orti' and in Maya Hieroglyphic Writing''. Dissertation (online), University of Texas, Austin 2003. *Ulrich Köhler, ''Chonbilal Ch'ulelal - Alma Vendida. Elementos fundamentales de la cosmología y religión mesoamericanas en una oración en maya-tzotzil.'' Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico 1995. *Olivier LaFarge, ''Santa Eulalia. The Religion of a Cuchumatán Indian Town''. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1947. *Matthew Looper, ''To be like Gods. Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization.'' University of Texas Press, Austin 2009. *Susan Milbrath, ''Star Gods of the Maya''. University of Texas Press, Austin 1999. *S.W. Miles, ''The Sixteenth-Century Pokom-Maya''. The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1957. *Mary Miller and Karl Taube, ''An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya''. Thames and Hudson, London 1993. *John D. Monaghan, ''Theology and History in the Study of Mesoamerican Religions''. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Supplement to Vol. 6. University of Texas Press, Austin 2000. *Victor Montejo, ''El Kanil, Man of Lightning''. Signal Books, Carrboro N.C. *Ralph L. Roys, ''The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel''. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1967. *Ralph L. Roys, ''Ritual of the Bacabs''. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1965. *Seler, Eduard, ''Die Tierbilder der mexikanischen und der Maya-Handschriften''. Gesammelte Abhandlungen IV. *Karl Taube, ''The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan''. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington 1992. *Karl Taube, 'Ritual Humor in Classic Maya Religion'. In William F. Hanks and Don S. Rice, ''Word and Image in Maya Culture''. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press 1989. *Barbara Tedlock, ''Time and the Highland Maya''. University of New Mexico Pres, Albuquerque 1992. * {{cite book | author={{aut|Tedlock, Dennis}} (trans.) |year = 1996 | title=Popol Vuh: the Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. Revised Edition| location= New York | publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=0-671-45241-X }} *J.E.S. Thompson, ''Maya History and Religion''. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1970. *Alfred M. Tozzer, ''Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. A Translation''. Peabody Museum, Cambridge MA 1941. *Alfred M. Tozzer, ''A Comparative Study of the Mayas and the Lacandones''. Archaeological Institute of America. The Macmillan Company, New York 1907. *Evon Z. Vogt, ''Tortillas for the Gods. A Symbolic Analysis of Zinacanteco Rituals''. Harvard University Pres, Cambridge 1976. ==See also== *[[List of Maya gods and supernatural beings]] *[[Aztec religion]] [[Category:Maya mythology and religion|*Religion]] [[Category:Maya civilization]] [[fr:Religion maya]] [[mk:Мајанска религија]] [[nl:Mayareligie]]'