Edit filter log

''''Sacrifice''' was a religious activity in [[Mayan civilization|Maya culture]], involving either the [[Animal sacrifice|killing of animals]] or the [[Bloodletting in Mesoamerica|bloodletting]] by members of the community, in [[ritual]]s superintended by [[priest]]s. Sacrifice has been a feature of almost all pre-modern societies at some stage of their development and for broadly the same reason: to propitiate or fulfil a perceived obligation towards the [[god]]s. Animal sacrifice and blood-letting were a common feature in many Maya festivals and rituals. [[Human sacrifice]] was far less common, being tied to events such as ill fortune, warfare and the consecration of new leaders or [[temple]]s. The practice was also far less common than in the later [[Aztec]] societies. When it did occur, the Maya people would sacrifice their prisoners, who were most often from neighbouring kingdoms{{cn|date=December 2012}}. ==Crisis and sacrifice== What is known of Maya ritual practices comes from two sources: the extant [[Maya codices|chronicles and codices]] of the [[Franciscan missions to the Maya|missionary-ethnographers]] who arrived with or shortly after the [[Spanish conquest of Yucatán|Spanish conquest and subsequent archaeological data]]. The historical record is more sparse than that for the Aztecs (p.&nbsp;687)<ref name="Bancroft">Bancroft 1882.</ref> and can only be reliable in regards to the Post-Classical period, long after the [[Classic Maya collapse]]. The chroniclers have also been accused of colonial bias, but our most comprehensive account of [[Maya society]],<ref name="Landa">[http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/maya/ybac/ De Landa, Diego 1937.]</ref> by [[Diego de Landa]], has been described by modern experts as an "ethnographic masterpiece”,<ref>Wells 1996, p.201.</ref> despite his role in the destruction of Mayan codices. The archaeological data has continued to expand as more excavations are undertaken, confirming much of what the early chroniclers wrote. A major breakthrough was the deciphering of the [[Maya script|Maya syllabary]] in the 1950s, which has allowed the glyphs carved into many temples to be understood. Excavation and forensic examination of human remains has also thrown light on the age, sex and cause of [[death]] of sacrificial victims. The reason for sacrifice was that the Mayans believed that the only way for the [[sun]] to rise was for them to sacrifice someone or something every day to the gods. Their prisoners were mainly attackers from other people. ==Sacrifices in calendar and everyday rituals== [[File:British museum173.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Yaxchilan Lintel 24|Lintel 24]] at [[Yaxchilan]], depicting [[Lady Xoc]] drawing a barbed rope through her tongue.]] The Mayans engaged in a large number of festivals and rituals on fixed days of the year, many of which involved animal sacrifices and all of which seem to have involved blood letting. The ubiquity of this practice is a unique aspect of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture, and is now believed to have originated with the [[Olmec]]s,<ref name="Joyce">Joyce et al 1991.</ref> the region's first civilization. Ritualised sacrifice was usually performed in public by religious or political leaders piercing a soft body part, most commonly the tongue, [[ear]] or [[foreskin]], and collecting the [[blood]] to smear directly on the [[Cult image|idol]] or collecting it on paper, which was then burned.<ref name="Joyce"/> In what is today [[Nicaragua]], the blood was smeared on [[maize]], distributed to the people and baked into sacred bread.<ref>Bancroft, p.&nbsp;710</ref> The blood could also be collected from the non-elite, often from the foreskins of [[youth]]s (p.&nbsp;678), or from high-ranking [[lady|women]]. The site of collection was of obvious ritual significance. Joralemon notes it is "virtually certain" that blood from the [[penis]] and the vagina were the most sacred and had "extraordinary [[Fertility|fertilizing power]]" and that such rituals were essential for the [[Regeneration (biology)|regeneration]] of the natural world, particularly cultivated [[plant]]s.<ref name="Jor">Joralemon 1974.</ref> In one dramatic variant men and women "gathered in the temple in a line, and each made a pierced hole through the member, across from side to side, and then passed through as great a quantity of cord as they could stand; and thus all together fastened and strung together, they anointed the statue of the [[demon]] [the Spanish original says "[[Baʿal]]"] with the collected blood.<ref>De Landa, pp.&nbsp;47–48</ref>" But auto-sacrifice could also be an everyday event, with those passing by an [[idol]] anointing it with blood drawn on the spot as a sign of piety.<ref name="Jor"/> Blood sacrifice to [[Maya mythology|the Maya gods]] was vigorously opposed by the [[Roman Catholicism in Spain|Spanish clergy]] as the most visible sign of native [[apostasy]], as De Landa, who was later to become the second bishop of the [[Yucatán]], makes clear: <blockquote>"After the people had been thus instructed in [[religion]], and the youths benefitted as we have said, they were perverted by their priests and [[Chief of the Name|chiefs]] to return to their [[idolatry]]; this they did, making sacrifices not only by [[incense]], but also of human blood. Upon this the friars held an [[Inquisition]], calling upon the Alcalde Mayor for aid; they held trials and celebrated an Auto,<ref>The reference in this poorly translated passage is to an ''[[auto-da-fé]]''. See [[Diego de Landa#Suppression of the Maya|Suppression of the Maya]] for details.</ref> putting many on scaffolds, capped, shorn and beaten, and some in the penitential robes for a time. Some of the Indians out of grief, and deluded by the [[devil]], hung themselves; but generally they all showed much repentance and readiness to be good Christians."<ref>P. 30, with translator's footnote: "Landa evades saying here that it was under his own leadership and assumed authority that this assumption of full inquisitional rights, with a calling on the plenary civil power, went on.")</ref></blockquote> [[Mesoamerica]] lacked domesticated food animals such as sheep, cows and pigs,<ref name="Diamond1997GGS">Diamond 1997.</ref> so animal [[protein]] and byproducts could only be obtained by hunting. Montero-Lopez argues that on the basis of analysis of the distribution of deer parts in Classical Maya sites (white-tailed deer were the most common sacrificial and festive food animal), the archeological record does not support a clear distinction between the secular and sacred uses of animals.<ref>Montero Lopez 2009.</ref> After deer, the next most common sacrificial animals were dogs and various birds (whose heads were offered to the idols), followed by a wide range of more exotic creatures, from [[jaguar]]s to alligators. Animal sacrifice also seems to have been a common ritual before the commencement of any important task or undertaking.<ref>Bancroft, p.&nbsp;687</ref> De Landa provides the most comprehensive account of [[Maya calendar|calendar festivals]] and rituals (chapters 34-40), but in none of these ''regular'' events is human sacrifice mentioned, which must mean his Maya informants were unaware of any instances since the cleric would hardly have suppressed such information. [[File:Mexico Cenotes.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Sacred Cenote]]: the site of an unknown number of human sacrifices]] The traditional view is that the Mayans were far less prolific in sacrificing people than their [[Human sacrifice in Aztec culture|neighbours]]. Bancroft notes: "An event which in [[Mexico]] would be the death-signal to a [[hecatomb]] of human [[victim]]s would in Yucatan be celebrated by the death of a spotted [[dog]]."(p.&nbsp;704) But mounting archeological evidence has for many decades now supported the chroniclers' contention that human [[sacrifice]] was far from unknown in Maya society.<ref>Marcus 1978.</ref><ref>Tiesler & Cucina 2006.</ref> The city of [[Chichen Itza]], the main focus of Maya regional power from the Late Classical period, appears to have also been a major focus of [[human sacrifice]]. There are two natural [[sinkhole]]s, or ''[[cenote]]s'', at the site of the city, which would have provided a plentiful supply of potable [[water]]. The largest of these, [[Sacred Cenote|Cenote Sagrado]] (also known as the Well of Sacrifice), was where many victims were cast as an offering to the [[rain]] god [[Chaac]]. A 2007 study of remains taken from this ''cenote'' found that they had wounds consistent with human sacrifice.<ref>de Anda Alanís 2007.</ref> Bancroft describes one procedure:<blockquote>A long cord was then fastened round the body of each victim, and the moment the smoke ceased to rise from the altar, all were hurled into the gulf. The crowd, which had gathered from every part of the country to see the sacrifice, immediately drew back from the brink of the pit and continued to pray without cessation for some time. The bodies were then drawn up and buried in the neighboring grove. (p.705)</blockquote> There is no consensus on why these sacrifices took place, their true scale at different times, or even who the victims were. Because Maya society was organised as independent city states, the local political and religious elites could independently initiate human sacrifices as they saw fit. De Landa notes that a common cause for temple sacrifices in many cities was the occurrence of "[[pestilence]]s, dissensions, or droughts or the like ills". (p.&nbsp;91) In such cases, slaves were usually purchased and after a variety of rituals were anointed with blue [[dye]] and either shot with arrows through the [[heart]] or held on an altar while the priest swiftly removed the heart using a ceremonial knife. In either case the heart was presented to the [[temple]] [[idol]], which was also anointed with [[blood]].<ref>Pp.&nbsp;48–49</ref> According to Bancroft, one tribe sacrificed illegitimate [[boy]]s twice a year, again by removing the heart, but collecting the blood in a bowl and scattering it to the four cardinal [[compass]] points within the temple. Capturing prisoners after a successful battle also provided victims for sacrifice, presumably to propitiate whatever [[deity]] had promised victory in the first place, although there is no record of the Maya initiating conflicts solely for this purpose as was apparently the case with the Aztecs. Modern analysis of the [[ancient Maya art]] indicates a large number of representations of prisoners of war that are now understood to be sacrificial victims: "The analysis of the representations and sometimes of their context shows that the crossed-arms-on-the-chest gesture is associated with the concepts of [[Deference|submissiveness]], [[Hostage|captivity]] and death — in a word, sacrifice."<ref>Baudez & Matthews 1978 or 1979.</ref> [[Mayanist]]s believe that, like the Aztecs, the Maya performed child sacrifice in specific circumstances, most commonly as foundation dedications for temples and other structures. Maya art from the [[Maya_civilization#Classic|Classic period]] also depicts the extraction of children’s hearts during the ascension to the [[throne]] of the new [[ajaw|king]], or at the beginnings of the [[Maya calendar]].<ref>Stuart 2003.</ref> In one of these cases, Stele 11 in [[Piedras Negras (Maya site)|Piedras Negras]], [[Guatemala]], a sacrificed boy can be seen. Other scenes of sacrificed boys are visible on jars. As archeologists continue to excavate, more instances of child dedicatory sacrifices are being uncovered. A dig commenced in 1974 at the northern [[Belize]] site of [[Lamanai]] turned up the remains of five children, ranging in age from a newborn to about 8&nbsp;years old:<blockquote>"The conclusion that the five children were sacrificial victims is virtually inescapable... Nowhere else at Lamanai is there evidence of human sacrifice, either of children or adults... However, it is clear that the offering of children as part of the dedicatory activities that preceded the setting up of stelae was not uncommon at any time or place in the Maya lowlands."<ref name="Pender">Pendergast 1988.</ref> </blockquote> In 2005 a mass grave of one- to two-year-old sacrificed children was found in the [[Maya civilization|Maya]] region of [[Comalcalco]]. The sacrifices were apparently performed for dedicatory purposes when building temples at the Comalcalco [[acropolis]].<ref>Marí 2005.</ref> An excavation at [[Peru|El Perú-Waka’]] turned up the remains of an infant with, unusually, those of an adult male, in the presence of extensive evidence of feasting that had followed the expansion of a residence which had then been "ensouled" by the rituals and sacrifices. The analysis suggests that the "interments show that human sacrifice was not limited to the royal actors associated with the Classic Maya state, but could be practiced by lesser elites as part of their own private ceremonies."<ref>Eppich 2009.</ref> ==Origins, meaning and social function== KRISTINA WAS HERE Both blood and human sacrifice were ubiquitous in all cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, but beyond some uncontroversial generalisations there is no scholarly consensus on the broader questions (and specific mysteries) this raises. Most scholars agree that both practices arose among the Olmecs at least 3,000&nbsp;years ago, and have been transmitted to subsequent cultures, including the Maya. Why they arose among the Olmecs is unknown, and probably unknowable, given the paucity of data. Blood, and by extension the still-beating heart, is the central element in both the ethnography and iconography of sacrifice, and its use through ritual established or renewed for the Maya a connection with the sacred that was for them essential to the very existence of the natural order. Julian Lee’s observation that the Maya "drew no sharp distinction between the [[Animism|animate and the inanimate]]"<ref>Lee 1996, p.413.</ref> and the remarks by Pendergast<ref name="Pender"/> and others that sacrifices "ensouled" buildings and idols indicates a social meaning, as Reilly suggests, most akin to [[Transubstantiation]]<ref>Reilly 1991, p.158.</ref>&nbsp;&ndash; a literal rather than symbolic transformation on which the [[destiny|fate]] of the world and its inhabitants depended. As with all known theocratic societies, it is likely the Maya political and religious elites played mutually reinforcing roles in supporting the position of the other and ensuring the social stability essential for both, with sacrifice rituals functioning as the performative centrepiece of communal integration. But on likely divergences of interests between different social groups in regard to sacrifice rituals, including within these elites, the historical record has so far been silent. ==See also== *[[Human trophy taking in Mesoamerica]] ==Notes== {{Reflist|3}} ==References== {{refbegin|indent=yes}}<!--BEGIN biblio format. If indent param. is used, Pls use a colon (:) instead of asterisk (*) for bullet markers in the references list --> :{{cite book |author={{aut|Bancroft, Hubert Howe}} |title=The Native Races, Volume 2, Civilized Nations |year=1882 |url=http://collections.lib.ttu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/hfwc&CISOPTR=2&CISOBOX=1&REC=7}} :{{cite book |author={{aut|Baudez, Claude F.}} |coauthors=and {{aut|Peter Matthews}} |chapter=Capture and sacrifice at Palenque |title=Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque |volume=IV |editor=Merle Greene Robertson and Donnan Call Jeffers |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT04/Capture.pdf |year=1978 or 1979 |oclc=82601263}} :{{cite book |author={{aut|de Anda Alanís, Guillermo}} |year=2007 |chapter=Sacrifice and Ritual Body Mutilation in Postclassical Maya Society: Taphonomy of the Human Remains from Chichén Itzá's Cenote Sagrado |editor=Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina (eds.) |title=New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society |series=Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology |others=Michael Jochim (series ed.) |location=New York, USA. |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |pages=190&ndash;208 |isbn=978-0-387-48871-4 |id={{ISSN|1568-2722}} |oclc=81452956}} :{{cite book |author={{aut|De Landa, Diego}} |authorlink=Diego de Landa |title=Yucatan Before and After the Conquest: An English translation by William Gates of ''Relation des choses de Yucatan de Diego de Landa |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/maya/ybac/ |year=1937 }} :{{cite book | author={{aut|Diamond, Jared M.}} | title=Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies | publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |location=New York, USA |month=March |year=1997 |isbn=0-393-03891-2 |oclc=35792200 |accessdate=2008-08-05}} :{{cite journal |author={{aut|Eppich, Keith}} |journal=The PARI Journal |title=Feast and Sacrifice at El Perú-Waka’: The N14-2 Deposit as Dedication |volume=X |issue=2 |year=2009 |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/journal/archive/PARI1002.pdf}} :{{cite book|author={{aut|Joralemon, D.}} |chapter=Ritual Blood-Sacrifice among the Ancient Maya: Part I |title=Primera Mesa Redonda de Palenque |year=1974 |pages=59–76 |editor=Merle Green Robertson (ed.) |location=Pebble Beach, California, USA |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT02/Joralemon1974.pdf |publisher=Robert Louis Stevenson School, Pre-Columbian Art Research |oclc=1087842}} :{{cite journal|author={{aut|Marcus, Joyce}} |title=Archaeology and Religion: A Comparison of the Zapotec and Maya |journal=World Archaeology |volume=10 |issue=2 |year=1978 |month=October |pages=172–191 |issn=0043-8243 |oclc=482208053 |publisher=Routledge Journals |location=Abingdon, UK.}} :{{cite book |author={{aut|Joyce, Rosemary}} |coauthors={{aut|Richard Edging}}; {{aut|Karl Lorenz}} and {{aut|Susan Gillespie}} |year=1991 |chapter=Olmec Bloodletting: An Iconographic Study |title=Sixth Palenque Round Table 1986 |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT08/Bloodletting.pdf |editor=V M Fields |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman, Oklahoma, USA. |isbn=0-8061-2277-3 |oclc=367934547}} :{{cite book|author={{aut|Lee, J.C.}} |title=The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Yucatan Peninsula |publisher=Cornell University |location=New York, USA. |year=1996}} :{{cite news|title=Evidencian sacrificios humanos en Comalcaco: Hallan entierro de menores mayas |author={{aut|Marí, Carlos}} |newspaper=[[Reforma]] |date=27 December 2005}} {{es icon}} :{{cite journal |author={{aut|Montero Lopez, Coral}} |title=Sacrifice and feasting among the classic Maya elite, and the importance of the white-tailed deer: is there a regional pattern? |journal=Journal of Historical and European Studies |volume=2 |month=July |year=2009 |pages=53–68 |url=http://www.latrobe.edu.au/histeuro/assets/downloads/journal_2/montero.pdf |issn=1835-3509 |publisher=School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University |location=Bundoora, Victoria, Australia}} :{{cite web|author={{aut|Pendergast, David M.}} |year=1988 |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/bearc/cmr/RRAMW20.pdf |format=[[PDF]] |title=Lamanai Stela 9: The Archaeological Context |work=Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writings 20 |location=Washington DC, USA. |publisher=Centre for Maya Research}} :{{cite book|author={{aut|Reilly, F.Kent}} |chapter=Olmec iconographic influences on symbols of Maya rulership |title=Sixth Palenque Round Table 1986 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman, Oklahoma, USA. |year=1991 |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT08/Olmec-Maya.html}} :{{cite journal|author={{aut|Stuart, David}} |title=La ideología del sacrificio entre los mayas |journal=[[Arqueología mexicana]] |volume=XI |issue=63| pages=24–29 |year=2003 |location=Mexico City. |publisher=Editorial Raíces}} {{es icon}} :{{cite journal |author={{aut|Tiesler, Vera}} |coauthors={{aut|Andrea Cucina}} |title=Procedures in Human Heart Extraction and Ritual Meaning: A Taphonomic Assessment of Anthropogenic Marks in Classic Maya Skeletons |journal=Latin American Antiquity |volume=17 |issue=4 |month=December |year=2006 |pages=493–510 |issn=1045-6635 |oclc=484359429}} :{{cite journal |author={{aut|Wells, Allen}} |title=Forgotten Chapters of Yucatán's Past: Nineteenth-Century Politics in Historiographical Perspective |journal=Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos |year=1996 |volume=12 |issue=2 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, California, USA. |issn=0742-9797 |oclc=201093286}} {{refend}}<!-- END biblio format style --> ==Further reading== {{refbegin|indent=yes}}<!--BEGIN biblio format. If indent param. is used, Pls use a colon (:) instead of asterisk (*) for bullet markers in the references list --> :{{cite web|author={{aut|Zaccagnini, Jessica}} |year=2003 |title=Maya Ritual and Myth: Human Sacrifice in the Context of the Ballgame and the Relationship to the Popol Vuh |url=http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1335&context=uhp_theses |format=[[PDF]] |publisher=Southern Illinois University Carbondale}} {{refend}}<!-- END biblio format style --> == External links == * [http://www.mesoweb.com/ Mesoweb], a rich source of scholarship, images and other resources * [http://www.worldmuseumofman.org/mayan2.php?collection=TRUE Collection of Tools and Weapons used in Maya Sacrifice Rituals - World Museum of Man] {{Maya}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacrifice In Maya Culture}} [[Category:Maya society]] [[Category:Human sacrifice]] [[Category:Maya mythology and religion]] [[bg:Жертвоприношения при маите]] [[ru:Жертвоприношения майя]]'