Maya Religion

The religion of the Maya city-states, of kings, calendars and the Popol Vuh, still alive in Maya communities today.

c. 1000 BCE → · Yucatán, Guatemala, Belize · Indigenous & Animist

Maya religion centred on the cycles of time, the world tree and a host of gods of rain, maize and the underworld. Rulers drew blood in ritual to sustain the cosmos. The K’iche’ Popol Vuh preserves the creation story and the adventures of the Hero Twins, and Maya day-keepers still keep the sacred calendar.

Key figures

• Itzamna, the creator
• Chaac, the rain god
• The Hero Twins

Texts

• Popol Vuh
• The Dresden Codex
• Temple inscriptions

Beliefs

• A world tree joins the heavens, earth and Xibalba
• People were made from maize
• Kings mediate with the gods through ritual

Rituals

• Bloodletting by rulers
• Calendar rites and Long Count endings
• Offerings in caves and cenotes

Grew from

• Mesoamerican Religion

Connections in the atlas

• Uxmal, Governor's Palace: star:Venus
• Tikal
• Hunab Ku
• Nahual
• The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel
• ? Did the Maya predict the end of the world in 2012?
• The sun’s journey through the night
• Maya sky-reckoning
• Irrigated land
• The Maya
• Sacrifice and offering (ritual)
• ▶ The hero’s journey around the world