Popol Vuh Research Paper

1741 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mayan religion essays

Michael Fischer
May 5, 2017
The Popol Vuh, and Mayan Culture Mexico,or also know as The United Mexican States, is a land of vastly differing cultures and people. The land was dominated by the ancient tribes. The Mayans lived in the southern tip of Mexico. Although the Mayan civilization is known for their human sacrifice practices, but the Mayan belief system was more complex than that. When looking at the ancient stories in The Popol Vuh one can see into the complexities of the Mayan religion. The Mayans did not sacrifice humans for the fun of it. They had an intricate belief system, that revolved around the stories they told. The country itself spans 1,964,375 sq km, it is the 14th biggest country of in the world and is three times the …show more content…

(Gomez “Mayan Religion”) When most people think of the ancient religions of Mexico they go right to human sacrifice, but that's not all it was. The Mayans had a strong connection with nature. According to Maria Gomez, “The ancient Mayan deities were linked with the cardinal directions. They believed that the eastern skies were the most significance with the raising sun coming from that direction. Their homes were also designed after the cardinal directions and the Ceiba tree.” (Gomez “Mayan …show more content…

The Maya make up a majority of the population in Guatemala and have become important members of the political power structure. The many languages of the ancient mayans are still used today. “They are now seen as a permanent underclass of society and there is a big push for a desire for cultural and economic self-determination in the future”(Coc) The ancient past and culture of the Mayan people will live through it’s people and will forever be a part of the long history of Mexico.
The ancient stories of the Mayans help to show what the ancient people believed. When looking into the intricate stories it is best to start with the Popol Vuh. The Popol Vuh translates to “`The Council Book', The Book of the People' or, literally, `The Book of the Mat', the work has been referred to as "The Mayan Bible".(Mark “Popol Vuh”) One can see these comparisons in the way the book is set up both The Popol Vuh and Christian bible both are split up into separate books. The bible’s being the Old Testament, and The New Testament. The Popol Vuh is split into four distinct

Show More
Related

  • Dbq Mayan Achievements

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is very likely that most people have heard about the Mayan Civilization in one way or another. Whether fictitious or factual, this ancient culture iw idelt recognized. The Mayan people lived from about 250 to 900 CE in Mesoamerica. Which includes modern day Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and parts of southern Mexico.These people had many remarkable achievements, all of which can fit under the categories of scale, genius effort, and significance. These achievements include an advanced trade system, an amazing understanding of numbers, and the ability to design and build cities that are still mostly standing today. However, their most impressive achievement is their complex calendars.

    Read More

  • What Achievement of the Maya Was Their Most Remarkable?

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    The most remarkable achievement of the Maya was their calendar. Every Mayan achievement listed, however, are very remarkable in their own right. Remnants of the Mayan society are still seen throughout our world today from all four of their discussed achievements. One could have an ethnocentric denial of the sheer remarkability of the advancements of the Maya because of some of the advancements of the Western World at that time period, however, the Maya achieved feats that the Western World could not even fathom. In fact, much of Maya architecture, such as their pyramids, cannot even be replicated today. The Mayan civilization may have physically declined centuries ago, but their concepts and principles will forever keep the Maya alive.

    Read More

  • Mayan Agriculture

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Mayans believed that gods were everywhere but the lived in heaven. Earth was for the living, heaven was for the gods, and the underworld was for demons. Priests were the ones who performed rituals and sacrifices. Like the Aztecs, the Mayas believed that blood gave the gods strength. The Mayan people had a sacred calendar that was used by the

    Read More

  • The Tikal Mayan Civilization

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today more than six million Maya live in Guatemala Mexico and Belize. Modern Maya has brought their unique way of life. Their religion to has changed from idolatry to Catholicism, animal offerings. Tikal is a Visitor site with museums and hotels cover the space was camp of Arc.

    Read More

  • Mayans

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the Spanish began to arrive in Mexico and in Central America in the early 15th century, one of the many civilizations they found was the Maya. The Maya, building upon the Olmec culture, were located in present-day Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, southern Mexico, and the Yucatan Peninsula. Even though they had many similarities, the Maya were separated by language differences. Because of that they were organized into city-states. Since there wasn’t a single city-state powerful enough to impose a political structure, the period from 200 A.D. to the arrival of the Spanish was characterized by the struggle of rival kingdoms for dominance.

    Read More

  • Corn To The Maya Culture

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... into society also came with a new social responsibility to make sure that the crops would never fail. For once a society had made this unique and vital bond with the crop, with deep meaning. For a modern mind, the Mayan methodology of working with maize, and how it became to dominate life far beyond a means of food, becoming the backbone of their religion, it is truly amazing and great, the Mayans for one were not simple folk their attitude towards maize was clearly one of great spirituality. The Mayan mind believed or realized that not only had the gods given them maize, the gods would continually need to be thanked for giving them a great crop and they cultivated it and through it thanked and worshiped the gods for feeding them, and allowing them to grow and excel. In the end, the relationship between Man and maize was a contract between the gods and the earth.

    Read More

  • Meso America

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Mayan interpretation of the cosmos included a plethora of gods: some benevolent, others malignant; some unattainable, others close at hand. Defining past, present and future, it concerned itself with death, the afterlife and reincarnation. Itzamna was a Mayan god that represented the earth and sky. This god was there to produce vegitables. The Aztec beliefs were very similar to that of the Mayan civilization. Both societies were very similar in their belief of gods, sacrificing, and wars. The ritual of human sacrifice was infulenced by the Toltec tradition. Praying, sacrifice, speaking in metaphors were all forms of speaking with dieties. The calendar was very accurate, more accurate then the calendars that we follow now. Europeans thought that Mesoamerican people were wild people because they were cannibals, believed in many gods, and "enjoyed sex".

    Read More

  • Religious Syncretism and its Consequences in Mayan Society

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Spaniards first set foot on Mesoamerican shores in the early sixteenth century, they encountered not the godless mass of natives they believed they found, but a people whose rich spiritual traditions shaped and sustained them for thousands of years. These diverse spiritual practices legitimized nearly every aspect of Mesoamerican daily life, from science and architecture to art and politics (Carmack 295), in many of the same ways Catholicism did in Spain. The collision of these cultures in the Great Encounter and the resulting Spanish colonial state mixed not solely two different peoples—Indian and Spanish—but thousands of variants: elites and slaves, peasant farmers and traders, priests and traders, organized and local spiritual customs, all with different degrees of diversity in their respective religious practices. This diversity set the stage for the syncretic religious traditions that emerged in Mayan society and remain a vital part of that culture today.

    Read More

  • Popol Vuh Compare And Contrast

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    Just like the mythology from virtually all the cultures, the mythology of Ancient Mayan was started by and based on how the universe or world was created, and where the human being came from. Most of the Mayan mythology comes from two books, one is called Popol Vuh, and the other one is called Chilam Balam. The two books do not have many overlaps because they tell the mythology of two different region. Popol Vuh talks about the highland region of Ancient Maya, or today’s Guatemala, and Chilam Balam were associated with the lowland region of Ancient Maya, the Yucatán area of Mexico.

    Read More

  • Mayan Religion

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society.

    Read More

  • Influence Of Catholicism On Mayan Government

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1959, Rafael Carrera made Guatemala’s national religion- Catholic, Carrera challenged the nation's politics, he was motivated by his religious concerns and forcibly controlled the power structure inherited from colonial times (Sullivan Gonzalez 17).Carrera protested in favor of the church and state to remain equal within the government system. However, the church lost power in 1879, it was deprived of property, and prohibited from discussing political issues (Cruz 351). The church had privileges that most citizens of Guatemala did not have. The church was allowed to make local laws and to enforce the Catholic religion on the residents of their towns. In another study “Mayan and Catholic Spiritual Traditions” published in 2006 by Wendy Tyndale Guatemalan Mayans in San Marcos “are Catholic but with their vision of the universe, interwoven with their Christian beliefs (315)”. The Maya would resist the power of the Catholic church and combine its Mayan beliefs with the Catholic beliefs. This attempt would save the Mayan traditional beliefs. In other words, Guatemalan Mayans had to adapt their way of life in order to preserve their Mayan Beliefs. Catholicism was changing life in Guatemala, Mayan religion was being culturalized by Christianity. Due to the Catholic religion, Guatemala would soon change its laws based on the Catholic religion. Catholicism was not only combined with other cultures but it was also combined with Guatemalan holidays, like its independence

    Read More

  • Mayan Civilization Dbq

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Mayans lived in Southern Mexico and Central America in their capital, Tikal, which is in present day Guatemala. The Mayans were known for their engineering, one structure they were famous for is their pyramid temple in Tikal (Document 1). This pyramid was the tallest structure in the Americas up until the 20th century and is still standing today. The government must have been strong and well organized in order to carry out such a large task. The Mayan religion had multiple gods and this pyramid was most likely devoted to one or used as a place for sacrifices. Another accomplishment of the Mayans was the creation of their calendar. An extra document that would be useful is one that explains how the calendar was created. The Mayans must have studied astronomy and math to a great length. Similar to the Ancient Egyptians, they wrote with symbols and pictures known as glyphs that were used in the calendar. These glyphs were gods, such as Zotz (Document 2). The use of glyphs is an acknowledgement of a writing system, which is another accomplishment.

    Read More

  • Mayan Society During The Dark Ages

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    The European and Mayan civilizations had inverse experiences during the Classical era, but they were similar in some aspects. While the Mayans were basking in their glorious success as a civilization, the Europeans stood in their shadow. However, after the Renaissance Era, it was as if the Mayans stood in the shadow of the European revival. These two societies have a definite inverse relationship, in that while one was succeeding, the other was squandering. For example, the forward thinking of the Mayans and their knowledge of arithmetic and science was overshadowed by the revolutionary ideas created by European scientists, the fact that the Mayans had created a complex, and accurate calendar wasn’t nearly as celebrated as a European man who got hit by an apple.

    Read More

  • Differences And Similarities Between The Mayans And Americans

    305 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Mayans just have one religion called polytheism. They had multiple gods. The ultimate god that they believed in is the sun god/ corn god. They thought that the sun/corn god was the most powerful because they thought this god would be the reason why the sun came up everyday so that they could stay alive because they wouldn’t be able to grow their crops without the sun. In return they would sacrifice their own people and sometimes enemies instead of killing them. They also thought that the queen and king of the mayans would

    Read More

  • The Maya Civilization

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Maya civilization is a very important culture that has left a great impact on our world today. They are known for their written language, art, mathematical system and astronomical system. The Maya territory includes Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico. In these areas the Maya thrived in their religious practices, politics, and their use of the territory.

    Read More

More about Popol Vuh Research Paper

Open Document