Mayans :: History

MayansThe Mayans believe that Mother Earth was a gigantic monster. It was an alligator, toad, and a turtle combined. Above her was a sky with a layer for separately planet and spheres of movement for the sun and the moon. Below her was the underworld where heavenly bodies passed when come on of sight. all in all around her were the spirits of rain and thunder. The deities of the food plants and animals attended her. All nature was alive and it was constantly dying and being reborn (Burland 1771). The Mayans be American Indian people who lived in southern Mexico (Miller Maya Grolier). The Yucatan was the center of the Mayan acculturation from about the 1st century B.C. (Yucantan Grolier). They flourished in Mexico and central America from 250 to 1600 A.D. ( account statement of Agriculture Grolier). Their ancestors had crossed the Bering land Bridge from Asia (Miller Maya Grolier). Honduras was once a break apart of the Mayan Empire. It had flourished between 250 and 950 A.D. (S eligson Honduras Grolier). The Mayans also had lived in Mexican states Yucantan and Chiapas, British Honduras, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (Burland 1770) By 1200 B.C., they had dominated trade routes. The trade routes extended from the modern Mexico state of Guerrero to rib Rica (Miller Maya Grolier). The Mayans had constant cultural and commercial contact from other tribes such as the Aztecs. They were with the central and coastal Mexican civilization that had influenced them and influenced other cultures (Harrison History of Latin America Grolier). The Mayans worshiped peace deities (Matthews 45). They also worshiped a creator who lived beyond the sky, and believed it was manful and female. Mayans also believed that males were more important (Burland 1771). They explain this with the fact that man came source (Thompson Internet). They also believe in satisfying the creators and fear death. The Mayans had similar beliefs of earthly concern and similar and not similar go ds with the Greeks, had a belief in a promised land and a Hell, four attempts at making humans and one-third different worlds made. The Greeks had believed there was nothing, that the world began with Chaos, which is similar to the Mayan belief that there was no Earth, no sun and no moon. The only existence was the house of Gucumatz, which is Heaven where the father and mother of all creatures lived. The other is the house of the Ahauab de Xibalba, which is Hell.