Do you know what the Mayan sacrifices were like? Know everything here

This Mesoamerican civilization was characterized by performing different rituals. Among them were the Mayan sacrifices. On this occasion, Spiritual Energy will describe everything related to it.

Mayan sacrifices

Mayan sacrifices

Sacrifices constituted a religious activity in this Mesoamerican civilization. Which were made up of the murder of people or animals. And spilling the blood of various members of the community, in rituals that were under the supervision of priests.

It is important to note that sacrifices have been a peculiarity of a large part of postmodern societies at certain stages of their evolution. In order to grant or fulfill an obligation directed towards the gods.

In the course of pre-Columbian times, the Mayan sacrifices were a ritual offering that was carried out in order to feed the gods. That is why, for them, blood represented an important source of nutrition for the Mayan gods. Therefore, the sacrifice of a living being was a highly appreciated offering.

In this way, the sacrifice of a person constituted the definitive offering of blood to the gods. Therefore, a large part of the most outstanding rituals of this Mesoamerican civilization ended with a human sacrifice. Frequently, only high-ranking prisoners of war were slaughtered, with lower-ranking prisoners being used for more forced activities.

The Mayan sacrifices related to human sacrifice, are notorious from approximately the classic period, which covered the years 250 to 900 AD until the stage in which the Spanish conquest culminated in the XNUMXth century.

In various representations of classic Mayan art, human sacrifice is described. In the hieroglyphic texts of the Classic period and have been verified in the archaeological context through the analysis of skeletal remains belonging to the Classic and Postclassic periods, the latter ranging from the years 900 to 1524.

Human sacrifice is also described in my early Mayan and Spanish colonial documents, integrating:

  • Madrid Codex.
  • Popol Vuh.
  • The Title of Ttonicapán.
  • Rabinal Achí quinche document.
  • The Annals of the Cakchiqueles.
  • Yucatecan Dzitbalché songs.
  • Relationship of the things of the Yucatan.

It should be noted that this Mesoamerican civilization used various methods, where the most applied were decapitation and extracting the heart. Other types of Mayan sacrifices included ritually shooting the victim with arrows, throwing the victim into a cenote, and burying the victim alive to accompany a noble burial. As well as performing the sacrifice of players in a ritual of rebirth associated with the Mesoamerican ball game and opening or removing the guts.

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It is important to note that both blood and human sacrifice were omnipresent in all cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. In the results that have been obtained related to these issues, it coincides that the two activities originated among the Olmecs, approximately 3000 years ago, being transmitted to cultures that occurred later, where the Mayans are integrated. However, there is also no knowledge of why they developed among the Olmecs.

Mayan sacrifices

The blood and therefore the heart that continues to beat, represent the main component both in the ethnography and in the iconography of the Mayan sacrifices. That is why its use through ritual determined for this civilization, a connection with the sacred, which represented for them the very existence of the natural order.

There are descriptions that indicate that, like all of the best-known theocratic societies, possibly the Mayan political and religious elites carried out actions that were simultaneously reinforcing to favor the position of each one and support the important social stability for both elites.

Through the rituals where the Mayan sacrifices were carried out, which functioned as the main element of community integration. However, none of this has been verified in historical records.

Methods

The ancient members of this Mesoamerican civilization used various methods in human sacrifice.

Decapitation

The most outstanding rituals, among which the dedication of temples and palaces stood out, as well as the coronation of a new ruler, requested a human offering. The sacrifice of an enemy king was considered the most important offering. This included the decapitation of the imprisoned ruler in a ritual representation of the decapitation of the Mayan maize god by the gods of death.

During the year 738, the greatest leader of the ancient Mayan city of Quiriguá, K`ak`Tiliw Chan Yopaat, arrested his superior ruler Uaxaclajuun Ub`aah K`awiil from the city of Copan, later beheading him in a ritual.

Such actual Mayan sacrifices were usually recorded in Mayan writing with the glyph (which was an engraved sign), ax event. Similarly, beheading an enemy king could also be added to a part of the rebirth ritual related to the ball game. Which represented the victory of the twin heroes Ixbalanqué and Hunahpú, sons of the god Hun-Hunahpú and Ixquic, over the gods of the underworld, the Lords of Xibalbá.

This is because the myth of the hero twins, described in the Popol Vuh, refers to the fact that they, like their father and uncle, were beheaded by their enemies in the ball game. Which is recounted in this literary work after narrating what refers to the creation of humanity.

The hero twins, Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué, faced the lords of Xibalbá. The story tells that both were practicing the ball game on a court located above the kingdom of the dead, where the Lords of Xibalbá were, so that site received the name Xibalbá.

Therefore, carrying out the ball game in that place caused the Lords of Xibalbá to get upset, thus causing a challenge for the twins, which is based on carrying out a game of the game in their area. Later the twins lost, so they were sacrificed and buried. Cutting off the head of one of them and then hanging it on a dry tree.

Mayan sacrifices

With the passage of time, in the place where that tree was located, a maiden named Ixquic walked, who was spat on by the same tree. Which caused her to become pregnant and later give birth to the twins Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué.

Which were characterized by having several experiences in which they demonstrated their capabilities. Both wanted to carry out the revenge of their father and uncle, which led them to create a plan to challenge the Slords of Xibalba. 

Which was based on the fact that they were going to practice the ball game, in the same area in which the game of his father and uncle was played. When doing it, the members of Xibalbá got angry again. So a fight was caused again, which consisted of the brothers having to jump a wide hole that was on fire.

Trying again, the hero twins stumbled and their bones were pulverized to ashes, which were thrown into the river and stored on one of its banks. Area in which the twins developed again, who with the passing of time, returned disguised as Xibalba.

Thus managing to dominate the inhabitants, in order that they would keep them alive if they abandoned all their power to do evil. From then on, the twins Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué, they became deities and for this civilization they symbolize the Moon and the Sun. Learn more about the mayan ball game.

The sacrifice of beheading is represented in the Mayan art of the Classic period, where it is evident that it was carried out after the victim was tortured, beaten, the leather of the head with the hair attached, burned, or they will remove the guts.

It is also described in various reliefs found around the two ballcourts located in Chichen Itza, the Great Ballcourt and the Ballcourt of the Nuns.

heart extraction

In the course of the postclassic period, between the years 900 to 1524, the Mayan sacrifices, which were based on extracting the heart of certain people, was the most common procedure, which received the influence of the Toltec culture and also of the Aztec people, belonging to the Valley of Mexico. Which was usually done in the courtyard of a temple or at the top of the temple pyramid.

The procedure consisted of undressing the victim, girding her with a pointed headdress and painting her blue. This color represented sacrifice. In this process, four priests were assistants who were painted blue which represents the four Chaacs, who were the patrons of the cardinal directions. These took the victim by each limb while he was lying on top of a prominent stone that pushed his chest up.

In the book Relation of the things of Yucatan, written by the Spanish bishop Diego de Landa, it was described in relation to sacrifices of this type, that a priest named Nacom used a sacrificial knife made of flint, also known as flint, in order to cost under the ribs and extract the heart while it continued to beat.

The Nacom transferred the organ to the officiating priest, called Chilan, who bathed the image of the temple god with blood. Depending on the ritual, the four Chaacs would drop the corpse down the stairs of the temple to the patio below, where the auxiliary priests would remove the skin, except for the hands and feet.

Later, El Chilan, took off his ritual clothing and put on the skin of the victim who had been sacrificed, to begin a ritual dance that represented rebirth to life. In the event that he was an outstandingly brave warrior, the one who was sacrificed, his corpse was quartered and the parts were eaten by the warriors and other attendants.

While the hands and feet were offered to the Chilan, who if they belonged to a prisoner of war, he would store the bones as a prize. According to archaeological studies, the Mayan sacrifices, where the heart was extracted, date from the end of the Classic period.

sacrifices with arrows

Various rituals were made up of the sacrifice of shooting arrows. The procedure was very similar to extracting the heart, since the victim was also stripped naked, painted blue and forced to wear a pointed hat. She later tied herself to a pole while a ritual dance was carried out, where the blood was extracted from her genitals, using thorns with which they smeared the image of the deity.

Then above the victim's heart, a white symbol was painted, which was a mark that served as a target for archers. The people who were dancing passed in front of the victim, while arrows were shot in turn, which culminated when the entire chest was full of projectiles.

Mayan sacrifices

This is one of the Mayan sacrifices, which dates back to the classic period and is described in graffiti located on the walls of Temple II of Tikal. In the literary work Los Cantares de Dzitbalché, which is a collection of Yucatecan Mayan poems, originating in the XNUMXth century, it describes sacrifice with an arrow in two poems. Where it is considered that they constitute copies of poems that belong to the fifteenth century, when the Postclassic period passed.

One of these poems is titled Little Arrow, which is a song that encourages the victim to be brave and stay calm. While the other poem is called the Archer's Dance, which was part of a ritual in homage to the rising sun. This is made up of instructions for the archer, where he is told how he should prepare his arrows, as well as how he should dance three times around the victim.

Likewise, the goalkeeper was instructed not to shoot until the second round, he also had to make sure that the victim died very slowly. In the third round, while he is dancing, the goalkeeper had to shoot twice.

Treatments

The information regarding the Mayan rituals is described mainly in the chronicles and codices that exist, the result of the investigations of the missionary ethnographers that were found after the Spanish conquest of Yucatan and the archaeological descriptions that occurred later.

This is due to the fact that few documents related to the historical records of this civilization were found, giving greater reliability, especially to those that occurred in the postclassic period. One of the most relevant investigations regarding this topic is that carried out by Diego de Landa.

However, the archaeological records have spread while the excavations were being carried out, which allowed most of what was described at the time by the first chroniclers to be confirmed. A relevant development was related to the decipherment of the Mayan syllabary. made in the mid-1950s, which made it possible to understand the glyphs carved in various temples.

Likewise, the excavations and forensic studies of human remains also allowed us to learn about the age, sex and cause of death of the victims of the Mayan sacrifices. Learn more about Mayan fire god.

This Mesoamerican civilization participated in many festivals and rituals held on fixed dates of the year. Where a large part of them included animal sacrifices in which blood extraction was also present. According to various studies, it is considered that all these practices owe their origin to the Olmecs, who were the first civilization in the region.

Mayan sacrifices were often performed in public by religious or political leaders, which pierced a soft area of ​​the body, especially the tongue, ear, or foreskin. In order to store the blood and later spread it directly on top of the idol. It was also collected on paper that was later burned.

It should be noted that in the place where Nicaragua is currently located, the blood was smeared on top of the corn, shared among the people and baked into sacred bread. Even the blood was also collected from women who had a high status and from the foreskin of young men.

Mayan sacrifices

The site of the collection was of considerable importance in carrying out the ritual. According to some studies, it was considered totally safe that the blood from the penis and vagina was the most sacred. And it had an exceptional fertilizing power. Similarly, such rituals were seen as essential to regenerating the natural world, especially cultivated plants.

According to some descriptions, men and women met in the temple and stood in a line. They then each drilled a hole in the member on each side, then passed it through as much of the cable as possible. In this way, all united and chained anointed the statue, considered by the Spaniards as worshiping the sun of Ball from the Bible.

Self-sacrifice was also an everyday event. Especially with the people who passed near the victim smearing him with blood drawn on the spot, which had a meaning of mercy. However, those belonging to the Spanish clergy opposed the Mayan sacrifices related to blood, as a more notorious form of native repudiation.

Animals

In Mesoamerica there were no domesticated animals, such as sheep, cows, and pigs. Therefore animal protein and derivatives were acquired through hunting. The white-tailed deer is the animal that was most used for Mayan sacrifices and celebration meals.

However, the result of the archaeological studies does not describe a clear distinction about the secular and sacred uses of animals. After deer, the animals most used for Mayan sacrifices were dogs and various birds. Where their heads were given to idols.

Also a wide variety of more exotic creatures such as jaguars and alligators were part of the Mayan sacrifices. Therefore, the sacrifice of animals was a very common ritual prior to the start of any outstanding activity or institution.

Likewise, De Landa, who was the second bishop of Yucatan, made a description related to the festivals and rituals of the calendar. However, none of these frequent events referred to the Mayan sacrifices. Which possibly means that his informants belonging to this civilization have no knowledge of them. Well, perhaps the cleric would have had a hard time removing such information.

It is usually described that the traditional view is that the members of this Mesoamerican civilization were less powerful when performing human sacrifices than other civilizations.

In fact, Bancroft describes what is related to an activity that in Mexico was going to be the signal of death for a sacrifice of human victims. It would take place in Yucatan through the death of a spotted dog. However, the result of a wide variety of archaeological records affirms that the sacrifice of people was far from being unknown by this Mesoamerican society.

Reference is also made to the fact that the Mayan city of Chichen Itza was the main place of regional power for this civilization. In the Late Classic period, for human sacrifices. Know everything related to Mayan cities.

In addition to that, there are two natural drains, or cenotes, on the site of the town, which would have provided an extensive supply of drinking water. Being the widest in the Sacred Cenote or Well of the Sacrifice. Place where many victims were thrown as an offering to the rain god Chaac.

Ball game

The presence of Mayan sacrifices was evidenced in this sports activity, according to the results of various archaeological investigations, after the classic period. Especially in the cultures that were in the Veracruz area.

This is due to the fact that in that place the most important representations of the Mayan sacrifices are observed on the boards of this game. Especially those made in the Tajín, Chichén Itzá and in Aparicio located in Veracruz.

In the Popol Vuh, one of the most important books of American antiquity, there are also descriptions related to this topic. According to some researchers, this Mayan text is also called the strangest relic of the aboriginal thought of the New World.

The archaeologist Miguel Rivera Dorado, carried out a series of investigations. Where he described that one of the representations of the Mayan sacrifices in the Popol Vuh, is evidenced in chapter XXI. Where the customs of opening the chest and the side of the people to extract the heart are reviewed, which constituted a human sacrifice.

This is due to the fact that in the practices carried out by the Mayans, the process was based on opening the chest by hitting it sharply. With a flint knife, in the left area, specifically between the ribs. Then they reached in to extract the heart. And they exhibited it when it was still beating to culminate by storing it in a stone tray and then burning it.

Another way in which Mayan sacrifices were carried out, apart from cardiotomy, was by performing decapitation. Which depended on the ritual being performed. Like what is related to wars, the fear demanded of rivals and the domination, in some cases, of the inhabitants.

In this Mesoamerican culture, blood offerings were also made. This type of ritual is described in chapter XXII of the Popol Vuh. At the time of recounting the satisfaction felt by the sacrificers with thorns and flint. Which consisted of cutting or piercing legs, arms, ears, tongues and intimate areas. Carrying it out with manta ray spines and flint or obsidian lancets.

The blood was then stored in containers containing fragments of tree bark. When it was well soaked and dry, it was burned, so that the smoke would guide the offering to the deities. In this way, men gave their blood, which represented the substance of life, to the cosmos. With the aim of making a kind of mix between people and the supernatural forces of the cosmos.

Mayan sacrifices

Hence, the Mayan sacrifices were described in several works of art of this civilization. In which prisoners were observed being sacrificed after they lost a game. However, in cities like Tajín and Chichén Itzá, these sacrifices were made to the players and the leader of the winning team.

Likewise, beheadings were carried out in the ball game. Which was found represented in a large number of artistic representations, where severed heads were evident. Which is also described in the Popol Vuh.

In the Aztec interpretation of the ball game, the heads of the players of the group that had lost the game were placed on an altar. Which received the name of Tzompantli, located next to the field. Offering the blood of those players as food of the gods. There are even researchers who considered that the heads were also used as balls.

Other methods

Among other procedures of the Mayan sacrifices, there is one of those represented in a Late Classic graffiti. In a structure buried under Group G at Tikal. Where a victim is shown who had his hands tied behind his head, while his guts were pulled out. Also in the Classic period, offerings were made that consisted of burying a person alive.

Others consisted of throwing people as offerings in times of drought, famine, or illness. In the Sacred Cenote located in Chichen Itzá. Which was a natural hole that measured approximately 50 meters wide. And a drop of 20 meters to the surface of the water, which was 20 meters deeper. If you were interested in the information in this article, you may also want to know more about the Mayan jaguar.


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