Peeping into Maya Culture

I'm finding Maya culture both alluring and confusing. We understand Greek and Roman culture because ours is based on theirs and also because we know Greek and Roman writing, sculpture, remnants of buildings and so forth. Maybe the confusing aspect is the Maya calendar, or perhaps their practice of animal and human sacrifice to the gods. Because the Spaniards did such a good job of destroying Maya documents, archeologists have had a challenge ferreting out information.

It was toward the end of the tour yesterday that Julio showed us the stones upon which victims were sacrificed. To us, the idea of animal, let alone human sacrifice is abhorrant. But for the Maya, sacrifice was common, especially during festivals, rituals and in times of calamity.

According to the most recent research, the practice started with the Olmecs, the first pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilization. The person was placed on the square stone you see below and dealt a blow to the neck.

After the blow, the person was transfered to another stone where a religious or politcal leader would remove the heart. Blood was smeared onto paper and burned or onto maize and baked into sacred bread.

Blood letting was an alternative to human sacrifice. The most common body parts used were the tongue and ear. The most sacred blood came from male and female sexual organs.

Prisoners of war were also sacrificial victims as were children born between August 8-12 as I mentioned yesterday. It was awful listening to the gory description and we all stood around the stones yesterday with one big grimace. A number of children were sacrified to dedicate temples and other structures.


If you look closely at the top of the round stone, you'll see a groove. The blood from the victim was captured in a vessel from the grove. Awful isn't it?

It's late now and class tomorrow begins at 8:00 am. So off to bed now. The story won't be gory tomorrow. Promise.

Saludos