Mayan Cosmology and Cultural Practices

For the Maya, the sky was not the only otherworldly domain, and the gods of the sky were not the only ones that had to be appeased. Beneath the earth, there lay another vast realm, a supernatural underworld where the spirits of the dead roamed. For the Mayas, the structure of the world, we are living in the living plane that is the earth. And then there's the skies with different levels and of course the underworld. The underworld was the place where the people that are not living anymore are there. So for them, when you die is not the end of everything. In the Popol Vuh, an ancient Mayan narrative, the underworld is called Shibalba, the place of fear. It has nine perilous levels, ruled by twelve lords, gods of death, who are responsible for disease and affliction. The Maya believe this place of death exists side by side with the land of the living. The underworld could be reached in the most unlikely of places. This huge open court in Chichen Itza looks almost like a marketplace, but no buying or selling went on here. It was the setting for an ancient Mayan ball game, a game far deadlier than any modern sport. Measuring 550 by 230 feet, the court is over twice the size of a modern American football field. Here, two teams faced off, with players aiming to hit the ball through hoops high on the walls. They play for the highest possible stakes, because the losing team faces being sacrificed to the gods. The winners kill the losers and cut off their heads. Wall reliefs show the victors holding a loser's severed head. At first glance, the high walls that surround the ball court don't seem to have much purpose. The reason for their existence... could lie in the game's religious meaning. An ancient myth from the Popol Vuh explains its origins. In this story, heroic twins play the game with the lords of the underworld. The lords dismember them and burn their remains. The twins are reborn. Emerging from the underworld, they become the sun and the moon. They die and they revive again every day to remind humans that they got to keep the balance maybe by making offerings and rituals specifically to the underworld.

So for them, when you die is not the end of everything. In the Popol Vuh, an ancient Mayan narrative, the underworld is called Shibalba, the place of fear. It has nine perilous levels, ruled by twelve lords, gods of death, who are responsible for disease and affliction. The Maya believe this place of death exists side by side with the land of the living.

The underworld could be reached in the most unlikely of places. This huge open court in Chichen Itza looks almost like a marketplace, but no buying or selling went on here. It was the setting for an ancient Mayan ball game, a game far deadlier than any modern sport.

Measuring 550 by 230 feet, the court is over twice the size of a modern American football field. Here, two teams faced off, with players aiming to hit the ball through hoops high on the walls. They play for the highest possible stakes, because the losing team faces being sacrificed to the gods. The winners kill the losers and cut off their heads.

Wall reliefs show the victors holding a loser's severed head. At first glance, the high walls that surround the ball court don't seem to have much purpose. The reason for their existence...

could lie in the game's religious meaning. An ancient myth from the Popol Vuh explains its origins. In this story, heroic twins play the game with the lords of the underworld.

The lords dismember them and burn their remains. The twins are reborn. Emerging from the underworld, they become the sun and the moon. They die and they revive again every day to remind humans that they got to keep the balance maybe by making offerings and rituals specifically to the underworld.

Transcript for:Mayan Cosmology and Cultural Practices

Transcript for:
Mayan Cosmology and Cultural Practices