The History and Personal Features of Mayan People

The Maya developed land in North and Central America that we know as, “One of the most sophisticated and vibrant civilizations.” From their 365-day calendar to their advanced language, writing system, and architecture such as pyramids and burial mounds, the Maya were known for being very intelligent. They contributed many advancements to education like creating the notion of zero. They were also very religious and believed in human sacrifices. Some of the other activities that took place included rituals, aspects of nature and astronomy. Their religious activities, structures, and more they created are still spoken about today.

The Olmec were responsible for fostering or advancing the Mayan, Aztec and other later cultures. When the Olmecs started to weaken, the Mayans rose to eminence. Historical proof appears to demonstrate the existence of a Mayan culture in present day Mexico at any rate as far back as 1800 BCE, yet their most noteworthy impact was applied between 200 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Settlement was broad in the Yucatán Peninsula and extended southward into Central America. In contrast to the later Aztecs, the Mayans didn't practice solid regulatory command over a realm, yet rather created as a progression to a great extent of self-governing city-states. Palenque, Tikal, and Chichén Itzá are all very good examples of self-governing city-states. Sustained neighborhoods were regularly encompassed by fastidiously developed farmlands. When trade was developed, it was long distance and some of the most distinguished Mayan pyramids were created. The Maya kept advancing their art, math and science which they are still very well known for to this day.

Food production that was stable was a very important factor to their well-being. In fact, it was so important to them that they even related the agricultural cycle to astronomy and their religion. Agricultural lands that were situated near Maya cities depended on the location of that farm. In Peten and Puuk regions, the soil was very fertile but it was also very restricted to small patches. (ancient.eu. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2019. https://www.ancient.eu/article/802/maya-food--agriculture) One of the techniques they used was used to increase soil fertility which was also a use of raised fields. In some locations, stone-wall terraces were occasionally used to collect fertile silt deposits. Forests were cleared to make a path for agribusiness however such land immediately declined in richness and required slice and-consume methods to restore the land following two years of harvests, which at that point requires by and large a further 5-7 years to be prepared for re-planting. The Maya believed in a maize god or, Hun Hunahpu.

Hun Hunahpu was an important deity to the Maya. Maize was the staple harvest in Mesoamerica. It is an adaptable grain which can be developed in the wet marshes just as the drier mountain territories. It thrives when it’s frequently harvested and gives a rich healthful sugar staple. In contrast to current corn, old maize couldn't just be boiled and eaten; it required a lot of work to make it consumable. The maize should have been overflowed with white lime to discharge the amino acids and nutrient B and afterward ground into a glue to create an unleavened batter. Maize was frequently become together with squash and beans, a blend known as the Three Sisters. All three plants work together to produce a nutritious combination of protein, carbohydrates and vitamins. The maize plants grow straight up through the squash and the beans grow around and up the maize.

The Maya religion was a very interesting factor that they held. From their human sacrifices to what they believed, the Maya were very advanced. The Mayan’s religion were polytheist. One of the religious beliefs were about caves. Caves had a very interesting role in Maya religion. They believed that caves were an entryway to some sort of mythical entryway also known as Xilbalba. In an ancient sacred writing from the Mayans called the “Popol Vuh”, which translates to “Book of the Community”, claimed that there was a passageway that had “...rivers filled with scorpions, blood and pus and houses shrouded in darkness or swarming with shrieking bats, Guillermo de Anda, one of the lead investigators at the site, said on Thursday.” Within their religion, they held human sacrifices however, they were only made on special occasions. 'Among the Maya, human sacrifice was not an everyday event but was essential to sanctify certain rituals, such as the inauguration of a new ruler, the designation of a new heir to the throne, or the dedication of an important new temple or ball court.' (Sharer www.livescience.com/41781-the-maya.html). According to the Maya, the afterlife was a course of their souls to paradise, even though there was no guarantee that they would in fact reach their final destination. The Maya’s religious beliefs are all constrained in complex cycles whether it’s the day cycle, a ritual being performed or just a game they all have cycles that go with that specific activity. In fact they worship 165 gods. The gods were somewhat human-like and did human-like activities that they believe are acceptable.

The Maya also created a number of objects. One of their most famous creations is their calendar. They created a calendar that was supposed to anticipate the ending of the world in 2012. It was a refined and modest calendar because similarly to present calendars, it recorded the receptive cycles of time. The calendar they created were a three-in-one timekeeping system which included the following, the long count, the Tzolkin/Divine calendar and the Haab/ Civil calendar. Time was documented with the usage of special glyphs that repeated in a certain amount of days that has to take place before a new cycle begins. They used their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy to create the most systematic calendar in human history. They had an interest in cycles of time which is why they used the Haab and the Tzolkin calendars. Beside these, the Maya additionally created the Long Count schedule to sequentially date important occasions. Using the Haab calendar, it tracked and approximated the solar year and was a 365-day calendar. Farmers used this calendar to keep track of the days that their annual ceremonies were on and made sure they had them on the same day each month. The Tzolkin calendar was comprised of 260 days and it wasn’t separated into months. The Ajq’ijab’ host ceremonies every 260 days to celebrate the new year which is called Wajxaqib’ B’atz’.

The Maya had an advanced language and writing system which made them appear very intelligent. Their writing system was inherited from an earlier Mesoamerican civilization such as the Olmecs. The Olmecs used pictographs or it was created by itself. Progressively certain is the point at which the Maya started their composing framework: the second 50% of the Middle Preclassic period, c. 300 BCE. Notwithstanding, the more refined composing arrangement of this time very likely would have had before, less mind boggling points of reference present in the first hundreds of years of Mayan culture. From the Early Classic time frame onwards there was a noteworthy increment in stone landmarks bearing engravings and the language arrived at full development and prospered all through the Classic time frame.

The Maya system of writing would proceed to impact that other extraordinary Mesoamerican development the Aztecs who might expand upon the advancement made by the Maya by consolidating considerably increasingly phonetic components into their composition. The Maya composing framework kept on being utilized something like the Spanish Conquest yet then this 'agnostic' content was denied. Notwithstanding the conscious annihilation of Maya writings and the forbiddance of the language the Maya did, however, keep on utilizing it in mystery well into the eighteenth century CE. The Maya hieroglyphic writing is seemingly one of the most outwardly striking writing systems of the world. It is additionally mind boggling, with several novel signs or glyphs as people, creatures, supernaturals, articles, and dynamic plans. These signs are either logograms (to express significance) or syllabograms (to indicate sound qualities), and are utilized to compose words, expressions, and sentences. Indeed, the Maya can compose whatever they can say.

The Mayans were an intelligent tribe. They created the notion of zero and had a way of counting. Maya arithmetic comprised the most complex numerical framework at any point created in the Americas. The Maya tallying framework required just three images: a spot speaking to an estimation of one, a bar speaking to five, and a shell speaking to zero. These three images are utilized in different mixes, to monitor schedule occasions both past and future, thus that even uneducated individuals could do the straightforward number juggling required for exchange and trade. That the Maya comprehended the estimation of zero is noteworthy - a large portion of the world's civic establishments had no understanding of zero around then. The Maya set of mathematical symbols permitted even uneducated individuals to add and subtract for the reasons of exchange and business. To include two numbers together, for instance, the images for each number would be set one next to the other, at that point fallen together to make another single number. Hence, two bars and a solitary speck speaking to 11 could be added to one bar for five, to make three bars and one dot, or 16.

The Maya thought of some as numbers more sacrosanct than others. One of these uncommon numbers was 20, as it spoke to the quantity of fingers and toes an individual could rely on. Another unique number was five, as this spoke to the quantity of digits on a hand or foot. Thirteen was holy as the quantity of unique Maya divine beings. Another hallowed number was 52, speaking to the quantity of years in a 'group', a unit comparative in idea to our century. Another number, 400, had holy significance as the quantity of Maya lords of the night.

The ancient Maya were eager space experts, recording and deciphering each part of the sky. They accepted that the will and activities of the divine beings could be perused in the stars, moon, and planets, so they committed to doing as such, and a considerable lot of their most significant structures were worked in view of space science. The sun, moon, and planets—Venus, specifically—were examined by the Maya.The Mayan’s thought that the Earth was the focal point of all things, fixed and unfaltering. The stars, moons, sun, and planets were divine beings; their developments were deciphered as divine beings going between the Earth, the black market, and other heavenly goals. These divine beings were incredibly engaged with human undertakings, thus their developments were observed intently.

Numerous occasions in Maya life were wanted to concur with certain heavenly minutes. For instance, a war may be deferred until the divine beings were set up, or a ruler may climb to the position of authority of a Mayan city-state just when a specific planet was obvious in the night sky. Priests fasted or abandoned nourishment for a while. They likewise performed phlebotomy ceremonies, puncturing portions of their bodies with thistles to offer their blood to the divine beings. These practices empowered ministers to enter a stupor state where they could converse with the divine beings and mediate with them for good climate or hints of something to look forward to for the individuals. Maya clerics shared a few things for all intents and purposes with shamans in encouraging stupor states and looking for the profound world. By counseling the schedule, ministers could pick great occasions for certain hallowed ceremonies just as times for marriage and planting corn. On occasion, Maya ministers would forecast and foresee future occasions.

In the Maya Empire, each twentieth day was a celebration day. Ministers would ascend the means of a pyramid or a sanctuary. On the means, wearing savage covers and transcending caps, they would move and shake things and make a ton of clamor. Their tremendous caps had things sewn on them that jingled. This additional to the commotion. It was a demonstration of capacity to tell the evil presences that the clerics were savage and incredible. The commotion was additionally to draw in the consideration of the divine beings in the sky so they realized the Maya were supplicating. Another celebration would be the bloodletting ceremony. Bloodletting was a piece of each celebration. Yet, bloodletting was a giving up of one's own priorities. The Maya cut themselves so a drop or two of blood would show up. The nobles spread their blood on a touch of bark and afterward consumed it, to enable their blood to get to paradise, so the divine beings would realize they had made a penance in their respect. The Maya practiced human penance, yet human penance was not part of each celebration. At the point when hostages had to play a round of ball against a Maya group, they constantly lost. After the game, the hostage group was relinquished.

The Maya played an interesting ball game which was called pitz. It was associated with their political, religious and social life. Played with a rubber ball ranging in size from that of a softball to a soccer ball, players would endeavor to bob the ball without utilizing their hands through stone bands connected to the sides of the ball court. The ball court itself was a point of convergence of Maya urban communities and symbolized the city's riches and influence. The playing field was looking like an I with high stages on either side of the court considering enormous quantities of observers. Ballplayers wore defensive hardware during the game to counteract substantial harm by the hard elastic ball that occasionally weighed up to 20 lbs. To ensure ribs and the middle players would wear a burden (HM 651) of cowhide or wood around their midriffs. Stone hachas were some of the time joined to the front of the burden after the game for formal purposes. They additionally wore cushioning around knees and arms, and huge adapted creature crowns that may have spoken to what they accepted to be their creature partners or way. Handstones known as manopla were held to hit the ball with additional power, and may have been utilized to begin the ball in play.

In conclusion, the Maya were very intelligent and contributed many interesting factors. The Maya developed land in North and Central America that we know as, “One of the most sophisticated and vibrant civilizations.” From their 365-day calendar to their advanced language, writing system, and architecture such as pyramids and burial mounds, the Maya were known for being very intelligent. They contributed many advancements to education like creating the notion of zero. They were also very religious and believed in human sacrifices. Some of the other activities that took place included, rituals, aspects of nature and astronomy. Their religious activities, structures, and more they created are still spoken about today.