Tankah, another Riviera Maya Real Estate Paradise

Mayan myths and misconceptions

Mayan myths and misconceptions

December 26, 2011 00:12:00, source: Metro
Phylicia TorrevillasMetro CanadaJustin Jennings, lead curator of the exhibition Maya: Secrets of their Ancient World at the Royal Ontario Museum, tells Metro why the Maya civilization is one of the most impressive in human history and sheds light on some of the most widespread myths about the ancient Maya.

Maya BeutyThe ancient Mayans went to extreme lengths to transform their bodies through tattooing, face painting and body piercing. They did cranial modification where they wrapped up and tied boards to the heads of newborn babies to reshape the skull. They also filed their teeth. (Photo contributed)


Maya chocolateThe cacao plant is from the part of the world where the Mayans lived — Mexico and parts of South America. It was an elite drink and only few people could get their hands on it. The nobles drank a mix of chocolate, corn and water, sometimes with chili. Instead of a sweet drink, it would be bitter, spicy and foamy, like a cappuccino. (Photo Contributed)


Maya bloddlettingPiercing the skin and allowing the blood to flow was carried out to communicate with gods and ancestors for advice. They would prick the skin with a stingray spine, bone or rock and collect the blood in a pot with cotton cloth and burn it. A vision serpent would appear in the flames.(Photo: Jorge Perez de Lara/Royal Ontario Museum)


Maya culture is not dead. There are 10 million Mayan people today. Many of their city-states and the idea of the sacred rulers that organized these cities died out. Maya is not an empire. It was never unified by a single governing body, but made up of numerous independent city-states with a common culture. (Photo:Justin Jennings/Royal Ontario Museum)


One response

  1. Anybody who visits the once lost Mayan cities can tell that this was a great culture, the cities from the classical time are the most interesting, Tikal, Palenque, Uxmal, Coba and many others and the later cities like Chichen Itza and Tulum also, it is a tradgedy that the Spanish burned most of their writings, many things that could have useful to the modern world have been lost forever.

    December 29, 2011 at 12:25 pm

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