Elite Facts Presents
8 Interesting Facts about Mayan Civilization
8.
Continuing Culture Although the mayan civilization has taken
a massive declined since their society has been conquered, in many rural parts of Mexico
and Guatemala, The Mayan language and culture is still present showing that the culture
although isn't massive, is still alive and well to this day!
In fact, there are over seven million Mayans living in their home regions, many of whom
have managed to maintain substantial remnants of their ancient cultural heritage.
Some of these people are quite integrated into the modern cultures of the nations in
which they reside, while others continue to live a more traditional culturally distinct
life, often speaking one of the Mayan languages as a primary language.
The largest populations of contemporary Maya inhabit the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche,
Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Chiapas, and in the Central American countries of Belize,
Guatemala, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
Also on another note, They're a biker gang in Sons of Anarchy so at least their name
sake and heritage is still being used to some degree in modern media right?.....Right?
7.
Excellent Doctors So as it turns out, The Mayans had excellent
health care and doctors.
Considering how ancient their society is, It's surprising how advanced their knowledge
of medicine, Even if it is outdated by today's standards.
Health and medicine among the ancient Maya was a complex blend of mind, body, religion,
ritual, and science.
Important to all, medicine was practiced only by a select few who were given an excellent
education.
These men, called shamans, act as a medium between the physical world and spirit world.
They practice sorcery for the purpose of healing, foresight, and control over natural events.
Since medicine was so closely related to religion and even sorcery.
Back when the mayan civilization was strong, was essential that Maya shamans had vast and
extensive medical knowledge and skill.
It is known that the Maya sutured wounds with human hair, reduced fractures, and were even
skilled dental surgeons, making prostheses from jade and turquoise and filling teeth
with iron pyrite.
6.
Painkillers Who would have thought in a society that incorporated
blood sacrifices into their everyday lifestyle, also knew their fair share about medicine?
The people of Mayan civilizations would regularly use hallucinogenic drugs that were taken naturally
from the earth and is used in their religious rituals.
That being said, These drugs and herbs were also used extensively outside of this rituals
as they also used them in day to day life as painkillers.
Flora such as peyote, the morning glory, certain mushrooms, tobacco, and plants used to make
alcoholic substances, were widely and commonly used by the mayans.
In addition, as depicted in Maya pottery and carvings, ritual enemas were used for a more
rapid absorption and effect of the substance.
5.
Mayan Childhood Now this one is a bit messed up to say the
least.
The Maya desired some unnatural physical characteristics for their children.
Why any parent would want this for their child, is beyond us, However these examples of "unique
features" include the likes of using pressurized board on the top of a very young foreheads
to create a flattened surface.
This process was widespread among the upper class.
Another practice was to cross babies' eyes.
To do this, objects were dangled in front of a newborn's eyes, until the newborn's
eyes were completely and permanently crossed.
Another interesting fact about Mayan children is that most were named according to the day
they were born.
Every day of the year had a specific name for both boys and girls and parents were expected
to follow that practice.
4.
Ball Courts Nothing like a good game of b-ball is there?
So as it turns out, Mayans were pretty big on ball games.
So much so that they build massive courts in order to play these games.
The Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played for over 3000 years
by the pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica.
This sport was essentially basketball with the acending hoops on either side of the court.
Crazy to think huh?
The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern
version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the local indigenous population.
Ballcourts were public spaces used for a variety of elite cultural events and ritual activities
like musical performances and festivals, and of course, the ballgame.
Enclosed on two sides by stepped ramps that led to ceremonial platforms or small temples,
the ball court itself was of a capital "I" shape and could be found in all but the smallest
of Maya cities.
In Classic Maya, the ballgame was called pitz, and the action of play was ti pitziil.
The game was played with a ball roughly the size of a volleyball but made from rubber.
Don't try headering this ball if you for whatever reason decide to play soccer with it.
Decapitation was also particularly associated with this ballgame as severed heads are featured
in much Late Classic ballgame art.
There has even been speculation that the heads and skulls were used as balls.
Yeah, suddenly this fact took a dark turn rather quickly.
Suddenly ball games don't sound so fun now!
3.
Saunas Nothing better than a good sauna!
Saunas were very common in Mayan culture.
They were an important purification element to the ancient Maya was the sweat bath, or
zumpul-ché.
Pretty much similar to what you'd expect from a modern day sauna, Sweat baths were constructed
of stone walls and ceilings, with a small opening in the top of the ceiling.
Water poured onto the hot rocks in the room created steam, offering a setting in which
to sweat out impurities.
These saunas were used for a variety of reasons at it was a method of either curing or helping
with a range of conditions and situations that are taking their toll on the human body.
New mothers who had recently conceived a child would seek revitalization in them, while individuals
who were sick could find healing power in sweating.
Maya kings made a habit out of visiting the sweat baths as well because it left them feeling
refreshed and, as they believed, cleaner.
2.
Life Goes On We all know about the Mayan calendar.
December 21st 2012 marked the end of the world as it was supposedly the final day on the
mayan calendar, meaning that, that was the end!
First of all, the Mayans don't have a calendar they have calendars which are often interlocked.
The calendar that has given rise to the myth of the end of the world is the Mayan long
count calendar.
According to Mayan Mythology, we are living in the fourth world or "creation" so to
speak.
The previous creation ended on 12.19.19.17.19 of the long count calendar.
That sequence occurred again on December 20, 2012.
According to the Mayans this is a time of great celebration for having reached the end
of a creation cycle.
It wasn't all doom and gloom as it did not mean the end of the world but the beginning
of a new "age".
Was the world going end every December 31st?
No – we went on to a new year.
Life went on.
This is the same as the Mayan creation periods.
In fact, the Mayans make many references to dates that fall beyond 2012.
The idea of 2012 being the end of the world was actually first suggested by New Age religionist
José Argüelles in his 1987 book The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology.
1.
Ancient Mystery Since it's end, Nobody knows how the Mayan
Empire declined.
For reasons that are still debated, the Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into
decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter.
This decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale
architectural construction.
Non-ecological theories of Maya decline are divided into several subcategories, such as
overpopulation, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, and the collapse of key trade routes.
Ecological hypotheses include environmental disaster, epidemic disease, and climate change.
There is evidence that the Maya population exceeded carrying capacity of the environment
including exhaustion of agricultural potential and over-hunting of megafauna.
Some scholars have recently theorized that an intense 200 year drought led to the collapse
of Maya civilization.
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