The Maya: To truly understand the mysterious Maya civilization we must first understand their belief system in relation to the natural world.

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The Maya: Nature and religion

Geography satisfies the needs of a civilization, it provides them with food, shelter, and it produces traditions and beliefs that are unique to that area. The unique geographical location of the Maya civilization in the Yucatan Peninsula is a prime example of a civilization that is unique. There is also great mystery around the Maya civilization, many of their traditions are unknown to historians and archeologists are still attempting to decipher parts of the Maya language.  But, the religious aspect of beliefs in the Maya civilization is not something that is shrouded in mystery.  Our deep understanding of their belief system tells us that they were very connected to the natural world. It is for this reason that to truly understand the Maya we must first understand the natural world in relation to their belief system.  Specifically through the examinations of how the Maya interacted with the natural world for religious reasons; the fact that the Maya people believed that the natural world was essentially the home of the gods; and how the environment affected their cultural traditions and the importance it placed on priests. To satisfy their beliefs the Maya honored their gods by building temples in their honor.

Archaeologists know that religion was at the heart of development in the Maya communities, because it forced the Maya people to build temples made of both wood and stone. Because the people of Maya depended on this wood and stone to come from the environment around them it created a very close bond between the land and the Maya. Also, the construction of large scale buildings was always related to religion (p. 402).  The Maya also believed that the continual reconstruction of temples was important, because they considered all religious buildings to have a life cycle (p. 407). This continual reconstruction also needed stone. The Maya reconstructed the temples rather than shifted them to different areas, because each temple was dedicated to a certain god who presided over that geographical area.  The Maya also needed Jade to make stelae, which was also readily available from the environment around them.  They used Jade specifically because it was associated with water and living plants (p. 414) .The environment around them must be truly understood before we can understand their culture in relation to their beliefs. Similar to the Egyptian civilization which depended very heavily on the Nile, the Maya also depended on water. Although, as water was much more variable in the Yucatan Peninsula the Maya had to modify natural sinkholes and build reservoirs where they could find no surface water (p. 399) .  This dictated the placement of settlements. Paired together with the knowledge that Mayas believed that the god’s lived in the natural world around them, the relation between the Maya’s geographical location and their belief system becomes much clearer.

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The Maya believed the gods inhabited the Earth, the sea, and the heavens (p. 404). They also believed that these deities must be constantly pleased if a community was to survive. To please these gods, they would build temples, give offerings and pray.  Although, later during the post-classical period of the Maya civilization sacrifices became a common throughout the northern Yucatán peninsula (p. 407) .  The sacrifices involved sending people into natural caverns, to act as messengers to the gods.  The act of sending them into the natural caves indicated that they believed that the gods resided in natural caves. ...

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