Mayan rituals

[Tillghast]

Mayans had many rituals that by todays standards may be called bizzare.

1) To be a king, you had to sacrifice the blood from your genitals, lips and stomach! Now are you rethinking about being a king!

2) If the Mayan city was in cultural or economical decline, more blood would be sacrificted from the king.

3) The kings scrubbed charcol all over their bodies, making them look like Papa Smurf.

4) They worpshipped the evilest of gods. Mepiulia the God of Decapitation!!! Kertim the God of Death and Stromthud the God of War.

Just thought you'd like to know about a long lost culture's dark side...

[PsychicPenguin]

... I guess there was no fighting for the king position ...

[Potholer]

... I guess there was no fighting for the king position ... 

Oh, and many many many polytheistic (is that the word for 'many gods'?) religions had god's of war and death. It's not special to the Mayans though they did have a number of grisly gods. I think it was them who had a suicide God...

Edited April 8, 2004 by Potholer

[Triniant]

To finish potholer's reply:

From the below mentioned link:

......Ixtab

The suicide goddess was called Ixtab. She is always represented with a rope around her neck. The Mayans believed that suicides would lead you to heaven. Hence, it was very common for suicides to happen because of depression or even for something trivial.

More Info on Mayan Dieties: http://www.crystalinks.com/mayangods.html

[Triniant]

Alien Invader, I was curious about where you got the names of those listed Mayan gods? My sources have something a little different:

Mayan God of Death: AH-PUCH or AHPUCH, CIZIN, HUNHAU, HUNAHAU, KIMIL, KISIN, YUM-CIMIL, YUM-CIMIH, YUM-KIMIL, GOD-A

Mayan God of War: NACON

Sources: http://www.godchecker.com/, http://www.crystalinks.com/mayangods.html

[Tillghast]

I watched a video about the Mayans in my history class. Lots of blood and guts...

[IrishBlood]

what about tezcatlipoca? wasn't he some sort of god?

[Triniant]

Right he was an Aztec god.

TEZCATLIPOCA

The Prince of This World, the Mirror that Smokes, the One Always at the Shoulder, the Shadow. A trickster, revered particularly by soldiers and magicians. The name refers to the black obsidian mirrors used by magicians which become cloudy when scrying. A god of wealth and power, Tezcatlopoca's favors can only be won by those willing to face his terrors. Ruler over the early years of a man's life.

You can find more about Aztec or Mayan gods at the following links:

LINK 1

LINK 2

LINK 3

Hope this helps.

[fearfulone]

Mayans had many rituals that by todays standards may be called bizzare.

1) To be a king, you had to sacrifice the blood from your genitals, lips and stomach! Now are you rethinking about being a king!

2) If the Mayan city was in cultural or economical decline, more blood would be sacrificted from the king.

3) The kings scrubbed charcol all over their bodies, making them look like Papa Smurf.

4) They worpshipped the evilest of gods. Mepiulia the God of Decapitation!!! Kertim the God of Death and Stromthud the God of War.

Just thought you'd like to know about a long lost culture's dark side...

Now, i'd like to preface this by saying i'm not doubting your video in class said this or that you may have read/heard it somewhere...but can anyone else find this info anywhere...i have never heard these rituals before and can't find anything to support it...

[Triniant]

fearfulone, here are some links to shed some light on numbers 1 and 2:

Sacrifice 1

Sacrifice 2

Sacrifice 3

I couldn't find anything on the web about number 3, but I do remember reading somewhere that they did do this during certain ceremonies.

Earlier in the thread I posted some websites to explain number 4.

Edited April 12, 2004 by Triniant