The Ancient Kinship of the Mayan People - Essay Example

Mayan Civilization Most of what remains of the Mayan civilization is documented by paleontologists, historians, and anthropologists. The evidence shows that the Mayans occupied their land between 2600 and 1800 BC in Central American and Southern Mexico (Carter 340). The civilization would grow uncontrollably but the collapse of the kingdom remains some of the unsolved mysteries of the world though foreign invasion, drought collapse of the Mayan social hierarchy may be attributed to the collapse (McAnany 21).

However, historians have collected enough evidence to allow them to explain the society’s political and religious organization by referring to the strong attachment that the clan put to kinship. The ancient kinship of the Mayan people can be described as comprising patrilineal, bilateral, and matrilineal and as such laid the foundation for their political organization (Carter 345). In this case, the political organization was embedded in this kinship where it was characterized by segmentary or well-defined lineages.

In this case, the political organization resembled the clan-like structures. The strong attachment to kinship is also evident from the extent to which the Mayan assigned the duties to the scribes in the royal houses and palaces (McAnany 21). The scribes played an important role in the documentation of arts and other materials in the society, and most came from the aristocratic families thus extending the noble doctrine. Therefore, forming and establishing the political organizations of these kinship structures meant that the Mayans had a centralized political system with authority from above or the royal powerful kinships (Yaeger 922).

On the other hand, the Mayan arts indicate that most of the rulers were scribes thus the political organization or structure was built on the ability of the rulers to write. The hierarchy brought about by kinship implied that the aristocrats were the ruling class with the King as the head (Carter 340). Each city, therefore, had a king with a ruling class. On the other hand, the kingship was based on the religious construction and belief that they represented God on earth. Nonetheless, the Mayans had an outstanding religious belief where they had a calendar set with activities for appeasing the gods.

Though the traditional Mayan religion can be described as a system of belief, the society engaged in habitual religious practices (McAnany 15). In this case, the Mayan religion was a complex collection of ritual practices and was also based on the hierarchy that would be integrated into the community political organization. Therefore, the society's strong belief in the hierarchy was also portrayed when they offered sacrifices to appease the gods because the sacrifices were arranged in their order of importance so as to appease the gods.

On the other hand, traditional Mayan religion was hierarchically organized such that they were accorded the duties of praying as well as offering sacrifices on behalf of the local groups, lineages, and the community (Yaeger 922). Therefore, the organization of the religious functionaries would also shape the political organization as the highest priests were the most powerful and lived in the courts. In a nutshell, the Mayan civilization was embedded hierarchy that extended from the family organization to political and religious organization.

The kinship accorded the most powerful on the highest family ranks with respect, and this would be translated into the political system where the aristocrats were the ruling class. The same hierarchical organization would be reflected in the society's religious institutions where the highest priests were the most powerful.