The Religion of the Mayans and the Spanish - Essay Example

Jerry Ciacho March 17, The Religion of the Mayans and the Spanish The Mayan and the Spanish civilizations are extremely distinct societies. Vastly due to their distance from each other, their cultures have grown and developed separately. Located in the Americas, the Mayans have created and thrived in such society that was later only discovered in the 1400s to the 1800s. Approximately during this time, the Europeans began to explore what was to them, a newfangled empire. This empire’s culture was very different from what they have previously known back in Europe. Religion was an example. Spain has long been predominantly Roman Catholic, making up more than seventy five percent that make up the population. Roman Catholicism is a monotheistic religion, believing that there is only one God. This God is an omniscient almighty being, capable of creating matter and energy. He is also beneficent, only disposed to what is good. However, the Mayan religion perceives and believes in an unspoiled measure of non-fluctuating good in the world. It is characterized by worshipping the numerous gods of nature itself. Thus, they were polytheistic. Worshipping these gods was an imperative part of their everyday life. Some of the major gods they worshipped were the gods of the sun, the rain and maize, or corn. According to their belief, without these gods to provide them crops to eat, they will all perish and die. The Spanish along with other Europeans based some of their teachings on the Bible, the holy text of the Roman Catholic Church. The Mayans, like the Spanish, had written records and texts. The rules written in these texts were to be maintained strictly, as it is also maintained in Catholicism. Because the Mayans were a highly advanced and complex civilization, their texts were inscribed using a hieroglyphic language. A large number of these texts were written in codex; a block divided into leaves, hence a book. However the Mayans, unlike the Spanish, did not consider these texts to be sacred or holy. For them, these were merely a written record of ritual practices, rules, history, etc. Perhaps their most important and popular text of all is the Popol Vuh. Its most well-defined and pronounced features included its myth of creation, its deluge myth implication, its epics of the Hero Twins, and its lineages. However, throughout the Spanish conquest, Mayan art, music, and literature was viciously damaged and majority of the Mayan written records were burned down. The stories contained in the Popol Vuh had to be carried on orally. It was later written again. Catholicism and the Mayan religion also had their system of hierarchy, an organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority. The Mayan people were classified into social classes. The first level was composed of the nobility. Second was the priesthood. Like the Spanish, the Mayan priests served as mediators between the people and the gods. Also, the Priests were usually male. However, the Mayan priests were more involved in the people’s everyday lives than the priests in Roman Catholicism. The Mayan priests determined almost every aspect of the people’s lives. The priests made most decisions such as when to plant and harvest the crops, when to wed, and who to use as sacrifice to the gods. Below the priesthood were the common people and below the common people, the slaves. The Spanish also has their hierarchic system. The pope heads the Church’s hierarchy. Below him are bishops. In religious practices and rituals, the Spanish Catholicism and the Mayan animism have a number of similarities. Both have elaborate ceremonies. The Mayans performed numerous ceremonies to prevent the demons, beasts and gods from coming out of the Underworld or Otherworld, where they belonged to the Earth. Both also practice fasting, penance, burning incense in worship and the offering of sacrifices. Throughout particular religious rituals, priests dressed to appear like jaguars. They put on frightening masks as they confronted the residents of the Underworld, sometimes called the Place of Awe. They wore these masks because they wanted to present themselves as equivalently terrifying and formidable. In addition, looking at yourself in front of a mirror was considered a courageous act of bravery. The Mayans thought that the monsters and beasts who lived in the Place of Awe could extend through the mirror, and snatch you into the Underworld.    In Catholicism, offerings and sacrifices include tithes, donations, prayers, etc. In Mayan civilization, it included cigars, maize or corn and cacao drinks, rubber figures, flowers and sometimes, human sacrifices. In fact, human sacrifice was perhaps a significant Mayan religious custom. The Mayans believed that offering humans encourage fertility, show devotion, and appease the gods. Human blood was said to be a way to nourish some Mayan gods and if failed to do so, turmoil and universal disarray would follow. Other Mayan religious rituals were comprised of dancing, ball games in the ball courts they built, and dramatic performances. Truly, the Spanish and the Mayans were very distinct from one another in many ways. Nonetheless, a few of their beliefs were similar. Both believe the world was separated into three different realms namely the Earth, Heaven and the Underworld, the place where the dead souls lived. The afterlife was a common belief. Mayan religion, indeed was much more complex and intricate than the mere veneration of nature gods. As these two worlds later connect as the Spaniards set foot on the shores of Mesoamerica in the early 1500s, both cultures inevitably associated with one another, and thus exchanged ideas, technology and culture. This included religion as well. The Mayan religion in one way did merge and amalgamate with Catholicism. The Spanish Crown ruled the “New World” by eradicating the timeworn native ruling-priest social order and integrated themselves in their place. Agreement to the Church rules, principles and the different rituals and religious customs and traditions was strictly implemented. This collision of two very different groups of people with different backgrounds, different beliefs and different traditions and culture established the stage for the religious syncretism that materialized in the Mayan society. It continues to be a fundamental part of that society today. As the Spanish slowly occupied the area, they continued to impose their culture on the Mayans. Few natives were able to speak Spanish. Equally, only a few Spanish priests were able to speak the native language of the Mayans. The Catholic Church did not encourage them to do so. The Spanish priesthood and the congregation could not even speak with each another. As time continued to fly, not much effort went into bettering the communication between the Spanish and the Mayan locals. The Vatican believed that if the native people acted as though they were Catholic and performed all the rituals and practices the Catholic people did, then they were Catholic. In reality, the indigenous people did not fully understand and comprehend what the Catholics were trying to teach them because of the lack of communication and the little effort made. Up to this very day, the Mayans have only a slight genuine understanding of the Catholic faith. The Mayans still basically remain to be pagans under a thin layer of Catholicism. Possibly the most discernible inheritance of Catholic dominion has, paradoxically, progressed into the most distinctive Mayan characteristic. This is their magnificent and exceptional custom of weaving. For periods of time, the Catholic Church imposed a stringent dress code. The residents of any village were entailed to weave and wear a certain style of dressing distinct to that village. Mayans still wear attires specific to their village today. Further practices that stemmed from the unification of ancient Mayan and Catholic cultures include the erection of churches and cathedrals near the sites of ancient shrines and temples, the ceremonial use of a fermented drink in religious practices and public worship. Very minimal effort was exerted to extend the hearts and minds of the indigenous under the rule of the Catholics. The result evidently is that these cultures that were under Spanish rule, like the Mayans, were Catholic only in name. Works Cited Early, John D.. The Maya and Catholicism: An Encounter of Worldviews. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2006. Print. Cook, Guillermo. Crosscurrents in Indigenous Spirituality: Interface of Maya, Catholic, and Protestant Worldviews. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997. Print. Read More