Chac the Rain God

The Maya past and present

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Location

The Maya civilization

covered a vast region that
today is southern Mexico
[Chiapas, Yucatan],
Guatemala, and Belize,
along with the western
area of Honduras and El
Salvador.
 Political organization
Unlike the Aztecs, the Maya had no one king or
emperor.

The region was organized into as many as 20 different

politically sovereign states, each with its own leader and
noble class.

These states were organized around ceremonial centers,

which were surrounded by smaller cities and farm villages.
Origins
Maya presence in
Mesoamerica dates
back to around
2600 BC [or BCE—
Before the
Common Era] in
the region now
known as the
Yucatán.
The
civilization
rose to
prominence
around 250
AD [CE]
 Creation and religion
As you read in the version of the Popol Vuh, the creation of the cosmos
and the earth took place through numerous cycles of formation and
destruction.
Hunab Ku was the creator of the cosmos, and the Old Woman
Goddess [god of death and destruction] held the bowl from which the
deluges that occasioned each cycle of destruction came.
The Hero Twins [Hunapu and Xbalanque] entered Xibalba [the
underworld] and then returned, having outsmarted the 9 lords of
death. They were reborn as the sun and as Venus. From here stems
the belief that the sun returns each morning from the underworld.

From the Hero Twins too comes the belief that rebirth is only possible
through sacrifice [they were burnt and decapitated], and the Mayas
did practice human sacrifice.

http://www.mythweb.com/teachers/why/other/hero_twins.html
In the Chilam Balam de Chumayel, a book of sacred stories, Chaac, god of thunder and rain, was the
first to make corn available for consumption to all mankind.

According to these legends, in the beginning, all corn was white, but a lightening bolt which one of the
gods hurled upon the rock to break it burned, smoked or singed some of the grains.

That is why there are now black, yellow and red varieties of the grain.

In addition, the Popol Vuh tells us that from a mixture of white and yellow grains the current human race
was formed.
It is generally believed that the ancient Maya culture began
around 300 CE as an offshoot of the Olmec civilization.

There is evidence of contact and trading between the Mayas of this time
period and the inhabitants of Teotihuacan.
 Periods of Mayan
History
Mayan history is divided into three epochs or eras, each with
distinct characteristics.

The earliest is the Pre-Classic [2000 BCE - 250 CE]

The city of Copán in

Honduras was started [the
photos is the 3rd of three
cities built on the same
spot; the other 2 are buried
beneath]
Mayan languages spread throughout Mesoamerica: today
there are 31 different languages, not dialects.

Agrarian villages sprung up, the rudiments of the writing system began.
Major pyramids were built at El Mirador, in Guatemala
The Classic period [250-900 CE]
This was the Golden Age in terms of architecture, culture, trade and
population.

Tikal, in
Guatemala,
was the first
great Maya
city, with
50,000
inhabitants.
The writing system became codified. With
800 pictographic and syllabic glyphs, the
Maya chiseled into stone and wrote on bark
pages their knowledge of medicine, The Spaniards
astronomy, religion and history. destroyed all but 4 of
these texts because
they were considered
pagan.
 Stellae

Mark historical events,

especially the reign of one
of the rulers.
The classic period saw the construction of the
most elaborate Maya centers: Tikal, Chichén
Itzá y Uxmál [Yucatán] Palenque [México].
 But all was not well
within the kingdoms

Between 900-1200 AD, the large ceremonial cities

were abandoned, leading to 100s of History and
Discovery Channels programs on ....

THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF THE

MAYANS!!!!!
There are a number of theories as to why the Maya left
the cities--increased warfare between the kingdoms,
severe drought, a damaged ecosystem due to
overpopulation [8-10,000,000].

The physical demands placed on the people by the

nobility and the priests would also have taken their toll.
Human sacrifices did take place, although more prevalent
were blood sacrifices by means of sharp instruments like
stingray spines or self-inflicted mutilation.

The demands by a new ruler for an entirely new city built

upon the city ruled by a predecessor would have exhausted
the inhabitants.
http://www.papacweb.org/k
Around 1000 CE the population increased in what is
now Mexico, in the Yucatán and Chiapas regions.
 Scientific
achievements
By the late Preclassic
period, the Maya had
developed an extremely
complex mathematical
system.
They were the first to
develop a concept of the
zero.
Their advanced mathematical knowledge enabled them to
develop a complex calendar system.

They actually had 3 separate calendars:

a 365-day solar year calendar [haab]--18
months of 20 days, plus 5 unlucky days
a 260-day ritual year calendar [tzolkin]--this was a long
cycle of days and guided religious practices

a world-time calendar of 5128 years, known as the Long

Count. This fixed the point in time when the world began
[3114 BCE] along with the point in time when it would
end:
21 December, 2012.

Despite what you may have heard, this is NOT the end
of the world, however, but rather the end of a cycle.
A typical Mayan date looks like this:

12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz.

12.18.16.2.6 is the Long Count date.
3 Cimi is the Tzolk'in date.
4 Zotz is the Haab date.
 CHAC

Is the god of rain and lightening,

and was one of the more
benevolent gods in the pantheon
[all gods were seen to have a
positive and negative side]

He is said to be the oldest

continuously worshiped
god in Mesoamerica;
prayers are still offered to
him today in times of
drought.
Chac had 4
manifestations
which
corresponded to Every direction had a
the 4 cardinal corresponding color
directions, a major associated with it.
aspect of the Maya
belief system.

The 4 directions, plus a 5th representing the

center were: north/white, south/yellow,
east/red, west/black, and center which was
associated with the tree of life, symbolized by a
great ceiba tree that was the center of the
cosmos
The contemporary, or “living” Maya:

There are more than 10,000,000 people today in

Mesoamerica who are direct descendents of the
Maya, and who continue to speak the languages and
practice many of the customs of their ancestors.
Neither past nor
present Maya can
be considered one
culture nor one
linguistic group.

The differences
between the
languages can
be enormous,
and the groups
may be unable
to understand
one another.
Tonight’s film is primarily in Tzotzil, which is
spoken in Chiapas

According to a
2005 census, there are 329,937 speakers of Tzotzil in Mexico, making it the 6th most spoken indigenous
Clothing styles and colors, along with hair styles and
headwear, establish origins amongst the Maya, along
with civil status and social positions.
The women have maintained the traditional style of
dress more than the men have, although many of
them still dress as their ancestors did.
Lacandones
The Lacandones are a unique group of Maya.
They are one of the most isolated and culturally
conservative groups in Mexico, living in Chiapas near the
Guatemalan border.

They number around 1000 people[ in Mexico],

after nearly disappearing in the 1940s.
These are
agricultural
communities,
and corn is a
staple.
Synchretic religious practices: most of these
communities were Christianized years ago by
Catholic priests and missionaries.

Fundamentalist Protestant missionaries

gained inroads among many Maya
communities.

Yet some indigenous beliefs and practices

remain.
Cemetery
structures and
colors are set
in accordance
to the cardinal
directions and
their
corresponding
colors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgYyO8JM7I
Housing and clothing

Many aspects of life remain much as they did—simple

wooden homes made of small logs with a thatched roof,
no electricity or running water. Everything was
handmade.

Times are changing and modernity has encroached.

Many Maya now live in concrete homes with
electricity, running water, etc.
 About tonight’s film:
Made in 1973 in the village of Tenejapa

Very low budget [the director apologizes for the quality of the
comet] [as well he should! He ran out of money….]

Non-professional actors—they’d never SEEN a movie, let

alone acted before!

Despite great critical acclaim, the film never got a distributor

and was set aside for about 30 years before being digitized
and redistributed.

The shaman in the film is the real shaman of the village.

The glyphs that introduce each of the 9 days represent the 9

lords of the underworld defeated by the Twins
What to watch for:

The boy vs. the men in the village; the boy in

relationship to the diviner

indications as to the film’s time setting

the roles of men, women and children in the village

what do the roles of the shaman, the diviner and the boy
indicate about the Maya and their future?