|
Why was nature so important to the Mayas?
|
The Mayan
ancestors didn't have radios or cars. There weren't convenience
stores or supermarkets to buy food at, or other stores where they
sold rubber boots or t-shirts. Nor were there hardware stores where
they could buy cement blocks or metal to build houses. Everything
they needed they got from nature:firewood to cook, fruit to eat,
cotton to weave, and leather to make sandals.
|
|
That's
why all of nature was so important to the Mayas. And we can see
this in almost every aspect of Mayan culture. The high pyramids
in which they built their temples looked like mountains and in their
carvings we can see plants and animals. Also, they believed that
an enormous Ceiba or Silk Cotton tree was at the centre of the universe,
and some of the gods got their names from animals! So you see, nature
was all around them...
|
|
|
|
| |
What kinds of animals did the Mayas know?
|
|
The
Mayas kept dogs as pets that would help them to hunt. Also, they raised
a kind of dog that couldn't bark and had no hair that they just used
as food. They had ducks, but no hens. In the jungle, they hunted jaguars,
agoutis (small nocturnal animals), and deer. They captured birds with
colourful plumages, like parrots and quetzals, and they used the feathers
to decorate their clothes and headdresses.
|
|
Many
of the animals that the Mayas knew don't live in the Copán
valley anymore, because unfortunately there isn't enough forest
left for them to live in.
|
|
| |
Why were many
animals sacred?
|
Animals
were very important to the Mayas. They hunted animals to eat, but
they never killed an animal without a good reason. They believed
that every god was represented by an animal on earth. They named
these sacred animals ‘nahuals. One very important nahual
is the jaguar, which represented the sun god.
|
|
|
|
Actually,
every animal has a special significance. The frog is a symbol of
fertility. The snake is related to the skies. And the two-headed
snake, found in a lot of Mayan art, is a symbol of power. The rabbit
was the master of writers, and the monkey was the master of mathematicians.
|
|
|
| |
|
How did they plant crops? Did they burn their land?
|
|
Every
family had a yard where they would grow some crops, but there were
also communal fields where everyone helped to plant and harvest.
The Mayas from back then cultivated the land both similarly and
differently from how it is done today. They didn't have any kind
of metal, so they didn't have machetes, or plows, or draught animals
to help them cultivate. Many more years would pass before the Spanish
brought cows, oxen, and horses, so the Mayas just had tools made
of stone and wood to work with. They used measuring sticks and hoes
very similar to what many people still use in agriculture today.
|
|
Yes,
the Mayas did burn their land because it's the easiest way to
clean it, or prepare it for the next crop. Also, the ashes from
the trees and plants is good fertilizer for the next crop. The
problem is that burning can only be done every 2 or 3 years because
it also destroys the nutrients in the earth and doesn't leave
any for the new crops. After this burning, the land isn't good
for a while. So every 2 or 3 years, the Mayas also had to cut
down another part of their forest to create new fields. We now
know that burning the land pollutes the air and can cause uncontrollable
fires. So we need to avoid burning the land!
|
 |
|
| |
|
Why are the Mayas called “"people of the corn"?
|
The
‘Popol Vuh is an ancient text so important to the Mayas that
it's like the Bible for many people today. According to the Popol
Vuh, humans were created this way:
In the beginning, there wasn't anything, only darkness. The Maya
gods decided to create the earth. First they created land and water.
But there was no life, no movement, and no creatures to give thanks
to them. So they created animals. But when they asked the animals
to open their mouths to talk to their creators, the animals only
squealed and shouted.
|
|
|
|
|
So the gods decided to create humans. The first human, a man, they
created from clay. But the poor guy didn't have sight, or a voice,
and he soon began to fall apart. So they tried again and made a man
from wood. This man could talk, but he didn't have a soul or reason
and he would forget to thank his creators. The gods thought about
it one more time and decided to create a man from white and yellow
cornmeal. This time, their creation was a success. The man walked,
talked, and really thanked the gods for making him. And so this is
why the Mayas are still known as "people of the corn".
|
|
| |
What was their
most important food?
|
|
|
Corn was
the most important food for the Mayas. Same for Hondurans today! They
made ‘tamales, a type of hot drink called atole
, and for sure they loved corn on the cob. In Copán, they didn't
have tortillas. Do you know why we know this? Because in the
valley we've never found comales, the flat pans Hondurans make
tortillas on today.
The Mayas thought corn was a sacred plant, not only because it was
their everyday food, but also because they believed that they themselves
had been created from yellow and white corn, as the Popol Vuh says.
They also related the corn lifecycle with their lifecycle: the plant
is born in the seed, grows and gives fruit, until it dies, and then
the cycle starts again with another plant that is born from the seed
of the dead plant. Corn was so important that even the gods helped
to plant and harvest it. |
In addition to corn,
the Mayas grew peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins or squash, yams, cassava,
and beans. They also ate avocados, cilantro, a medicinal plant
called ‘apazote and lots of fruits that they found
in the forest, like mangos, papayas, and guavas. Mayans didnt
eat much meat, but once in a while they hunted deer to eat. At
their houses, they kept ducks, and a species of dog that had no
hair and didn’'t bark. These dogs weren't pets, they were
raised for eating! Also the Mayans ate fish from the river, cassava
root, and honey from bees.
|
|
|
| |
|
What types
of foods didn't the Mayas eat?
|
There
a lot of foods that are common now in Copán that didn't exist
at the time of the ancient Maya. For example, coffee is now one
of the most important crops in the region and a lot of people drink
it, but it was introduced many years after the Mayas left Copán.
The Mayas also didn't know rice or wheat. There weren't any cows,
so the Mayas from back then didn't eat beef or drink milk. And because
they didn't have hens, they also didn't know the joy of eating fried
chicken! Other things that Mayas didn't eat or know about: chips,
sodas/pop, watermelon, oranges, mandarins, candy, instant soup,
or ice-cream. The poor ancient Mayas!
|
|
|
| |
|
Did you know that...
|
|
Many of the Spanish names
of fruits and vegetables that are used today come from Maya or other
indigenous languages, like tomate (tomato), ayote (pumpkin/squash),
chocolate, achote (a kind of spice), and aguacate (avocado). |
|
The
Mayas planted different types of corn, including blue corn. Can
you imagine a blue tortilla!?
|
|
| |
The Mayas
believed that if a man died a warrior, his soul turned into a butterfly. |
|
| |
