Mayan Mythology

The Mayan people were exceedingly religious. They erected a great number of pyramid and square temples which were brightly painted with pictures of gods, warriors, and high officials. All Mayan celebration and in fact almost every aspect of life was connected with religion. Mayan festivals were based on agriculture and the abundance of it, and the seasons.

Little is actually known of their celebrations, but what is known is that there were 18 months in the Mayan calendar and each of these months had it’s ceremonies. Fasting was a common preparation for these ceremonies which usually included large feasts, heavy drinking and sometimes orgies.
According to what we know of Mayan myth, in the beginning after the gods were formed (which is unknown how they were formed), there was only sky and water.

Two of the gods typically named Quetzalcoatl and Tohil, took Hungry Woman and tossed her down upon the ocean. Then they each took hold of an arm and leg, stretching her until the Earth was formed. Since these gods had treated Hungry Woman so roughly, they gave her the right to a type of human sacrifice, the right to eat the dead when they were buried within her.

Then the Dieites decided that they needed creatures who could talk to them by prayer and ritual so they created three races of beings before they finally managed to form humankind. The first race was the ancestors of the animals of today which were unsatisfactory to the Gods because they could only talk through noise. The second race was made of mud and also proved unsatisfactory. The third time the deities formed creatures out of wood, but this too was troublesome.

Although these wood creatures could multiply they had blank minds and no knowledge or care for their creators. Lastly, humanity was created to the delight of the gods. Here was the race of creatures that could learn and were willing and able to communicate with the deities.