Maya Religion Explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ค. 2024
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Could you do the Olmecs next?
Brother please make videos on Hindu gods and mythological characters
13:48 18x20=360 (a superior highly composite number belonging to a class which is supposed to be the most conveniently divisible class of #'s proportionally).
So 360 is a nice number. 3600 is seconds in an hour. 144 is 36x4=144. 144 is 12x12.
pos video
Met a Maya tour guide in Cozumel as a teenager. I remember his very pragmatic idea about religion saying "my ancestors were farmers so they prayed for rain, I'm a tour guide I pray for tourists. Both are prayers that our family will be fed."
❤
Very silly. The only thing someone should pray to is Christ because he’s the only real God.
@@user-on3zi9fo2g😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@user-on3zi9fo2gtlasolli chipawak temikitiketl moteco 😂 tiwiwi xinolah
@@user-on3zi9fo2g hahah yes... very silly he says. While he prays to a dead man
Vaguely related, but you may find this interesting about the Maya. I grew up in rural central Florida and the elementary school I attended as a child had an orange grove behind it. Native artifacts were found in the soil of the farm and archeology was conducted. Among the artifacts collected were what appear to be Mayan-made goods, which really shows how extensive the Mayan trade networks were.
That's amazing, we might never know what extension really had their trading network.
Miami or MAYAmi :) I was told that is the origin of the city's name
@@quetzal-colibri9617 YESSSSSSSS🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
That would have been right before the bronze age collapse.
It was the only other time in history , besides now, where trade was international
Makes sense Mayan goods were found in florida. It matches up with the time
@@mickj9203 Why would the Bronze Age Collapse affect the Mayans? The Mayan were on the American continent (Central America south of Florida) which remained uncontacted with the Old World of the Bronze Age civilizations. Also international trade during the Bronze Age was centered around the Middle East to Europe. It's not really global.
Not gonna lie.. the world's changed A LOT since 2012. It feels more like 20 years ago rather than 10.. I think some part of the world did come to an end.
I’ve been saying the same thing
It’s true! We shift in a way
The maya didn’t predict the end of the world, 2012 actually was the end of the time period.
Chivalry in the world came to an end.
I feel the same way
I am a Mayan, born in the U.S. and raised in NYC; I am also a practicing Guatemalan Shaman, and I find this video to be probably one of the best and straightforward explanations ever created on our religion and people. Amazing work, thank you for clarifying so much!
If you’re born in the us, how are you a Guatemalan shaman? Doesn’t that make you an American shaman?
@@m0m065 I'm assuming "Guatemalan" here refers to the type of shamanism practiced. As in "a shaman from the religion/spiritualism within Guatamala"
Be proud of your heritage.
Im sure you're mestizo mixed with European
@@crotalusatrox7931 proud to be of what heritage..?
Proud to be offering human sacrifice for their impersonal supernatural being called God...?
I was once very lucky to attend a Q'eqchi' Maya ceremony in Salama, Guatemala. They wore masks of jaguars and quetzals, danced and sang, and recited lines in Q'eqchi'. I'm not sure if I've ever experienced anything that felt as... *ancient.* It really did feel connected to the roots of creation through a direct line of tradition. Just hypnotic and beautiful
That's awesome. I spent four years in Coban, but only saw a few cultural ceramonies from a distance.
I always wondered why jaguars? There aren't jaguars in Mexico ???
@@rp70113 yes in fact there are jaguars in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala to this day, although they are much rarer now. Their range once extended along the gulf coast as far as Florida
@Jennifer D'Ambrosio doubtful
@Jennifer D'Ambrosio I did. It's not for me. Thanks.
Saying the Maya people disappeared is like saying Roman culture disappeared. The various cultures changed over time.
But the thing is a lot of the time, people talk about the Maya like they were absorbed into another ethnicity, like how Etruscans were absorbed into the Romans. Rather than a a living breathing separate ethnicity, which they are heck if I'm not mistaken, aren't Maya the largest indigenous ethnicities in Central America?
When I tell my friends I study Maya language, the first question is, do they still exist...
@@ANTSEMUT1 yes, when all the different Maya peoples are counted they are by far the largest distinct indigenous communities. For example, although Quechua (Incan) is the largest spoken Native American language, the Mayan language family has millions of speakers
@@gustavovillegas5909 i thought so.
Both cultures don't exist like they did so yeah
As a student of anthropology of the Americas that focuses on the Maya I am really happy about this video because unlike most non-academic content on the Maya it is neither racist, afrocentrist, sensationalist or "aliens".
Thank you so much Religion for Breakfast I greatly appreciate this and all of your other videos!
I'm curious, what does Afrocentrism in Maya studies look like?
@@Salsmachev Oh and of course the Olmec collosal heads are seen as "evidence" that the people of the region were from Africa.
@@8ahau279 Wow that's pretty wild, I'd never heard that conspiracy theory before!
@@Salsmachev it looks like a bunch of USA culture vultures! There is absolutely NO scientific proof to their culture vultures BS! NONE!! Pathetic wannabe interlopers intrusive menacing culture vultures, that's what it looks like!
Do you know the Maya are Modern Negros in North America? Central America?
FINALLY IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE SINCE THE AZTEC RELIGION VIDEO 😭😭 THANK YOU
My production cycle takes 13 bak'tuns between videos.
@@ReligionForBreakfast can you do on Hinduism because it has various school of thoughts which contradict yet respect each other and is the first of the dharmic religions.
@@khosrowanushirwan7591 The Hinduism video will take a Brahma year to be made
@@ulti-mantis correct 💯💯
@@khosrowanushirwan7591 Let's Talk Religion has done some good academic Hinduism content while you wait.
Your adherence to scholarly accuracy, for example, ensuring that you show classical era Maya ruins and not the ruins from another era, is infectious. Fantastaic! Never regretted subscribing to this channel.
Maya sacrifice is actually similar to the Roman Triumph, which ended with the ritual strangling of enemy nobility/rulers
Brutal
Bloodletting through body piercing of the elite was just as important as sacrifices. The Feather Wars were wars between waring states in one state has already been declared the winner and the other state the loser. The losing state offered a fixed number of soldiers to be offered to sacrifice. The Azteca took this to another level.
When he mentioned the King of Copán, I immediately thought of Vercingetorix, lol
No, there is no parallel. Nice trying to twist facts though.
@@wednesdayschild3627 there is a clear one
This was incredibly well done! Bravo! It's clear that you put a lot of work into this and the end result is amazing. Thank you.
Cool channel man
We also love your channel!
Love your channel! Glad to see you commenting on this!
It's always fun to see how channels I'm subscribed to actually watch each other!
AA / Religion 4 Bfast colab
Back in '73, in an anthro class, I learned that while Maya today are mostly Catholic, on their household altars they generally place clocks because of the importance of measuring time to their spirituality.
Much respect for your Mayan pronunciation Profe. Many Caribbean, Central and South American indigenous languages can be very difficult to learn. Even being an Indigenous person, I was raised speaking Spanish and English and it takes a lot of time to learn how to correctly pronounce even the simplest of phrases. So I really appreciate the time I know it must have taken to record this video with respect and dedication.
I have no idea if the pronunciations were accurate (indeed, it's probably impossible for ANYone to know), but I did appreciate how you pronounced them confidently and without faltering.
@@gejyspa Its not impossible to know if the pronunciations were correct. Just ask any of the millions of Mayan speaking peoples who live all over the world
@@RafaBustamanteSarria pronunciations change over time, though, and very quickly. English, as a trivial exanple, had a great vowel shift a mere 600 years ago or so, affecting tens of thousands of words. Sounds in Hebrew drifted into several different varieties, and it's not clear what the "original" might be except by educated guesses. Heck, even in the US today, there are many different regional accents. So, no, in the absence of sounds recordings, or at least transliterations into multiple different other languages, all we have is educated guesses. Phonemic drift off a real thing
@@gejyspa but these Mayan religions are still practiced today. Sure pronunciation can change over time but, for example it’s possible the pronunciation of the name of Hindu deity Krishna has slightly changed over the last thousand years, but I highly doubt it’s unrecognizable to how it sounded originally.
Tene' Maaya'en (I am Maya) /Yucatec Maya from Belize . The Maya continue practicing the Maya Spirituality . The Yuumtsilo'ob (Maya Gods) . You should do a video of the Maya religion known as Cruzo'ob Maya between the Maya Yucatec . Has its prophet Juan de la Cruz Puc ,Holy Book Santo A'almaj T'aan and had a Maya nation Noj Kaj Santa Cruz (1850-1901) . We continue practicing it . Enjoyed the video by the way .
Very cool!
Please! Keep it alive! We’ve lost so much of the past
Keep the tradition alive ❤️ that's absolutely awesome and inspiring
Bish a bel (sorry for my spelling)
@@anapatriciaruizbeltran9822 jach ma'alob , kuxtun teech ?
Religion For Breakfast provides the best introduction to religious thought and belief than any other channel I have found on TH-cam. This episode is another example of the in depth study that one finds while watching this channel. The episode on the Maya shows that religion, like any other social idea (politics, economics, etc.) changes as the needs of the culture evolve. This is the core lesson that I have learned through my own studies.
No just like everyone else he has no understanding of religion as anything other than his own superstition. He is just another cattle person pretending to know anything at all
You should also check out “Let’s Talk Religion”. Another great and insightful channel about theological topics 👍
@@Keebrev already do. Another channel.
A lotta these themes are very reminiscent of West Asian and Mediterranean polytheism. I wonder if there's something about agricultural civilizations that encourage the development of polytheism as opposed to nomadic pastoralism or hunting and gathering
The cult of the god of maize also reminded me of the cult of Dyonisos in Greece. Excellent video btw!!
Mayan beliefs in deities changed overtime. When they were hunters and gathering people they worshipped the serpent which symbolized abundance, later on, Mayas changed to the Jaguar on the transition from hunters to agricultural era.
It's more a matter of monotheism (or, rarely, "god by committee") being a weird thing that pops up once in a while in a previously polytheistic culture. Polytheism is the natural state of religious belief; it gives intentionality to otherwise baffling things in nature, and we humans are, if nothing else, pretty good at figuring out who did what and why. It's sort of how we keep our little societies running. And we're pretty good at doing the same thing even when there no real "who" or "why" involved. On _very_ rare occasions, somebody will come up with the idea that it's _all_ one guy's fault, and that's how you get monotheism.
I read in an academic paper that polytheism arises in some agricultural civilizations as a reflection of the multiple forces that act upon the land which attribute to a successful/unsuccesful harvest. That's another reason why many hunter-gatherer and foraging societies have more animistic (animism) beliefs. Facts may very, so take what I say with a grain of salt, I'm not an expert!
@@anthonylezama1645 It makes sense to me. Local conditions and needs influence the kind of religious beliefs that arise. After all, it seems to be a common feature of the emergence of monotheism that someone wants to bring about a strong organised unified state under one ruler ... and why the monotheism usually deals robustly with the former beliefs.
I am glad to be a patron and help make these possible.
as a person from Guatemala, I feel deeply satisfied for the "classic" specification
As a Guatemalan (who isn't from Maya culture) this video feels AMAZING, and maybe it helps to make Maya people get more importance than they already do.
Thank you!
I’m blessed to be half Guatemalan with a Mayan last name and I’m so happy my dad taught us so much about Mayan culture/history and how great our ancestors were growing up. Truly an honor to be descendant of such an intelligent amazing civilization. I’m studying to become an astrophysicist because of their connection with the stars and planets. They were stargazers and naturally born astronomers !
@@Jessknowsbestt that’s so cool 🥹
Re: glottal stops
If you place your finger just above your Adams apple, and say 'uh-oh!' like a cartoon child in trouble, you can feel what a glottal stop is like, right between the uh and oh. It helped me tremendously to learn to replicate a glottal stop.
I still can't start a word with one, which some languages do, and it blows my mind.
Incredible video as always, I love your content!
I’ve been trying to do a glottal stop for years and thanks to your advice I got it in a few seconds. Great tip; thank you!
@@StandardChunk I was in the same boat! Tried for *years* and found a random TH-cam that mentioned it. If I could remember which video it was, I would've linked/credited. But it's an amazing tip!
Like saying button like a very brittish person, bu'on
@@imyourmaster77 exactly!
the apostrophe in Mayan orthography indicates aspiration (eg, k and k' are two different k sounds in Mayan; k' is not a k followed by a glottal stop, but rather a k pronounced with a puff of air), the ' is not a glottal stop.
Thank you for this! I’ve been waiting for something like this ever since your Aztec video. I’m from El Salvador so I wanted to know more
Edit: I almost cried when I saw pictures of Copán and Tikal. My parents took me to those places every other year or so when I was a child and I miss those places
This has been magical.
Everything has been lovely.
You deserve a lot of love.
Is there a video planned for contemporary maya religion? There's a lot of curious syncretism and preservation of old Mayan ideas within folk Catholicism. I went to the town of Chamula once in Chiapas, and it was interesting seeing how their cathedral was so steeped in precolombian imagery and ritual
Great idea, the modern maya religion is fascinating too.
That would be interesting. I grew up practicing Mayan/Catholic beliefs, it's interesting how it's been mixed together. I told my boyfriend that we would have a white Jesus candle burning in the kitchen while doing our cleansing rituals in the other room lol
By how you explained it, the Maya god/deity seems to be similar in description to how "yokai" in Japan are defined. They are natural phenomena associated to a creature or venerated as a god or local deity in some regions. Yokai is an umbrella term to classify beings or unexplained events with "something", and they have no direct translation equivalent.
Yokai is just the Japanese transliteration of Chinese yaoguai (妖怪) which literally means "strange weird" and is specifically used to designate evil supernatural beings. They are synonymous with Chinese mo (魔), which literally means demon. Yokai are not venerated as deities ever. What had happened in the past is that some divinities have been demoted to yokai status or some yokai are believed to have achieved enlightenment through study of Buddhist scriptures or other acts of piety/penance. Some deities in Suwa are examples of the former, older local gods that the imperial Kojiki demoted to demonhood, but they are rarely known. The more famous examples are of the latter variety - the three yaoguai who accompanied the Tang Monk in Journey to the West, but also Sun Wukong's adopted brother the Bull Demon King (牛魔王) and his son Red Boy (红孩儿). Both repented after being beaten up by Monkey and agreed to accumulate good karma to achieve godhood. It should be noted that the story itself ended with them still just starting the thousand-year process to attain godhood, so technically the Bull Demon King would have achieved godhood at the earliest around the late 17th century. The Korean Odyssey made fun of this technicality by having Bull Demon King still working on his karma collection well into the early 21st century (he wasn't that good at being good). Also, while the rest of his gang became buddhas or gods, Zhu Bajie kinda failed and we last saw him as an altar guardian hanging out in temples cleaning up expired offerings (well, he's a pig, so...) and seemingly still failing to accumulate good karma. The dragon-horse graduated from being a cursed yaoguai dragon to becoming a proper dragon with an official job posting. The point here is that they have to shed yaoguai status to earn divine status worthy of veneration.
So as you can see, yokai are slightly more down-to-earth regular demons with their own stories rather than some abstraction of nature. The stories are important as ALL yokai have literary background behind them. In the past yokai were created by bards and writers, but in the modern era some yokai are born out of urban legends. The more famous recent examples are Hachishaku-sama (the 8-foot woman) and the Kuchisake-onna (slit-mouth woman). While perhaps having more ancient roots, both were first attested to in Japanese urban legend of the 1960s. Yokai are still being born left and right thanks to Japanese urban legends and the internet, so the stable continues to grow.
With all that said, there is one specific type of Japanese yokai that may fit your description, and that is the tengu. Tengu are actually worshipped as minor deities in some places, but that is because the general lore is that tengu are ALWAYS in training to achieve enlightenment (like Red Boy). They actually have a special realm for themselves known as the Sixth Heaven, populated by creatures which are clearly demonic but sometimes (wrongly) venerated by the masses.
@@andrewsuryali8540 the ones I generalized as venerated as local gods were once gods or local deities but are not "god" like a kami but given respect for the element in nature such as the local river or a local sage/monk. Some were once gods or a monk according to their legends but became corrupt that cause misfortune or trouble for the town or that specific area like a pond or tree. They are associated to the urban legend of that region.
Yokai watch
i have always find their artwork a bit similiar with the japanese style
i dunno
The closest indigenous American analogue would probably be ‘Teotl’ as the professor mentioned; which can refer to gods (Teotihuacan meaning ‘place of the gods’) but also merely that which is unexplained - for example, if you were seized by inspiration or touched some kind of earthly enlightenment, that would be given a different prefix based off of the word for ‘heart’ so it was more of a blanket term for the inexplicable.
This is another fantastic, well researched and well presented video. Personally I'm very much a non-believer (atheist) but I find learning about different religions and cultures absolutely fascinating. And even though I'm not religious myself I find I have a weakness for the polytheistic faiths. They have so many interesting aspects to them. Such a shame that so much knowledge of this Maya religion has been lost. Like the proper names of their gods, and how ordinary people would have experienced this belief system.
There is a comment down there by Andy Chuc, a man of Maya ancestry, telling he belongs to a group that has conserved their religion. It's difficult to say how much of their practice is original after so many years, persecution and varied cultural influences, but one thing is historically clear: the Mayas didn't disappear, their ethnicity and culture are alive today in Guatemala and Mexico.
Human sacrifice bro
The good ending.
I am so glad I found your channel, I studied mesoamerican art and architecture in college as an art history class, but this was a much more well rounded exploration of the religion. Thank you for all your research and nuance.
Literally reading about Maya religion when the notification appeared! Your work really is fantastic and thorough. Really appreciate that you go out of your comfort zone in the Mediterranean to bring us under-represented and arguably more difficult to present (language and lack of first-hand accounts) material.
Such a nice video, and long awaited. I like that you talk about these practices neutrally. You just explain, and don't judge. I'm fed up with all the depiction of mesoamerican people as some kind of savages in western media. Thank you.
Love this! I never see academic info on the Maya publicly available in such an accessible way, awesome job :)
Amazing, I applaud you for your dedication, not just the video research and quality but the effort you put in pronouncing the words correctly.
Thank you so much for this careful and coherent summary. I really appreciate your myth busting and deep research.
Excellent video. I'm Guatemalan and I thank you for this great educational video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This video is pure gold! Very high quality content, similar to Esoterica's video on Maya religion. I gotta say that even me as a Mexican national, I grew up believing those nonsensical and racist myths about the Maya, which at the same time glorify their legacy to a ridiculous degree (like saying that their technological and mathematical advancements were so great for their time that they couldn't be human -of course meaning they're not white Europeans-, and thus had to be aliens) and also blatantly ignored their current presence (claiming they disappeared without a trace and therefore not an issue of concern in present-day politics).
Watching you learning the Mayan pronunciation at the en was a funny addition too.
The people that gave the world corn, turkey, rubber, tomatoes, potatoes, all sports, and chocolate, are treated like utter trash by the spanish and the rest of europe. those europeans are truly a compassionate people : P
@@krono5el All sports?
@@ericktellez7632 which ever uses a rubber ball or puck
@@krono5el what about boxing and martial arts?
@@ericktellez7632 idk, im sure people have been punching since forever.
For what it's worth: the "sacrifice scene" in Apocalypto is actually far more reminiscent of the Aztecs, who were decidedly more violent than the Maya. It is reported that in about 4 days, more than 80K people were sacrificed by the Azetcs. However, the movie drastically condensed the process for narrative purposes, as oftentimes the future sacrifices would be kept for up to a year, and dressed and fed in a special manner.
22:30 Ek balam! I was there a couple of months ago. Having arrived at the site when it first opened in the morning, I had the complete site all to myself for nearly 2 hours. It was amazing. Unlike Chichen Itza, Ek Balam (black jaguar) allows you to climb the structures, including the pyramid and the top of the Oval Palace. This will most likely change in the future (you used to be able to climb chichen itza also) so the experience is most likely a: limited time only thing. Highly recommended. Looking down from the top of the pyramid again, not a a soul in sight!) you get this really awing view of the oval palace, ball court, etc. -- all sounded by DENSE jungle.
Apocalipto is a TERRIBLE movie in terms of historical accuracy, it mixes periods, depicts the natives as only savages and greatly exagerates sacrifices to make it more gory than they already were. Also, the 80k thing is mostly a made up number, since the Mexica sacrifice was much more elaborate and they also took their time with their ceremonies. That number was pretty much invented by spanish friars to scare the king.
It's so great to have a TH-camr who's an academic with such great structure to their videos. And sources are always appreciated, yet often left out by other TH-camrs who talk about history and religion
Thank you for helping me with my religious literacy! I've always said that, if I ever do a dissertation, it will be about comparative religions and the cultures that grew out of them, and I've seen that you will be a major resource for that work because you've already done so much of the work.
Always a good day when there’s a new ReligionForBreakfast video 👍🏽
I've been to Cobá (pictured in the beginning); it's truly amazing. As you mentioned in the video, the Maya are very much still there--So much so that you won't hear Spanish spoken in that area unless it's to tourists. I'm surprised, though, that you didn't mention cenotes, which were grottos that were used for both water and religious sacrifices. They're very naturally beautiful places and you can still visit the ones that aren't currently in use.
Thanks for enjoying My beautiful country Guatemala 💜
Yes, I too have been to Coba many times and even got a tour by a resident Mayan who knows the area very well. I had read before in a book on the site that this man would on very rare occurrences select someone for a private tour.
The natural lakes around Coba with the Cenotes depicts the abundance of diversity of those underground rivers. Walked the ancient Sacbe said to travel through the jungle all the way to Tikal.
I think you did a great job, and I appreciate your hard work, mission of religious literacy, and transparency/honesty
Dude, for the great work that went into this WELL DONE! My undergrad was focused on the MesoAmerican region and there is so much to dive into it's all barely scratching the surface. Thank you for caring about cultural heritage and archaeology.
“The reuse of names by later (Maya) kings (of Palenque) is not random, but conforms to a reversed re-ordering. The overall king list suggests a closed system. We hesitate to think that Maya dynasties were predestined to end by themselves . .”
― David Stuart George Stuart,
Wonderful video as always, Dr. Henry! 🤩
To me, RFB is not just a TH-cam channel, but a body of high-quality, college-level scholarship, written in engaging ways.
Society would probably be much less unstable if more scholars could write about cultural diversity in terms that people outside of universities could understand. TH-camrs like you inspire me, and definitely many others, to do just that. Thank you so much! 🤗
Awesome video! I really appreciate your time and dedication in putting this video together. Keep up the amazing work!
So glad I found this channel! I have a huge interest in mythology & religions and your videos are really great, thank you for the work you do!
Really happy to see a video on Maya that is based on actual research made by scholars, thank you and greetings from Mexico!
Excellent video. Thank you for making this video and providing light in an often misunderstood subject. Greetings and a lot of appreciation from El Salvador, land of Joya de Ceren.
I greatly appreciate the time and effort put into this video, especially as it's not in your specific area of expertise. Thank you so much for your work, the emphasis on getting pronunciation down is *chef's kiss* 👍🏽
good video as always, I really appreciate the effort and the quality in every aspect
I’m Mexican and I really appreciate this video! Very well made, thank you.
I find the God L story fascinating as it has some parallels in the story of Inanna, which is supposed to be based on the Venusian orbital in front of and behind the sun.
Awesome video, very informative! Thank you for putting so much effort into this!
Thanks for making this amazing job, bro. YOU'RE THE BEST!!!
Thank you for this ❣️as Maya decent my self it means a lot to have our history shared with the world.
Some Stuff to add vikings would sacrifice people just like the Maya and Aztec. what kinda bums me out is that their is more hidden temples and pyramids in the Forrest under the ground. Our people have heard stories about our culture not being the oldest or first to inhabit Guatemala. also our lands extended well into Mexico and Belize before the conquistadors. the toltecs and olmecs are older than us and are responsible for teaching us how to do agriculture and stone building. fun fact is if you clap on the base of some of our mayan pyramids you will hear a Quetzalcoatl bird chirp response. In short Masters of sounds, sewers, earthquake proof building, lantern less lighting through architecture, bath houses and Jacuzzi. gardens and astronomy. Most of the plants and trees in Guatemala are just ancient gardens that have run amuck over the ages.
haha we are the olmec g they just separated us. Dont forget why our skin is dark and many of us have curly hair. we are the gods
@@rags2bags we ain't Afro and u ain't Native, get over it, Afros came with the white man on ships and that is very well documented!! Find the DNA, it ain't there, culture vultures!
I saw that where you clap and a different sound comes back that was so amazing there had to be someone incredibly smart way back then to figure that out I wonder who it was
@@rags2bags really? There are many people in Mexico today with the same features as those Olmecs and Toltecs carved in stone from ancient Mexico's past. I have seen them with my own eyes.
Another thing Apocalypto got wrong is, in using that sun eclipse as a means for the main character to escape. I almost laughed when I saw it.
The Maya rulers knew about solar eclipses, so, they would not have been afraid of such an event, because they would have known that it was going happen, beforehand. Silly Mel, next time, get off of your Aussie and do better research.
This is the most succinct, well researched, and to the point video on the Maya I have found. Well done!!
Thanks for a very condensed and accurate program!
Hey, perfect timing! My sister needs some info on Mayan religion for a school project, and this video was massively helpful. Thanks!
This was a really packed and detailed video! Now
I understand these aspects of Maya society better since they are little discussed in ordinary curricula here. Congratulations on making this long but gripping video!
This is fascinating! Thank you for being so detailed.
Honestly thank you for getting out of your comfort zone to help educate yourself and others.
Very cool! I’ve took an interest in the Maya since studying in college. I’ve personally gone to Palenque, Coba, Lamanai, Tulum, the ATM cave (where there are human remains and tons of left over pottery from ceremonies this site was known as Chialbalba (the underworld) to those in the region, Teo (not Mayan) and many other lesser sites.
I have tons of in-depth pictures I can share if you ever do another video!
So lucky ! I want to visit all of them I heard they’re breathtaking
Please post more videos about
-Tengrism
-Judaism origins and Torah/Talmud
-Polytheism and Monotheism
-Anthropomorphic gods
And Modern Day Paganism, that would be cool to see.
he did a whole series on origins of judaism and torah on the patheos channel: th-cam.com/play/PLRnXSS4SzUG66tF70EKGgzIV2B5-qnXmJ.html
for more details on the origins of specifically the torah and the rest of the bible i recommend this series on the useful charts channel: th-cam.com/play/PL5Ag9n-o0IZACF2h6ztqC1wxmeUug1rtD.html
Fantastic presentation as usual. Very much appreciate your hard work and channel.
Another awesome video Andrew. Thanks so much for posting this valuable content. I've been watching you since you had shaggy hair and background music. You've come along way since then but your videos have always been interesting and well done.
I'm guessing ritualized maya violence could be compared to like public executions and the sort in western medieval times? Love your videos btw, keep up the good work!
I was thinking about that, some sort of cleansing that God demands to be done or at least that's how it could have been perceived at the time.
There was this ritual in ancient greece where the most ill fated the "sickest" person in a village was forcibly exiled out in order to maintain the health for the rest of the village, it has a specific name maybe I'll find it in my old documents
I was really excited for this one after the Aztec one! Thank you for your hard work. I also liked the one you did on Mana. Do you have any intention of making a video in more depth of Polynesian religion and culture? Or perhaps one on ancient Malaysia, Indonesia, or the Philippines?
I definitely want to know about the pre-Islamic and pre-Hindu deities of Malaysia. There is scant evidence other than the ancestral knowledge of the elders of various indigenous tribes of Sabah and Sarawak.
I appreciate you showing your sources and people that taught you!
That was enlightening and very well presented. Thanks a lot!
Err... the part about human sacrifice not being done on a massive scale...
Apocalypto had the sacrifices take place atop temples, which the Mayan didn't do as much, but the Aztecs did. One of the places Mayans used for human sacrifice was the cenotes. These were sinkholes where the roofs of underground river caves would collapse in the middle of the jungle, producing lakes that came seemingly out of nowhere. The victims were covered in blue dye (called "Maya blue"), killed in a ritual, then tossed in the cenote. One cenote has a layer of blue pigment from so many victims, it was found to be 5 meters thick. 127 skeletons were found, along with pieces of pots and other offerings. 127 skeletons were preserved, but the cenote has water flowing in and out from underground. It's likely far more people whose remains weren't buried under the sediment completely decomposed. 127 skeletons wouldn't be enough for a 5 meter layer of pigment used on sacrifices. Also, that's just the pigment that settled. Who knows how much more got washed away by the flow of the underground water.
That's alot of people. And that's just one cenote.
It's hundreds a year rather than the 10's of thousands a year of the Aztecs performed ,so in a sense it isn't as large of a scale.
@@ANTSEMUT1
Hundreds a year at one location.
@@spiffyspifferson8434 even with that it would still pale in comparison to what the Aztecs commonly performed. 40,000 to 60,000 a year from the Aztecs wasn't uncommon.
@@ANTSEMUT1
I'm not telling you you're wrong. I'm saying we don't know how many people were sacrificed by the Mayans, because we haven't explored every location for human sacrifices they used. These locations are far older than the Aztecs' presence in the area of Mesoamerica. Even with the cenotes alone, we haven't been able to find them all, and we don't know which cenotes were and weren't used. They would also change which cenotes were used from time to time. Mayan shamans didn't agree with each other, or would change their minds as to which cenotes could be used for sacrifices, making the activity inconsistent.
The Aztecs had an empire that lasted a couple hundred years. Evidence for human sacrifice by the Mayans goes back to the mid 200s AD and lasted until the very end of the 1690s AD. Well over 1500 years. There were hidden places where the Mayans would take sacrificial victims' remains, even that recently, that we still haven't been able to find.
The Mayans had more time and likely more victims. The passage of time has probably done away with the evidence.
@@spiffyspifferson8434 oooh.
Thanks bro!! I appreciate the video and your work on this topic.
My great-grandmother was Quiche. She was born and raised in a small village in rural Guatemala before meeting my great-grandfather and moving to Guatemala City. My father still has ties to some of the people there but I've never been able to visit. Thank you for giving me information about my ancestors.
I'd desperately love to see you do videos on other indigenous Latin American religions, like those of the lesser known Muisca, and Taino people!
Do your own research
Hey Mr.ReligionForBreakfast, I get that you're are probably busy, but it would be awesome if you did a video on Modern Day Paganism, particularly Hellenism. If you do, then thanks, and even if you don't you still make really awesome videos and I hope that you have a great day!
He touches on this in his video of the druids
@@chendaforest Oh really? Nice, I'll have to check it out then. Thanks! :)
Thanks for this video! Hey you did a pretty good job with the glottal stops and ejective consonants 👍🏻
.really loved this , thank you for the effort and time you spent learning 💜
Im learning so much with this channel, lots of myth I believed are false hehe. Thank you for your videos!
The Maya regularly pierced their foreskins till they were heavily bleeding, the blood satisfied and nourished the gods. Also the heavy bleeding would make them lightheaded and have hallucinations, which they thought allowed them to and indeed they literally were communicating with the gods.
I thought only the the king's do that, it's only their blood that can be used?
@@Dee-jq2ob Yes, it was only the elites (this included kings, queens and generals), it’s also speculated that they used hallucinogenic mushrooms as small depictions appear of mushroom-like shapes in bloodletting stelae, and gods appearing out of smoke pillars
@@Dee-jq2ob yeah everyone else just pricked the thumb and dripped on paper to burn, and they also poured a bit of coco drink into the fire for their ancestors.
Days after Lindeybeige went to Tikal?! What a great treat, thank you! I could never afford to visit North or Central America. Being able to watch these videos is such a gift, thank you for the time and energy that went into it
Listened to this video without looking at the screen up until almost the last few minuets and got a good jump scare with the statue behind you! Great video! I’ll be subscribing!
Is there any quick and easy way to distinguish Mayan culture from Aztec culture? Years of Hollywood conflating the two has ruined my brain.
So Maya was Greece, and Aztec was Rome
Thank you so much for this video. And thank you for highlighting your efforts. Illuminating content for future generations.
This was simply amazing. Thank you so much!
I am Maya Higa
For an interesting watercolor paint animation of the Maya, check out the Popol Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya. Directed, written and produced by Patricia Amlin in 1989 for PBS. This much-honored animated film employs authentic imagery from ancient Maya ceramics to create a riveting depiction of the Popol Vuh, the Maya creation myth. Similar to the Biblical story of Genesis in its breadth, scope, and themes, the Popol Vuh is the origin of many myths and beliefs that spread throughout North America and formed the foundation of most Native American religious, philosophical, and ethical beliefs.The film introduces the Maya and relates the entire tale, beginning with the creation of the world and concluding with the victory of the Hero Twins over the evil lords of the Underworld.
Popol Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya (1989): th-cam.com/video/9Kb5Xcf2JF8/w-d-xo.html
Fun fact: the Popol Vuh was written by a Spaniard priest
This was a really great introduction. I know you said that this isn't your area of expertise, but I would love to see more of you tackling the myths & religious practices of the Classical Maya. The Pre-Colombian Yucatan was such a fascinating, rich period of history & I'd love to see more abt, say, the Popol Vuh.
Many thanks,
Michael-Giuliana
(they/them)
This channel is amazing. Thank you.
Well it DOES seem like we’re in a new cycle. 😂
Crazy how these civilizations build huge towers for these god and we only know them as “G1”
Excellent. Not a single unnecessary word. Thank you for your research.
Loved the episode! Thank you!
“Accompanied by two star deities who offered him tamales”… we need a Mayan revival ASAP🤤🤤
Mel Gibson not caring about actual history? Nothing new.
Real history rarely makes a good movie.
You have to admit though that the sacrifice scene in the film was amazing, so visceral, so intense and awe inspiring and really well done. Its probably the closest we'll ever get to seeing a Maya/Aztec/Templo Mayor style sacrifice as it was, as if we were actually there.
@@dav9104 he hardly makes a good movie anyways
@@Thomas-ORaghaill maybe for you
Can't deny it was a great movie though
Thank you everyone for the hard work.
Wow ! Well-done, buddy. This is an amazing video.
I was just about to say, the amount of work you just have put in. Especially if you're not already an expert !
Subbed.
❤😊🇨🇦
Maya means love in nepali lang and it's a common name of a girl
Beautiful
@@Jessknowsbestt yesss right
Christian mythology has some great stories but it's awesome when you branch out to other cultures/religions.
Yeah I appreciate someone bringing up christian mythology
oh boy! oh boy! oh boy! I've been waiting for this one for ages!
Always a good day when you upload