Essay Sample on Exploring Ancient Maya Religion & Civilizations: Analysis & Comparison

Introduction

I have chosen Early American Civilizations, specifically the civilization of the Maya people. The body paragraphs will cover the analysis and identification of the religion practiced by the Maya. The body paragraphs will also focus on the role of Maya religion and beliefs that are drawn from the Maya religion. Moreover, the body paragraph will cover one feature of civilizations apart from the Maya religion and the other feature of complex civilizations. I would base my conclusion on the summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the religion that was practiced by the Maya people.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Religion

Maya people practiced several religions in their various regions. Polytheist was a major religion that was usually excised by the Maya people. Polytheists started in Central America and spread throughout the world.

Polytheists, as the major religion among the Maya people, were characterized by the existence of numerous beliefs. Firstly, their Gods resembles a human being in nature in that they believed that Gods underwent the stages of life that include; birth, growth, and death. Also, they based their beliefs that their Gods could do what human beings do, for instance, taking part in human activities such as planting, fighting, performing divination, and harvesting of maize. Moreover, Maya believes in life after death, whereby they argue that after a person has died, his or her soul would undergo resurrection in the underworld except for those who might have died during birth. Furthermore, Maya people performed ceremonial ceremonies through the offering of sacrifices that was accompanied by rituals such as blood-letting (Inomata et al. 2013). The priest took part in conducting most of these rituals. There was also belief towards the underworld whereby Maya people recognized the underworld as a place which consists of evils and Jaguar that symbolizes night.

Keeping records

The complex feature of civilizations among the Maya people is that they were good at keeping records. The kept records were later used in various fields such as astronomy and agriculture. Records keeping played a key role among the Maya communities, especially in the field of astronomy and agriculture. When it comes to agriculture, Maya usually uses the existing records to predict weather conditions, thus helping them to identify the appropriate time of planting and harvesting of their produce. Also, Maya used the kept records in the field of astronomy to predict different weather patterns.

The way of governance is the other complex feature of Maya (Chase & Chase, 2017). In terms of leadership, Maya leaders reigned with the assistance of advisers and attendants. Advisers and attendants played the major role of advising the rulers on matters relating to good governance. Kings helped in ensuring the proper distribution of resources to the people. Also, rulers took part in controlling trade commodities.

Conclusion

In summary, there are various strengths and weaknesses that are drawn from the Maya community. One of the major strengths which existed in the Maya community is that they had the ability to establish temples that were pyramids like in shape. They constructed temples that serve different roles, for instance, acting as a place of worship and also a place of set aside to help in the offering of human sacrifices to their Gods. The other strength which existed among the Maya people is being able to engage in farming, whereby they cultivated their lands and grew crops. When it comes to weaknesses that were depicted by the Maya community, Maya people practiced several religions; thus, they rarely stick on one type of religion.

Images showing Maya culture

Clothing

Maya people obtain their clothes by using various types of clothing materials based on the level of classes. Lower class groups of people, for instance, used tree barks, agave plants, and rough threads during weaving of their clothes, whereas upper-class groups of individuals usually used fine thread while weaving their clothes (Mohan, 2015).

Religion

Maya had established pyramid to serve as their place of worship as well as a place of offering human sacrifices.

An image of a Dog

A symbol of dog was used during leadership, and it signifies honor among the Maya community.

References

Chase, A. F., & Chase, D. Z. (2017). E Groups and the rise of complexity in the southeastern Maya Lowlands. Maya E Groups. Calendars, Astronomy, and Urbanism in the Early Lowlands, 31-71.

Inomata, T., Triadan, D., Aoyama, K., Castillo, V., & Yonenobu, H. (2013). Early ceremonial constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the origins of the lowland Maya civilization. Science, 340(6131), 467-471.

Mohan, U. (2015). Dressing God: Clothing as the material of religious subjectivity in a Hindu group. The Social Life of Materials: Studies in Materials and Society. London: Bloomsbury, 137-152.