Mayans religious hierarchy

Mayan is the religious group who believed in Sun, Rain and Corn as their Gods. It is a religious feature that paid more importance to astronomy and astrology. They perform human sacrifice and had a strong belief in building temples in the shape of Pyramids. The origin of Mayans Religious Hierarchy began in South America during the first millennium B.C, where a tribal community called Mayan lived. As far as the strength of the religion is concerned very few people followed this religious practice. These people had to depend on agriculture on a tough dry soil, hence their religious beliefs urged them to consider nature as forms of God, such as Sun, wind, rain, etc.

Origin of Mayan’s religious belief

Precisely saying, the tribal people of Mayan civilization were the foremost disciplines of Mayan religion. They gave more importance to farming, agriculture and harvesting. They had their own calendar which comprised of 260 days. The climatic cycle like monsoon and summer were considered by them to calculate the time of harvest and hence, believed in the thought that human beings should adhere to the changes in the climate so that they can enjoy the benefits given by GOD.

Forms of God

The Mayan religious belief was that there is a strong relationship between supernatural and human beings and all their religious rituals were performed based on the above belief. They worshipped the natural elements like Sun, Rain, Wind, etc.

Priest

The first and prime member in Religious hierarchy of Mayan is the Priest is the elderly authority of this religion. The head of the Mayan Hierarchy is called the Ah Kin Mai who controls the Priests.

Rituals and Paintings

They performed rituals in the presence of the Priests who in turn instruct the ways in which the rituals have to be organized. Mayans are good in painting and art and they painted the images of their God beliefs in their own way. The rituals were performed under the supervision of the Priest.

Gods believed by Mayans are

Ixtab- Represented by a picture painted by Mayan civilization them, Ixtab is considered the Goddess of Sacrifice. She is portrayed with a rope in the region of her neck. Since, they believed in human sacrifice they offered human lives to this Goddess and had faith that the one sacrificed will be lead to heaven.

Kinich Ahau- Is the Sun God, who is believed to visit the place called Itzamal everyday during the afternoon.

Chac- It is the rain God, according to Mayan civilization. They believed that this God administers the birth.

Yum Cicil- Is the God of death and the God of underworld, who had been portrayed in Mayans art as not having eyes and skin. This God was imagined to have only bones and sockets.

Kakulcan- Is the God of wind, whom Mayans believed to have feathers and worshiped as the serpent God and considered him as another manifestation of rain God.