INTRODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS 



19 



Fig. 7. Xamau Ek, 

 the North Star God 

 (note his name 

 glyph, below). 



light and of darkness. On one side were arrayed the gods of plenty, 

 peace, and life; on the other those of want, war, and destruction; 

 and between these two there waged an unending strife for the control 

 of man. This struggle between the powers of light and darlaiess is 

 graphically portrayed in the picture-writings. Where 

 the God of I^ife plants the tree. Death breaks it in 

 twain (fig. 8) ; where the former offers food, the latter 

 raises an empty vase symbolizing famine ; where one 

 builds, the other destroys. The contrast is complete, 

 the conflict eternal. 



The Maya believed in the immortality of the soul 

 and in a spiritual life hereafter. As a man lived in this 

 world so he was rewarded m the next. The good and 

 righteous went to a heaven of material delights, a 

 place where rich foods never failed and pain and sor- 

 row were unknown. The wicked were consigned to a 

 hell called Mitnal, over which ruled the archdemon 

 Hunhau and his minions ; and here in hunger, cold, and exhaustion they 

 suffered everlasting torment. The materialism of the Maya heaven 

 and hell need not surprise, nor lower our estimate of their civilization. 

 Similar realistic conceptions of the hereafter have been entertained 

 by peoples much higher in the cultural scale than the Maya. 



Worship doubtless was the most important feature of the Maya 

 scheme of existence, and an endless succession of rites and ceremonies 



was considered necessary to retain the 

 sympathies of the good gods and to pro- 

 pitiate the malevolent ones. Bishop 

 Landa says that the aim and object of 

 all Maya ceremonies were to secure three 

 things only: Health, life, and sustenance; 

 modest enough rec^uests to ask of any 

 faith. The first step in all Maya reli- 

 gious rites was the expulsion of the evil 

 spirits from the midst of the worshipers. This was accompUshed 

 sometimes by prayers and benedictions, set formulae of proven 

 efficacy, and sometimes by special sacrifices and offerings. 



It would take us too far afield to describe here even the more 

 important ceremonies of the Maya religion. Their number was liter- 

 ally legion, and they answered almost every contingency within the 

 range of human experience. First of all were the ceremonies dedi- 

 cated to special gods, as Itzamna, Kukulcan, and Ixchel. Probably 

 every deity in the pantheon, even the most msignificant, had at least 

 one rite a year addressed to it alone, and the aggregate must have 

 made a very considerable number. In addition there were the annual 

 feasts of the rituahstic year brought around by the ever-recurring 



Fig. 8. Conflict between the Gods of Lite 

 and Death (Kukulcan and Ahpuch). 



