Facts about Mayan civilization

Some Mayan facts gathers from net.

The Maya desired some unnatural physical characteristics for their children. For instance, at a very young age boards were pressed on babies’ foreheads to create a flattened surface. This process was widespread among the upper class. Another practice was to cross babies’ eyes. To do this, objects were dangled in front of a newborn’s eyes, until the newborn’s eyes were completely and permanently crossed. The Maya filed their teeth to make them pointy and created holes that they filled with jade. Another interesting fact about Mayan children is that most were named according to the day they were born. Every day of the year had a specific name for both boys and girls and parents were expected to follow that practice.

Health and medicine among the ancient Maya was a complex blend of mind, body, religion, ritual, and science. Important to all, medicine was practiced only by a select few who were given an excellent education. These men, called shamans, act as a medium between the physical world and spirit world. They practice sorcery for the purpose of healing, foresight, and control over natural events. Since medicine was so closely related to religion and sorcery, it was essential that Maya shamans had vast medical knowledge and skill. It is known that the Maya sutured wounds with human hair, reduced fractures, and were even skilled dental surgeons, making prostheses from jade and turquoise and filling teeth with iron pyrite.

Maya Blue or azul maya has been seen at several architectural locations from the ancient Mayan civilization including the archaeological site of Cacaxtla on the Mural de la batalla. Cacaxtla is a large palace with many vibrant colored murals in Mayan style. As one of the highlights of the ancient Mayan civilization this very gorgeous turquoise blue color only survived to be seen because of the chemical characteristics that made it possible and the composition is still unknown.

The ancient Maya ballgame was played for thousands of years throughout Mesoamerica, and had great religious significance.Contact with the ball was limited. Any body part, except the hands and feet, was allowed; The abdomen, thighs, upper arms and back were used. Maybe even the head. Kicking or throwing the ball was forbidden. In addition, the ball was not allowed to touch the ground. Slightly larger than basketball hoops, the rings were positioned on opposite walls, about 25 feet above the playing field. The ball had to be bounced off the wall in order to enter a ring. The ball was made of rubber and weighed about eight pounds! This made severe injury a definite possibility. Ballplayers wore protective gear, including wide padding around their hips called “yokes.” They also wore pads on their forearms and knees so they could fall to the ground in a kneeling position and hit the ball with one hip. Game play itself is thought to have been incredibly violent. Players would ram into each other at top speed so as to cause serious injury or death to an opponent, and this was actively encouraged by the referees. The game ended when the first goal was scored.

Mayan civilization and its people practiced and promoted blood sacrificed to their gods; especially of little children. Their sacrifices usually would take place on the first appearance of the Planet Venus or simply to appease the Sun. Unfortunately the sacrifice of little children existed in almost all ancient culture as they believe that offering the pure sole of the children to the “gods” can somehow bring them prosperity and avoid adversity. More specifically the Mayas sacrificed human beings for medical and religious reasons. This practice cannot be seen among the present Mayans descendants; however, they still use cattle and chicken blood instead of human blood.

This end-date of the Long Count Calendar December 21, 2012 marks the coming of a truly rare cosmic event that will occur when this procession of the equinoxes positions our solar system in the very center of our galaxy when Earth will cross the ecliptic path of the sun.The world is talking about what will happen on this date, however, not everyone is looking forward to it with the same set of expectations. For some, 2012 hints at a coming apocalypse but more optimistic views believe that, as the Maya claimed, we would begin to experience some form of spiritual awakening, perhaps initiated by some cosmic event or compelling miracle. But, we have no way of knowing for sure what effects these cosmic events will have on Earth, as the last time an alignment like this took place was over 150, 000 years ago!

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• Facts about the Mayan civilization
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