Mayan Religion

The Maya believed in a pantheon of gods - not just one god but many. Most gods had both Good and Evil traits. The favour of the gods was needed for good crop harvests, weather etc.

Priests would study the sky (using astronomy) and use their religious calendar (the 260-day Tzolkin) to predict whether things might go well or badly. Sometimes they decided they would need a favour from one particular god. That might mean giving blood from a small animal. A bigger favour would need a bigger sacrifice - blood-letting by the King or Queen, perhaps. Or maybe even the sacrifice of a human life.

The Maya believed that the world was divided into three planes - earth, heaven and the underworld (Xibalba). The souls of the dead lived in Xibalba, along with some of the gods.

The Maya believed that the universe was flat and square. They used colours to represent the four cardinal directions - north (white), east (red), south (yellow), west (black). The Bakabs -the four sons of the ‘Earth Monster’ Itzamna - were believed to support the four corners of the universe. Hence the Bakabs of Muluc, Kan, Cauac, and Ix.