Mayan Reflection EO7

Describe the Culture and Legacy of the Mayan People

Culture: 

Mayan culture started in 2000 B.C. The Mayans culture included the fact of worshiping around 160 gods, but there were only 6 important gods. They were the god of Sun, the goodness of Moon, the god of Rain, the god of War, God of death and lastly the god of Maize. Their gods were represented as animals, such as jaguar. Also the Mayans brought sacrifices to their gods. The sacrifices were mostly animals, but afterwards they started to sacrifice human beings. The Mayans thought that human sacrifice or animal sacrifice brought them connection with the gods that they worshiped. Also the Mayans had a lot of religious ceremonies. The main ceremony was the ball game. Mostly this game was a competition but sometimes it had a religious meaning.  They played this game on important dates or to honor the heroes. 

Mayans had main jobs in their society as farming, teaching and building. The Mayans had a great place to farm. They lived in the Yucatan Peninsula and the soil there was fertile and good for farming. The Mayans had the most important job of supplying food for their people. 

Also the Mayans created many helpful things such as book of codex, calendar and many other things. The Codex was a book with glyphs (pictures) that told their story and how they lived. The calendar was created by using math system that they created too. The calendar accurately predicted the sun eclipses, showed the orbiting of Venus, helped identify the good time for planting and growing crops. 

Legacy: 

They left after them many legacies but i will tell only the main ones: 

1) The Maize (Corn). Maize was very important for the Mayans, they grew them a lot. Eventually the mayans called themselves the "People of the Maize". It was essential for their civilization. 

2) The Ball Game (Now days called Soccer). They played this game with a ball, which they had to score in a hole. This was a complicated game, which sometimes was counted as religious. In this game they couldn't use their legs or hands. This game was so competitive that at the end of the game the losers were dead. 

3) Chocolate (Cacao) Not all of the Mayans were allowed to drink Chocolate. Only the nobles and mid class were allowed to drink this chocolate. It was some sort of hot chocolate. They didnt eat them solid form, they melted them and then drank it.