viernes, 30 de enero de 2009

LOS MAYAS Y EL FIN DEL MUNDO


They have recently been published in some media, especially the proximity of the date, information relating to the Mayan prophecies, where we talk about events that are seen as a drastic change in the world as we know, and that for many represents the end. In the same way, they are related to other prophecies that speak of the end of the world and causing shock and paranoia among the people. There is first to understand that this phenomenon is not new. Whether the human being, a reflection of its primitive nature, has always thought that approaches the end of the world. There has always been a prophecy that has been linked to any time throughout human history. However, even if there is an abrupt end and accurate, the earth is many millions of years to happen. The end of the world is not as it looks most of the prophecies. Is the inability of humans to explain the issues more logical and its potential to worry about irrelevant things, what makes you think that after 4000 million years of existence, one of these days the earth will simply cease to exist . There are others, it was prophetic texts and based on the current reality, we anticipate that we ourselves to ending the devastation of the land and misuse of resources, which is partially true as it is unstoppable, but that of no way represents the end of the world. Represent the extinction of the human race, perhaps, but not if the life and development. However, this is somehow inevitable and could even say that natural. Because if the annual growth rate of population is, in some years we need double the resources and possibly three, and so on until you reach a limit. It is well known that this world is a world of resources, renewable but not infinite and some day there will be a collapse in the natural supply. Not have to think long to realize that, in whatever form, the man was born to be extinct species because that is his nature, but not if the same land. One day soon, the earth as the planet intelligent, self-sustainable and that is going to die and sacudidita a billion people, or the same man and exterminate it, or die of hunger as a way , heat or cold, because these are the signs and not just because of that, but because it is the logical process of life itself. The irony is thinking of a final apocalyptic stand and concern for the death, if no one is spared from it. The man will die anyway because it came, and it will not so different from known forms of dying, but the land will remain the land for at least much longer. Either way, if a natural disaster or intentional came to pass, life will be delayed. Some agencies will survive according to their ability to adapt and survive and repopulate the earth again. And I do not need a prophecy to predict that it is simply what has been observed throughout the history of this planet. Its atmosphere, its land, its waters eventually regenerate and create new species in a process of evolution, as it has, and will continue to change and constant renewal until one day in 5000 million years of the sun and exploit this world to be absorbed by the supernova and life ceases to exist on this planet. If just prior to that outcome in advance, there are intelligent beings on earth with the same capacity of human beings to feel concern at this end on the planet, because they worry that, if not brought to conclusion then that the Life is an event full of absurdities, which it is not live, but what is done while you live. The ideology of sacrifice among the Maya David Stuart The most recent studies of Classic Maya culture have opened new perspectives to the interpretations of the meaning and the reasons for the ritual of human sacrifice. Scenes of torture and killing of captives in 2 quarts of Bonampak, Chiapas. PHOTO: Bonampak Documentation Project The human sacrifice was an important part of the rituals and ideology MAYAS. The most frequent in the REGISTRATION OF ART AND CULTURE THAT IS THE RITUAL SACRIFICE by decapitation, described as an act of "creation." THE KILLING OF PRISONERS OF COMPLEX recreate the myths that allowed the establishment of a cosmic order and was instrumental in the ideology of the SEÑORÍO MAYAS. Surprised to learn that human sacrifices were part of the ancient Mayan religion and rituals, such as the bloody ceremonies think the first thing that comes to mind are the Aztecs and Mexico. The first researchers tried to emphasize this essential cultural difference between "peaceful" Maya lowlands and the "brutal" civilizations of Central Mexico, which even came to say that human sacrifice was rare among the Maya and had little importance. Today we know more deeply the culture of the Classic Maya and, over time, we found more and more parallels between the Aztec and Mayan religion. Here I intend to demonstrate that the latest studies on Classic Mayan culture have opened new perspectives to the interpretations of the meaning and the reasons behind the ritual of human sacrifice. METHODS OF KILLING The extraction of the heart, so common among the Aztecs, rarely appears in Mayan art. The most famous scenes are in ascension to the throne of kings of Piedras Negras, Guatemala. 11 in the wake of this site is in the chest cavity of a slaughtered a bundle of feathers or perhaps the motif of the knife used in the ceremonial ritual (Fig. 2). Almost always seem to slaughter the children, the extraction of hearts of children is also in several mythological scenes painted ceramics. Sometimes, as in the case of Piedras Negras, the dead child was placed in a large bowl of offerings, with ritual instruments. Images appear only in scenes related to accession to the throne or early calendar rituals of the new kings, which indicates that the sacrifice of children was done in well-defined circumstances. The slaughter of children, the embodiment of purity and life also was in the Post, in Yucatan, in the early years of the Colony. 2. Among the Mayans, the removal of the heart, so common among the Aztecs, appears in a few cases, such as Stela 11 Piedras Negras, Guatemala, that is, in the chest cavity of a child killed, a bundle of feathers or perhaps the motif of the knife used in ceremonial rituals. PHOTO: TEOBERT MALER / Peabody Museum / Harvard University DRAWING: LINDA SCHELE 4. Another method of slaughter, probably only reserved for prisoners of war was the removal of entrails. This vessel Late Classic shows one of the most terrible scenes of Mayan art, the ritual sacrifice of a prisoner tied to a wooden scaffold, and a grotesque character who attacks him with a spear, while the musicians play drums and trumpets. DRAWING: GRIFFITHS DIANE PECK Another method of slaughter, probably reserved for prisoners of war was the removal of entrails. The picture painted on a vessel that is a ritual sacrifice of a prisoner tied to a wooden scaffold, and a grotesque character who attacks him with a spear, while the musicians play drums and trumpets (Fig. 4), is one of the most terrible scenes of Mayan art. The murals of Bonampak are also images of horrific torture ritual (figs. 1 and 5) where the captives are defenseless fingers bleeding and at least one of the corpses are wounds that indicate death by torture. Is also the head of a victim who shows how to torture and killing could go together. 1. The most recent studies of Classic Maya culture have opened new perspectives to the interpretations of the meaning and the reasons for the ritual of human sacrifice. Scenes of torture and killing of captives in 2 quarts of Bonampak, Chiapas. PHOTO: Bonampak Documentation Project 5. a) In the murals of Bonampak (north wall, 2 quarts) are terrible images of torture ritual. b) You see, for example, the captives with bloody fingers. PHOTOS: Bonampak Documentation Project The two most common methods of killing were among the Maya and despeñamiento beheading of victims, tied up the stairs of the temples. The latter is explicitly mentioned in a dictionary colonial Yucatec Maya with the term Cucul eb (literally "rolled down the stairs"), defined simply as "another ancient sacrifice." In the Classic inscriptions referring to this as Yal, "throwing" a captive. This practice can be seen in a number of sculptures of the Classical Period Yaxchilan, where the prisoners take the form of large ceremonial ball in a context in which explicit imagery recreates the ceremonial game ball. In the largest and most complex scene is the ruler Bird Jaguar IV, playing ball, where stairs before falling and "bounces" a prisoner named Ik 'Chih, "Black Deer," the lord of a kingdom called Lakamtuun (probably Lacantun located opposite the river). It is unlikely that the scene actually happens in a stadium, but rather the visual language of the game ball is used to represent the sacrifice of a prisoner of war. There is an important link, and still unclear, the sacrifice and the ball game, that is recurring in Mayan art and architecture, such as the scene of the beheading biggest ball game of Chichen Itza. There, the visual parallel is rather between the ball and the skull and not the whole body, as in Yaxchilan. THE IDEOLOGY OF SACRIFICE It is interesting to examine more closely the scene of Yaxchilan and consider the long hieroglyphic inscriptions that are under the stairs of sacrifice (Fig. 7). It comes from one of the most important religious texts of all the Maya region, since it has three very ancient mythological events occurring in the sacrifice by decapitation. The text consists of three dates and sequences of fragments showing the same structure: 1) the verb ch'ak-b'aah, "decapitate", 2) the name of a deity or ancestral figure and 3) an ordinal number (first second, third) ahil before the word, perhaps meaning "wake up" or, more figurative, "creation." If you look carefully glyphs to "decapitate" we see the initial signs ch'ak, "hatchet" with an item like a comb, ka, which gives us the completion of the phonetic word "cut". The sign-headed animal b'aah "bullet" or "person, head, be." Together, they give us a common term for "decapitation" in all entries. The three fragments are read as follows: manik 13, 5 people is the beheading of [1], is the first creation 9 kan, 12 XUL is the beheading of [2], is the second creation 1 Ajaw, 13 XUL is the beheading of [3] are three creations (together) It is interesting that the three events are separated by long periods: nearly 120 years between the first two and 1 300 from the last two. Must be mythological events, which is confirmed by the end of a recording of Yaxchilan which reads: "happened at the site of the black hole", a term of appointment for the Classic Maya underworld or a part of it. The registration of Yaxchilan is important because it shows a clear link between the killing and beheading by the notion of "awakening" and "creation." The idea that death leads to the formation of a new order is common in religion and in the Mesoamerican cosmology, and many similar examples could be cited in other Maya texts. In Palenque, for example, the board recently discovered in the Temple XIX refer to the beheading of a mythological creature with a large reptile characteristics, which apparently started a new political and religious. Thus, the inscriptions of Yaxchilan described three different stages of the mythological creation of the world, according to the cosmology of the place, and in doing so validate and establish the meaning behind the ritual sacrifice of historical displays the scene. Namely, King Bird Jaguar is directly involved in the event of "creation" through the sacrifice of a prisoner of Lakamtuun and undoubtedly more. The king is dressed as a ball player and his attire is also associated with the mythical "water snake" Maya deity little understood that in other sources, it seems closely linked to the rebirth and renewal of the world. 7. The entry of the stairway of Building 33 of Yaxchilan is a text of three sequences of information that show the same structure and a clear link between the killing and beheading by the notion of "creation." Recorded three mythical sacrifices. DRAWING: IAN GRAHAM A series of portraits of Palenque reinforces the idea that prisoners of war are vested with a deeply religious and cosmological significance. In one of the courtyards of the palace are several large reliefs, flanking the steps of the house, which show prisoners, two of the captives are major hieroglyphic texts on their clothes. In one of the texts are read: nahwaj Yahil Ajaw k'uhul baakal, "the ahil ( 'wake up' or 'establishment') of the holy lord of Palenque was exposed and the other (?)",: nahwaj Yahil kalomte ' "the supreme ruler of ahil was exposed." At that time in the history of the Palenque king was K'inich Janab Pakal, Pakal the Great. " The structure of these brief texts shows clearly that the word ahil, already seen in Yaxchilan, refers to the prisoners themselves (the exhibition of captives is a common theme in other historical inscriptions of Palenque and other sites). This means that the captives are described in some texts of Palenque ahil as is, "creations" of the king. In this language suggests that the unfortunate prisoners were destined for slaughter, because only through death can meet the religious and political role of the king as one that perpetuates and ordering the cosmos. This mix of sacrifice, war and creation is also the central theme in Copán and Quirigua, on the other side of the Mayan world. One of the most important events in the history of this region occurred on May 3 in 738 AD, when Waxaklajun Ub'aah K'awiil then great ruler of Copan, was defeated and killed by K'ahk 'Tiliw Chan Yopat King of Quirigua, which set the stage for the early peak of Quirigua in southeastern Maya. The significance of the event is clear if we see the importance given in the texts of Quirigua, which seem to boast about the defeat of his neighbor, who was his long oppressor. However, it is curious that the scribes of Quirigua never talk about the capture or defeat the king of Copan and relate only to his sacrifice with the words "behead" (Fig. 9), which we saw earlier in Yaxchilan. In an inscription states that the slaughter was carried out at the site of the black hole. " In other words, there is little distinction between this text, which tells a sacrifice historical and mythological three events of "creation" we saw in Yaxchilan. The ruler of Copán was sacrificed in a ritual that apparently was a representation of a mythical event before. Interestingly, it really is a political and military struggle between two powerful leaders have expressed in the official records in ideological terms of gods and sacrifices. 9. In Quirigua Stela J is that the May 3 from 738 AD, Waxaklajun Ub'aah K'awiil, ruler of Copan, was defeated and killed by K'ahk 'Tiliw Chan Yopat, King of Quirigua. However, no reference to the defeat of the king of Copan, but their sacrifice in the place of the black hole "- the term" beheading ", as in Yaxchilan. DRAWING: DAVID STUART KINGS AND SLAUGHTERING Another type of recurrent slaughter was among the ancient Mayans bled and offer their own blood to the ancestors, deities and other cosmic forces. These rites of bleeding there, of course, throughout Mesoamerica, in different societies. Were particularly important because the blood was the substance of the life and soul. Among the leaders and elites (and they represent the most direct evidence), the bleeding was more important as their lives and souls constituted important dimensions of the cosmos itself. The blood of kings, according to the Mayan ideology, was the substance that gave life to the growth of the world around us. This can be seen in the more explicit scenes of Yaxchilan, where bleeding is symbolized decorated flowing streams through the hands of kings. These streams are identical to the Mayan glyph for holy or sacred, k'uh (ul), and seem to represent the essence of the king inside the body, which becomes visible through the rite of self. It should be noted that within the torrents are glyphs Yax yk'an, "green" and "yellow", which gives us the sense of "tender" and "mature." The blood of the king symbolizes the vitality and the cycle of agriculture. It is clear that these streams are not flowing blood, as once suggested, but rather the image of the divine soul that resides in the blood of kings. In recent years, these manifestations of the power of the kings have been more frequent in our discussions about religion and political ideology Maya. But it must take into account the similarities and differences of these rituals with the sacrifices of captives, such as those described here. The ruling could express their religious power through their souls and blood, highly charged with symbolism, but also could sacrifice their prisoners to strengthen its position as those who embodied the process of cosmic creation. Sacrificing the prisoners is not important by blood and hearts to be offering, but because it follows the old mythological where such destruction results in the creation and perpetuation. The slaughter was one of the primary events in the Mayan creation myths and rituals of the Classical period were a reflection and evocation of these events.

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