The Mayans Religions and Beliefs

          The Mayans had a very interesting set of beliefs and religous views. To start off, the Mayans religion was called Popol Vuh. The date Popol Vuh was founded was about 250 A.D. The Mayans religion Popol Vuh was polytheistic, which means they believed in many gods. Some of the main gods of Popol Vuh where Itzamná Kukulcán and Bolon Tzacab. A very popular way to worship these gods were to sacrifice human prisoners or people that volunteered so they may have paradise in the afterlife. Although alot of cultures today believe that the Mayan Civilization sacraficed alot in order to praise the gods, they sacrificed humans not as often as you might think. People are often confused with the Aztecs sacrifice ceremony and the Mayan Culture.

Sources

http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/00418/mayanball.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar

http://www.oneworldjourneys.com/jaguar/history.html

http://jameswatt.me/2012/03/07/mayan-calendar-and-the-gregorian-leap-year/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLsQYsE7Im8

http://www.religionfacts.com/mayan_religion/index.htm

Mayan Sports

          The Mayan Civilization is known for many reasons, and one of those reasons is due to its very famous sport. The Mayan sports name is translated to The Ball Game, from Mayan. The Ball Game is the first known sport to be invented. The goal of the game was to make a 20 inch in diameter rubber ball that weight anywere between 8-10 pounds into a hoop as high as 23 feet high without letting the ball hit the ground. Some very interesting facts about this game was that the mayans sometimes used human skulls rapped in rubber as a ball to keep the ball hollow.

The End of the World as We Know it

          The end of the world is a very popular topic, and one of the reasons the mayans are so well know is due to its well known calendar. The Mayan calendar is well known for its accuracy and is still used today. The Mayan calendar consists of 7 cycles of different lengths. Each cycle is measured in different lengths to add up to 365 days in one year. As most people know, the calendar is a circle and circulates every 365 days. Some of the reasons most people believe the Mayans Calendar is accurate predicting the end of the world is because how smart the Mayans were with mathmatics and  astronomy. Throughout the Mayan Empire, the mayans studied Physics, Mathatmatics, and Astronomy. Although the Mayans were very intelligent with these studies there is no way that they could have known that the earth will end. Some of the reasons they could have been wrong is simply due to leap year. If the Mayan Calendar is correct the world shoukld have ended about 7 months ago due to the fact that the Mayans did not account for leap year and today would technically be August 6th 2013.

Chitzen Itza

          Chitzen Itza is one of the most famous Mayan cities know today. Chitzen Itza is known for one of the 7th wonders of the  world.

The Rise and Fall of the Mayan Empire

The formation period or begining time for the mayan civilization started around 1800 B.C. Some things the mayans were famous for in the begining was farming and agriculture. As the Mayans settled in what is now known as Guatemala, the Mayans started forming pyramids, citys and other stone monuments. After most of the construction was complete the Mayans started advancing into almost 40 cities and a very strong empire. This time period is known as the Golden Age of the Mayans. In each city, it held up to around 5,000-50,000 citizens meaning the Mayan Empire had around 2,000,000 followers. As the Mayan Empire grew it started to decline for an unknown reason, between the 8th and 9th century. Although we dont know why the Mayan Empire declined, there are many theories supporting the fall. One of the most famous and the  most likely reason the Mayan empire fell was due to over population and exhausting the environment around them to the point where they ran out of resources and room to live. All though the Mayan empire came to a sudden colapse, some of the most famous and largest cities still flourish such as the Chichén Itzá, Uxmal and Mayapán.