The Ancient Mayan Calander

Essay by PhaeTelleCollege, UndergraduateA-, February 2004

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On August 13th, 3114BC the Mayan calendars started to turn and it has been turning ever since. The Mayans are known for their obsession with time and had once been thought to worship it. It is true that their calendars are the focal point of their life, from the daily chores to their grandest rituals, but it was and is not an element they worship as a god. They believe everything has it's own time to be done and to do something outside it's place in time would bring unbalance to the Universe and result in the destruction of the human race.

To understand the Mayan's obsession with their calendar, one has to first look at their religious beliefs. To start with the Mayans believe that we are the fifth creation of humans to exist. According to them, the gods have created humans five times and destroyed them four times.

Each time their gods created humans, they would use different materials to make "us", from dirt to trees to maize. Apparently it was maize that was the key ingredient, because that is what their gods used to form the fifth creation of humans still alive today.

It is because the Mayans believe that we are the fifth creation, that they are so obsessed with time and their calendars. They are afraid if they do anything to bring unbalance to the world, then the gods will destroy the human race for the fifth time. They feel it is their duty to keep the balance and harmony of the universe and to do that they will go by the calendar calculations that their priest tells them. Whether it is a new building, to a marriage, to a religious ritual, it all has to be done at its own specific point in time...
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