Mayan Cosmology in Comparison to Hebrew Cosmology<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n There are three noteworthy categories within Mayan religion and cosmology to boththe Mayans themselves and to the scholars that study them: the creation of the cosmos, the destruction of the cosmos, and the gods worshiped.\u00a0T<\/ins>hese are the building blocks to the religion and the beliefs displayed in the Mayan book the\u00a0Popul Vuh<\/em>, which dates back to around 1550 (Weor).\u00a0 When comparing the Mayan culture with western cultures, these topics allow understanding of how each relates to<\/ins>\u00a0and opposes<\/ins>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/ins>other.\u00a0 With the similarities that are present in each creation and destruction story, as\u00a0well as the\u00a0characteristics of the gods, it is clear that there must be a universal cosmology in every culture and religion naturally throughout the world. \u00a0This paper will focus on the Quiche Maya, who inhabited the highlands and currently reside in present-day Guatemala and parts of El Salvador and Mexico (Penprase 123). The Quiche culture iscompletely reliant on the creation myth and structure depicted in the\u00a0Popul Vuh<\/em>, which is their sacred text.\u00a0 In this sacred book, there are four sections to explain the cosmos.<\/p>\n The first part consists of a narration of the failure of the gods to create earthly beings who will adore, obey, and sustain them and the story of the \u201cHero Twins\u201d (Hunahpu\u00a0and\u00a0Xbalanque) who destroy a celestial being,\u00a0Vucub-Caquix, and his two sons, Zipacna\u00a0and\u00a0Cabracan, because they refused to adore, obey, and sustain their creators (Christenson 59-62).\u00a0 In deeper detail, there is the creation of mankind explained through four different races. The Plumed Serpent (also known as Gucumatz or Quetzalcoatl) arises along the \u201cbearers\u201d and \u201cbegetters\u201d of the sea.\u00a0 He said \u201cearth\u201d and it arose, allowing him to create gods and demons to inhabit the earth and underworld (Penprase 117).\u00a0 The Serpent also created the twins who rose to be the Sun and the Moon on the first day of the universe.\u00a0\u00a0A<\/ins>long with the other gods, the serpe<\/ins>nt created the first race as various animals, but they were not capable of speaking the human language, meaning they could not worship the gods.\u00a0 This\u00a0state of affairs<\/ins>\u00a0was not acceptable to the Serpent so he sent them into the wild to be hunted by demons.\u00a0 The second race was created out of clay from the earth, but they would disperse in water.\u00a0 The third race was made of wood, but these men were incapable of understanding and lacked souls, so a flood and demons killed them.\u00a0 Finally the Serpent created a race out of yellow and white Maize and this race was able to worship and count days (Christenson 64-72).\u00a0 This is the most well-known and prominent section of the\u00a0Popul Vuh<\/em>\u00a0in Mayan culture and religion due to the\u00a0cycle\u00a0<\/ins>of creation\u00a0and<\/ins>\u00a0destruction.<\/p>\n The Plumed Serpent is one of the main and most worshipped gods in the Maya\u2019s complex pantheon of deities because he is the creator of the universe. He taught the Maya the arts of civilization including law, medicine, agriculture, and fishing,<\/ins>\u00a0making him a cultural hero as well as god (Goets 82). He is also a paradigm, because he acts in cycles, he came from the sea and returned to it, also he represents the forces of good and evil and will return to Earth during the End Times. He is also the god of the four elements that are fire, air, water, and earth. In order to properly worship the Plumed Serpent,\u00a0Maya<\/ins>s<\/ins>\u00a0offered human and nonhuman sacrifices as well as bloodletting (89). Out of respect for the great god, kings and priests would often take on Quetzalcoatl as their name when they rose to power; therefore, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish myths that are discovered from historical accounts of the lives of rulers (Mayan Gods and Goddesses). As a major god and creator of the universe, the Plumed Serpent is similar to gods in different cultures and cosmologies, including the Hebrew God, Yahweh, who is also creator who spoke the universe into existence. Both gods are worshipped through ritual and sacrifice because of their respective roles as creators. Unlike the Plumed Serpent, Yahweh only demanded animal sacrifices rather than that of humans for his worship. Yahweh also did not emerge out of water or of anything else; he has always been in existence. Quetzalcoatl is sometimes compared to Jesus Christ from the Christianity tradition because both are believed to come again at the end of the world to reign over the people (Thompson 23).<\/p>\n Both Mayan religion and cosmology and that of the Hebrew culture have had an important impact on universal cosmology and can be compared to each other and other cultures\u2019 cosmologies.\u00a0 In beginning of the\u00a0Torah<\/em>, the first five books of the Hebrew bible, God creates the heavens and the earth through a series of seven days. He created the sky, land, sea, plants, day, night, and mankind during the first\u00a0six\u00a0<\/ins>days of the universe.\u00a0 This creation story relates to that in the\u00a0Popul Vuh\u00a0<\/em>and the four races of man, both signifying a type of sequence\u00a0used<\/ins>\u00a0to build the world.\u00a0 According to\u00a0Hebrew\u00a0<\/ins>cosmology, Yahweh is merciful, eternal, all-powerful, and the creator of everything, just as the Serpent is in Mayan culture. On the sixth day, God created Adam,<\/ins>\u00a0who represented the first existence of mankind,\u00a0<\/ins>out of dust from the ground, this is similar to the second race of man in the\u00a0Popul Vuh<\/em>. Both the humans in the Maya story and in the Hebrew story are created to maintain the Earth and worship their god\/s. A serpent is also present in the Hebrew creation story. However, it is not a positive creature in the Hebrew tradition like it is in the Mayan tradition because it causes suffering and turmoil for humans.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Torah<\/em>\u00a0continues with a very prominent form of destruction in cosmological myths: the flood.\u00a0 The Great Flood occurs as a result of God\u2019s perception of the wickedness of mankind. God is ashamed of what he has created and decides to send a flood throughout the earth in order to erase mankind. He decides that Noah is an example of a man who is loyal to him and ultimately righteous, so he allows him to build an ark with two of every species. After the flood is over, Noah and the people and animals that are on his ark are saved. After the flood, God makes a covenant with Noah and promises that \u201cnever again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth\u201d (Gen.9: 11). The covenant contains the Noahide laws that allow man to live in a peaceful and civilized society. Judaism teaches that anyone who follows these laws will have guaranteed salvation with god.<\/p>\n In both<\/ins>\u00a0the Mayan creation myth\u00a0and\u00a0<\/ins>Hebrew scripture, destruction and dissatisfaction with God is a\u00a0recurring<\/ins>\u00a0concept. In Genesis, God is unhappy that mankind became sinful and wicked. In Mayan cosmology, the Gods are unsatisfied with mankind so there are floods that kill all humans. They are dissimilar, however, in that mankind is given a second chance through Noah and his ark. Mayan Gods have no mercy and instead create mankind again so they can never achieve the greatness of the Gods. The concept of destruction and renewal is a concept that causes mankind to be recreated in order to achieve ultimate good in people.\u00a0 There are also slight similarities in the story of Adam and Eve and the characteristics of God. Even though the Maya were polytheistic, they believe that a serpent created the Earth.<\/p>\n It can be seen through deep analysis of each creation story and\u00a0the\u00a0<\/ins>cosmological beliefs of each culture that there are undeniable similarities and prominent oppositions.\u00a0 The largest similarities between the two cultures are the creators and the destruction of mankind.\u00a0 The Plumed Serpent and God are both all-powerful creators of the universe and everything in it.\u00a0 Each are eternal and to be worshiped by man.\u00a0 The destruction stories in each myth are amazingly similar.\u00a0 In both,\u00a0a god\u00a0<\/ins>or gods are angry and dissatisfied with the race of mankind they created\u00a0and\u00a0<\/ins>create a flood\u00a0to wipe them out<\/ins>.\u00a0 There are\u00a0also\u00a0<\/ins>major differences;\u00a0<\/ins>for instance in the Hebrew\u00a0scripture<\/ins>,\u00a0there\u00a0<\/ins>is only\u00a0one\u00a0<\/ins>major flood and\u00a0one human<\/ins>\u00a0race,<\/ins>\u00a0<\/ins>which<\/ins>\u00a0<\/ins>survive<\/ins>\u00a0to rebuild.\u00a0 Very differently, in the\u00a0Popul Vuh<\/em>, there are multiple forms of water (a flood and rain) that destroy two separate races and in all destruction of the races there are not survivors except some monkeys.\u00a0 In addition to the gods and destruction of mankind, there are similarities in the two sacred texts in that there are sacred trees (the World Tree and the Tree of Knowledge) that are primary aspects to the upholding of each culture and religion.\u00a0 With these two cultures, it can be seen that there are universal ideas to the creation and destruction of\u00a0life<\/ins>, as well as ideas for what a creator should be like, thus proving that there is a somewhat universal cosmology that is naturally placed in cultures and beliefs around the world.<\/p>\n Download PDF File<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [quicktime]http:\/\/webpages.scu.edu\/ftp\/cosmos\/mayan_cosmos.m4v[\/quicktime] Download Podcast Mayan Cosmology in Comparison to Hebrew Cosmology There are three noteworthy categories within Mayan religion and cosmology to boththe Mayans themselves and to the scholars that study them: the creation of the cosmos, the destruction of the cosmos, and the gods worshiped.\u00a0These are the building blocks to the religion and the beliefs … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/mayancosmos\/files\/2012\/04\/Screen-Shot-2012-04-29-at-10.46.32-PM.png\")
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<\/a>Mayan cosmology is dominated by numbers and describes the universe as organized layers with a flat Earth surrounded by multiple \u201cheavens\u201d and \u201cunderworlds\u201d that are ruled by different gods and demons. The Earth\u2019s four corners are aligned with the four cardinal directions, which are represented by colors; north by white, south by yellow, east by red, and west by black. The colors of each cardinal direction correspond with the different colored trees of abundance that grow in each corner respectively. Different gods, known as\u00a0Bacabs<\/em>, support each corner of the Earth and four different species of trees support the sky. Connecting the nine layers of the underworld, the thirteen layers of heaven, the Earth, and the various gods,<\/ins>\u00a0is the \u201cworld tree\u201d that rises through the middle of the universe. The\u00a0Oxlahuntiku<\/em>, or Thirteen Gods of the Upper world, rule the layers of heaven. The\u00a0Bolonitku<\/em>, or Underworld gods, rule over\u00a0Xibalba<\/em>,<\/ins>\u00a0the nine layers of the underworld.\u00a0Oxlahuntiku<\/ins><\/em>\u00a0<\/ins>and\u00a0Bolonitku<\/ins><\/em>\u00a0<\/ins>are comparable to heaven and hell of Hebrew cosmology because souls of the departed find homes in one of the twenty-two layers of the Upper world or Underworld. If a person experienced a violent death, their soul was sent to one of the upper levels, but those who suffered a peaceful death were sent to one of the lower levels (Penprase 123). Furthermore, the World Tree is \u201cthe conduit of communication between the supernatural world and the human world,\u201d connecting the people to the gods that they worship. Trees are prominent in the cosmology of the Mayan people probably because they were also prominent in their day-to-day lives providing food, shelter and medicines (\u201cMaya Cosmology\u201d). Mayas represented their cosmology in their pyramids,<\/ins>\u00a0whose steps reflected the layers of the universe.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/mayancosmos\/files\/2012\/04\/Screen-Shot-2012-04-29-at-10.46.11-PM.png\")
<\/a>Despite the fact that the serpent does not show many characteristics similar to Yahweh, the serpent still represents an all–<\/ins>creator. In the beginning of Genesis, however, the serpent represents evil and the consequences of desire. Even though the serpent is mostly related to sin, it also represents fertility and wisdom. The tree of knowledge is also in Genesis and represents knowledge of everything, moral capacity, and sexual knowledge; it represents the concept of evil and good being mixed together. The Mayans use the World Tree as the center of their cosmology, it rises through the middle of the universe and trees are on the ends of all four of the cardinal directions. The importance of destruction, trees and floods are obvious in these two cultures\u2019 cosmologies and reaffirm the similarities between the two cultures.<\/p>\n