Here are a few of the most important Mayan deities that continue to be worshipped today. Yet many of the Mayan gods and goddesses have remained consistent throughout history. The way in which a city was planned and the precision with which the central temples were constructed, all was related to the way of the gods.Īs with many religions, the myths and facts are often blurred through time and by area. They controlled the weather, the harvest, they dictated one’s mate, presided over every birth, and were present at one’s death. The Mayan deities were involved in every aspect of the life of the Maya and were treated as supernatural entities. The Madrid Codex and the Dresden Codex – two of the pre-Columbian Mayan books dating from circa 900-1550 AD were also spared during intended mass destruction of the Maya religion by the Catholic presence in the area. Thankfully the Southern Quiche Mayan religious text, the Popol Vuh, survived to give historians an understanding of the Mayan pantheon. Much information about the gods (and Maya culture) was irretrievably lost. Much of ancient Maya history was lost owing to the mass burning of their books in 1562. Mayans worshipped around 250 deities, with some having older Mesoamerican origins while others were ‘conceived’ of during the late post classic period (900 AD till the early 16th century). Not all of the Mayan gods were venerated in all of the states of the Maya (at least, not by the same name) but the type of god, and what that god symbolized to Mayan people, was universally recognized. The pantheon of the Maya is a vast collection of gods and goddesses who were worshipped throughout the region which, today, comprises the Yucatán Peninsula, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras.
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