Ancient Mexico

(Mayans)
Cross Cultural Understanding
 Group 3

Annisa Nur Salma Rana Simon Stock

Khasanah Az-Zahra Rexy A. P.

20202244111 20202241105 20202241108

 Table of Contents
01 Geography 05 Dance, Festivals, Ceremonies

02 Family 06 Architecture

03 Birth, Marriage, Death 07 Do’s, Don’t’s, taboos

04 Religion and Mythology 08 Language

 01
Geography
 Geography
The Maya homeland, called Mesoamerica, spans
five countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize,
Honduras, and El Salvador.
Most of the ancient Maya civilization was on a
peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water.
On the left side of the peninsula is the Gulf of
Mexico. On the right side is the Caribbean Sea
and the Gulf of Honduras. On the south is the
Pacific Ocean.
The mayans developed a
hierarchical government
ruled by kings and priests,
consist of rural communities
and large urban ceremonial
centers.

- Politics and government

 Agriculture

The Mayans lived in a place surrounded by

cornfields. The Maya created arable land by

using a "slash-and-burn" technique to clear the

forests.
 Writing Tools
The Mayans wrote using paper made
from bark of ficus trees. Ancient
Mayans wrote down information with
brushes made out of animal hair and
quills. They used this to store
important information and events
that were happening around.
 Arts

Mayan Art is characterized by stone

sculptures, architecture, ceramics, wood
carving, and wall painting which are
some of its most celebrated forms.
02
Family
 Form and Hierarchy
The family member consists a couple, children, parents, and grandparents.

Men in Mayan families spent laborious days working on fields or engaged in

other agricultural activity. Mayan women were mostly confined to

performing different household chores. Mayan children, especially in the

commoner families, were raised and educated by the parents. Male children

were taken by their fathers on outdoor errands and tasks after the age of 6

or 7. Girls usually stayed at home after puberty.

 Neighboring life

Mayan families lived as nuclear units where

members of the same family huddled
together and lived as a single group. Upon
marriage, a Mayan man was required to live
with his wife’s parents for a set period and
work for them then built a home next to his
parents’ home.
 Foods
Ancient Maya diet focused on four domesticated crops (staple
crops): maize, squash, beans (typically Phaseolus vulgaris) and
chili peppers

Tamalcolado Corn tortillas

made from corn thin, unleavened
flour, pork flatbread, made
broth, and meat from hominy
 Clothing
Daily Clothes Traditional
(women) Wore capes and
Huipil is the upper cloaks above the
garment that knee, draped
Mayan women used around their
to wear. shoulders or their
necks
Daily Clothes Ceremonial
(men) Clothes
wear a breechcloth wear a breechcloth
made of cotton, and made of cotton, and
palm hats palm hats
 03
Birth, Marriage, Death
 Birth
The Maya desired some
unnatural physical
characteristics for Death
instance, at a very young
age boards were pressed The ancient Mayan people
on babies' foreheads to practiced both burial and
create a flattened surface. cremation. To prep the
Another practice was to body for burial, they put a
cross babies' eyes. piece of corn in the
deceased’s mouth. If
cremated, the ashes were
put in pots or idols
designed to hold cremated
remains.
 Maya men and women usually got married at

around the age of 20, though women

Marriage sometimes got married at the age of 16 or 17.

Maya marriages were frequently arranged by

matchmakers, and the father of the groom

had to approve the match.

 04
Religion and Mythology
 Religion and Mythology

List of Maya God

In common with the rest of
● Itzamna
Mesoamerica, the Maya believed in a
● Baalham
supernatural realm inhabited by an
● Cit-Bolon-Tum
array of powerful deities who needed
● Hum Hau
to be placated with ceremonial
● Maximon
offerings and ritual practices.
 05
Dance, Festivals,
Ceremonies
 Ceremonies

Human Sacrifies
The sacrifice of a human
life was the ultimate
offering of blood to the
gods, and the most
important Maya rituals
culminated in human
sacrifice.

Relief sculpture of a decapitated ballplayer,

adorning the Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza
 Poc-a-Toc
the most popular game among the Maya that symbolized
the human struggle and reflected the way the Maya viewed
existence.

Festivals Dance Rituals

Hanal Pixan, an ancient Mayan
tradition, otherwise known as 'supper
of the souls', has been celebrated in
Mexico since Prehispanic times. It is
celebrated as day of the dead.
Tun-teleche dance included victims
whose hearts were removed before
they died as a gift to underworld
demons. Ball games were also
involved in dances.
06
Architecture
 The Structure of Maya City

The great cities of the Maya

civilization were composed of
pyramid temples, palaces,
ballcourts, sacbeob (causeways),
patios and plazas.The exteriors of
most buildings were painted,
either in one or multiple colours,
or with imagery.

The main plaza at Tikal

Pyramids and Temples

Temples were sometimes referred

to in hieroglyphic texts as kʼuh
nah, meaning "god's house".
Temples were raised on
platforms, most often upon a
pyramid..

Temple I, at Tikal
 Place of Interest

Chichen Itza Uxmal

a sacred city which covers was built and designed
around six square miles and using astronomy to track
was once home to hundreds the cycles of the moon and
of buildings the stars

Palenque
was built by King Pakal’s first son
and provides records of over 180
years of the city’s history
 07
Do’s, don’t’s, taboos
 Do’s, don’t’s, taboos

Belief Myth Taboos

Maya religius beliefs The Maya believed It was taboo to look at
K'uh and k'uhul, the that creation was the eclipse.
spirituality of all related to divination The origin of
inanimate and and magic, and they menstruation was said
animate things, often referred to their to be a punishment for
describe the most heroes and creator the moon goddess.
divine life force of gods as diviners. It was taboo to speak to
existence. a woman on her period
08
Language
Language

The Maya writing system (often called

hieroglyphs from a superficial
resemblance to Ancient Egyptian
writing) is a logosyllabic writing system,
combining a syllabary of phonetic
signs representing syllables with
logogram representing entire words.
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