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The Maya class of the priests is sometimes thought to have emerged from a pre-existing network of shamans as social complexity grew. The classic Siberian shaman is characterised by his intimate relationship with one or several helper spirits, 'ecstatic' voyages into non-human realms, and often operates individually, on behalf of his clients.
The most important source on traditional Maya religion is the Mayas themselves: the incumbents of positions within the religious hierarchy, diviners, and tellers of tales. More generally, all those persons who shared their knowledge with outsiders in the past, as well as anthropologists and historians who studied them and continue to do so.
Ancient Mayan social classes included a complex relationship between elites, including kings and merchants, and commoners. [1] The highest ancient Mayan social class included a single centralized leader known as the king or Kʼuhul ajaw, who was most often a man but occasionally a woman. [1]
This is a list of deities playing a role in the Classic (200–1000 CE), Post-Classic (1000–1539 CE) and Contact Period (1511–1697) of Maya religion.The names are mainly taken from the books of Chilam Balam, Lacandon ethnography, the Madrid Codex, the work of Diego de Landa, and the Popol Vuh.
This category and its subcategories are for articles relating to the belief systems of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, including aspects such as mythology, religion, ceremonial practices and observances.
A Classic period Maya polity was a small kingdom (ajawil, ajawlel, ajawlil) headed by a hereditary ruler – ajaw, later kʼuhul ajaw. [5] Both terms appear in early Colonial texts including Papeles de Paxbolón [6] where they are used as synonyms for Aztec and Spanish terms for rulers and their domains.
The 16th-century Maya priesthood was headed by a high priest who instructed the other priests and advised the king. Kahuna Nui, presides over the temple or heiau. Below the Kahuna Nui are various types and ranks of priests. In Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, the High Priest is considered to be successor to Nichiren, through the lineage of Nikko Shonin.
The relevance of modern Dark Rift observations to pre-Columbian and traditional Maya beliefs is strongly debated, and academic archaeologists reject all theories regarding extraterrestrial contact, but it is clear that the promotion of Mayanism through interest in 2012 is contributing to the evolution of religious syncretism in contemporary ...