Mayans - A Short History
Thought by some scholars to have originated with the
Olmecs of La Venta on the Gulf of Mexico, and before that from
Africa and possibly Egypt, Mayan peoples have been present in
Central America for 2000 years, with fixed settlements evident
since 250 AD.
Spanning a large region from Guatemala and
Chiapas to the Yucatan, and excelling in science, cosmology,
medicine, agriculture and the arts, Mayan civilization peaked
in the Classic era from 800-900 AD, yet disappeared from all
its far flung cities in the space of one generation. A large
hedonistic gentry combined with general over population,
internicine warfare and soil exhaustion are thought to be the
reasons. After Pakal's mighty lineage came to a close, the
Mayan people simply melted back into the jungle.
They reappeared in the Yucatan to mount
fierce opposition to the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th
century, and for some time maintained large, highly functional
settlements at Chichen Itza and Coba. But intensified warfare
over the proceeding centuries saw the Mayans subjected to
systematic extermination and the survivors put to slavery.
Even today in neighbouring Guatemala, genocidal progroms have
killed more than 200,000 Mayans in the last 30 years, and
continue today.
The Mayan culture was lost. Yet the ruins and
glyphs continued to tantalize scholars, although their secrets
were intractable - until incredibly, a single volume of
bark-paper Codex was plucked from the flames of the burning
Dresden library in 1944 by a Russian soldier and academic who
published preliminary translation techniques in the fifties.
Nevertheless it still took a diverse team of investigators
until the 1990s to completely decipher the Mayan code and
reveal the full richness of this ancient and advanced culture
- and to understand the historic and social context of the
magificent temples, glyphs and artefacts.
But the Mayan spirit runs deeper than
buildings, art or culture. It is at heart, a deeply spritual
sensibility which harmoniously unites the cosmic and earthly
spheres. The land in Chiapas they centered their civilization
upon is a cornucopia of natural riches; mahogany, quartz,
obsidian, jade, pure water, fine river sand, chocolate and
fossilized amber - as if the earth burst open and spilled her
deepest treasures all at once. Sacred anong these natural
riches were the spiralled nautilus - signifying life over
time, green jade as the biosphere, the feather, red amber, the
Ceiba tree of life - and corn, life's sustainer. So sacred was
corn to the Maya, they left the scene of a decisive battle in
the Yucatan at the point of certain victory to plant the corn,
for timing was everything, and calculated exactly in the time
machine at Chichen Itza.. Of what value victory, if you had no
food?
Today, genetically modified corn,
multinationalism and diminishing arable land are undermining
the Mayan heritage .. yet deep in the Lacandon jungle, some
older Mayans still practise "God Pot" ceremonies and the
burning of sage and rue to invoke the supernatural. The
beautiful, mellifluous conch shell from the caribbean is still
used for ceremonial occasions and as jungle communication.
along with the tezmescal and "soul retrieval" - raising of the
spirit's vibration, and protection against "death by cold".
Today, there is increased interest in the
Mayan calendar, and the end of the long count in 2012, with
many apocalyptic scenarios being suggested - along with predictions of a major renewal and redemption of humanity.
 
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