Mayan

Belief system

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About this belief system

Mayan religion refers to the spiritual beliefs and customs of some indigenous people from Mesoamerica, mainly Mexico and Guatemala.

Mayan Calendar Icon
Vault Ayer MS 1515 / Popol Vuh (Title Page)
Sourceomnika.conscious.aiRetrieval date07/07/2020
MediumDigital iconImage date2019CreatorOMNIKA FoundationSource notesThe Mayan calendar is represented in the black and white icon, symbolizing Mayan spiritual beliefs.
Source record No.Vault Ayer MS 1515 / Popol VuhMediumManuscriptMaterialParchmentOrientationTitle page; full frontalImage dateca. 1700-1703CreatorFather Francísco XiménezSource notesXiménez, Vault Ayer MS 1515 / Popol Vuh, folio 1.

Parent belief system

  • Belief system symbol
    Mesoamerican Culture · Polytheistic
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    Heads up. Mayan Religion belongs to a parent belief system on the basis of shared myths and deities.

    Mesoamerican belief systems refer to the cultures of central America between ca. 2000 BCE - 1520 CE: Olmec, Mayan, Aztec, Toltec, and others.

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Top myths

Popol Vuh (Pupul Wuj)
Creation, Flood myth
Francisco Ximenez
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Top deities

Kukulkan

Mayan myths: A-Z

  • Popol Vuh (Pupul Wuj) Creation, Flood myth

    Nuthsell

    Deities first created the world and made humans from clay, then wood. These humans were emotionless and destroyed by the deities in a flood, who turn them into monkeys. Later, the first four people are made and named after the Jaguar animal.

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Mayan deities: A-Z

  • Kukulkan Mayan · 1 myth

    Kukulkan was one of the main deities in Mayan religion and traditionally depicted as a feathered serpent. A pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico, is devoted to Kukulkan.

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Cite this page

MLA Modern Language Association (8th ed.)

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Mayan." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 25 Jul. 2019, omnika.org/stable/236. Accessed 12 May. 2024.

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APA American Psychological Association (6th ed.)

OMNIKA (2019, July 25). Mayan. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/236

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CMS Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Mayan." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created July 25, 2019. Accessed May 12, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/236.

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Bibliography

Goetz, Delia, and Sylvanus G. Morley, trans. "Popol Vuh." In Popul Vuh / "The Book of the People": Translated into English by Delia Goetz and Sylvanus Griswold Morley, 34-149, edited by Adrián Recinos. Los Angeles, CA: Plantin Press, 1954.
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Goetz, Delia, and Sylvanus G. Morley, trans. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiché Maya. Edited by Adrián Recinos. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950.
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Goetz, Delia, and Sylvanus G. Morley, trans. Popul Vuh / "The Book of the People": Translated into English by Delia Goetz and Sylvanus Griswold Morley. Edited by Adrián Recinos. Los Angeles, CA: Plantin Press, 1954. [Copyright not registered or renewed]
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Recinos, Adrián, trans. "Popol Vuh." In Popol Vuh: Las Antiguas Historias del Quiché [Spanish; first edition]. Edited by Adrián Recinos. Mexico City, Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1947.
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Recinos, Adrián. Popol Vuh: Las Antiguas Historias del Quiché [Spanish; first edition]. Mexico City, Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1947.
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Spence, Lewis. "The Popol Vuh: The Mythic and Heroic Sagas of the Kiches of Central America," Popular Studies in Mythology Romance & Folklore, no. 16 (New York, NY: AMS Press, 1972): 210-271. [Reprint of first edition: London, England: David Nutt, 1908]
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Ximénez, Francisco. "Popol Vuh [Digital facsimile]: Transcription in Quiché Mayan and Translation into Spanish." Original manuscript in Vault Ayer MS 1515 / Popol Vuh, ca. 1700-1703. Manuscript. Edward E. Ayer Collection, fourth floor, The Newberry Library, Chicago, IL. Digital facsimile from World Digital Library [website]. Updated July 31, 2017. https://www.wdl.org/en/item/19995. Accessed June 19, 2020.
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Ximénez, Francisco. Vault Ayer MS 1515 / Popol Vuh, ca. 1700-1703 CE. Manuscript. Special Collections, Edward E. Ayer Collection, fourth floor, call no. Vault Ayer MS 1515, The Newberry Library, Chicago, Il.
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Fast facts

Basics
supervisor_account Polytheistic Multiple deities
indeterminate_check_box Defunct No longer practiced

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