The Books of Chilam Balam: Part two

The Yucatecan Books of Chilam Balam, which comprise the Chumayel, Tizimin, Mani and others, are notoriously difficult to translate and interpret because of archaic or obsolete words in the Mayan language, esoteric references – the meanings of which are now lost, and the sometimes unintelligible (to us at least) mixture of Spanish and Latin words scattered throughout the Mayan […]

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Mesoamerican religion: Symbolism of the gods, Part one

Our main sources of information on pre-Hispanic religion in Mesoamerica include archaeological monuments and Classic murals, as well as Landa’s Relación and ethnological reports of surviving religious practices and beliefs among the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas and other descendants of the ancient civilizations of Mexico and Guatemala. Of particular importance are the four surviving codices from the […]

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Mesoamerican Religion: Symbolism of the Gods Part One

Our main sources of information on pre-Hispanic religion in Mesoamerica include archaeological monuments and Classic murals, as well as Landa’s Relación and ethnological reports of surviving religious practices and beliefs among the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas and other descendants of the ancient civilizations of Mexico and Guatemala. Of particular importance are the four surviving codices from the […]

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Mesoamerican religion and multiverses: Part Two

It is generally assumed that the idea of other universes is the unique product of “post-modern” thinking based on the Theory of Relativity and quantum mechanics. But the ancient Aztecs and Maya probably got there first. In Part One, we looked at the concept of previous Ages or Worlds in various civilizations around the globe, […]

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