Mayan Study Guide 8th grade

who could explain divine signs?

- According to Mayan beliefs, only priests could explain divine signs and lead people through rituals aimed at pleasing the gods. Priests performed sacrifices and conducted ceremonies. They consulted sacred books, read omens, interpreted signs, and predicted the future. No decision was made without seeking the gods' advice. No action was taken without first honoring the gods.

What was mayan family life/marrage like?

- Life for Mayan peasant families was not easy. Mayan women rose before dawn to get the fire burning in the fireplace. With the help of her daughters, a Mayan woman cleaned the corn that had been boiled and left to soak and soften overnight. Then she set to work at the grinding stone, pounding corn into meal.She patted the meal into tortillas (tawr-tee-uhs), a Spanish word meaning "little breads," or tamales (tuh-MAH-leez) and cooked them over the fire. These might serve as the morning meal or they might be saved for dinner. On special days, the family might also have hot chocolate, a drink the Mayas made from cacao (kuh-KAY-oh) beans. - During the day, women and older girls cared for small children and for the family's few animals, like ducks and turkeys. They swept their homes, and they gathered, spun, and wove cotton into cloth. - Mayan fathers and sons ate their morning meal quickly before leaving to work in the fields. When they weren't busy with the crops, men and boys hunted and trapped animals

what were mayan religious conditions.?

- The Mayan religion was polytheistic, which means it included many gods. The Mayas believed in more than 160 gods. The primary Mayan gods were forces or objects in nature that affected people's daily lives, such as rain, corn, and death. Many gods had animal characteristics. The jaguar was especially important to the Mayas.

what did the mayans believe had made the world?

- The Mayas believed that the gods had created the world and could influence or even destroy it. The same god that sent life-giving rain could also ruin the crops with hailstones. So, it was extremely important to honor the gods.

how did the mayans honor the gods?

- The Mayas honored their gods with offerings such as plants, food, flowers, feathers, jade, and shells. The Mayas believed that blood gave the gods strength, so they also made blood offerings by sacrificing animals and, sometimes, humans. The people who were sacrificed were usually orphans, slaves, or nobles captured during war.

what was the proccess of getting married?

- The bride and groom did not choose each other. Instead, marriages were negotiated by the village atanzahab, or matchmaker. Families had to agree on how much food and clothing would be given to the bride's family. They also had to agree on the number of years a young man would work for his new wife's family. - Once the details of a marriage were worked out, the villagers built a hut for the couple behind the home of the bride's parents. When the home was ready, the bride and groom put on clothing woven for the occasion. After a priest blessed the marriage, the villagers celebrated.

when did mayans get married

- The next big moment in the life of a Mayan youth was marriage.Men usually married around age 20. Women married when they were as young as 14.

List the names of 5 Mayan social classes and include details about the group's duties, work, and lifestyle.( artisans)

Artisans - The Mayas were accomplished traders. They traveled by sea, river, and well-constructed roads to trade with other city-states. Merchants in the lowlands imported valuable products from the highlands. These products included stones such as obsidian and jade; copal, a tree sap that the Maya used as incense during religious ceremonies; and quetzals, birds whose shiny green feathers were used in headdresses. - Mayan artisans made a wide variety of objects, many of them designed to pay tribute to the gods. They painted books on paper made from the bark of fig trees. Artists painted murals of Mayan life, important battles, and other major events. They created sculptures for temples and decorative designs on palace walls. The Mayas were also skilled weavers and potters.

instead of hunting and gathering, how did the people of Mexico get their food?

By 2000 B.C.E., people in parts of Mexico had turned from hunting and gathering to farming as their main source of food. A particularly important crop at the time was maize, or corn.

List 3 answers for the following topics(look in definition)

Crops: corn, cotton, and cocoa. Agricultural Techniques: slash and burn, plowing, and ground tilling. Theories for Decline of the Mayan Civilization:sickness, conquest, death of leaders.

what was the peak of the mayan civilization?

Mayan civilization reached its height between 300 and 900 C.E. During this time, Mayan culture spread over a great deal of Mesoamerica, including part of present-day southern Mexico, Belize, most of Guatemala, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.

what was the history of the mayan civilization?

Mayan civilization: This civilization lasted 3,500 years, from about 2000 B.C.E. to 1500 C.E. At its peak, it included present-day southern Mexico and large portions of Central America. Visitors can still see the ruins of some amazing stone cities built by the Mayas.

what was the most difficult challanges for the mayans?

One of the most difficult challenges the Mayas faced was how to grow enough food to feed their growing population. Farming was not easy in the regions where they lived. Their land included dense forests, little surface water (such as lakes or streams), and poor soil.

what power did the preists have when it came to the sacred round

Only priests could "read" the hidden meaning of the Sacred Round. Priests used the sacred calendar to determine the best days to plant, hunt, cure, do battle, and perform religious ceremonies. To this day, there are calendar priests in southern Mexico who still use the 260-day calendar in this way.

List the names of 5 Mayan social classes and include details about the group's duties, work, and lifestyle (peasents)

Peasents - The peasants were the backbone of Mayan society. They worked hard on the land, growing maize, squash, beans, and other crops to feed the population. During the growing season, men spent most of the day in the fields, farming with wooden hoes.Women usually stayed closer to home, preparing food, weaving, and sewing. - When they were not farming, peasants had to spend time building pyramids and temples.In exchange for their work, they sometimes attended royal weddings and religious events. Peasants also served as soldiers during wars

when did the mayans adapt the writing system of the olmecs?

Possibly as early as 300 B.C.E., they began to adapt the writing system of the Olmecs and to develop their own system of hieroglyphic writing. Mayan civilization reached its peak during the Classic period, from around 300 to 900 C.E

List the names of 5 Mayan social classes and include details about the group's duties, work, and lifestyle.(priests)

Priests - The next layer in the social pyramid was made up of nobles and priests. They, along with the ruler, were the only members of Mayan society who knew how to read and write. - The nobles served as scribes and officials, and oversaw the administration of the states. They gathered taxes, supplies, and labor for projects, such as the construction of temples. Nobles led peasant armies in times of war.During battles, they wore elaborate costumes, including gold jewelry and animal robes made from the skins of jaguars. - Priests were important because it was their job to maintain favor with the gods. Like nobles, priests inherited their position from their fathers.Priests led rituals, offered sacrifices, and foretold the future. They were consulted to determine the best days for going to battle. In addition to their religious duties, priests were often mathematicians, astronomers, and healers

List the names of 5 Mayan social classes and include details about the group's duties, work, and lifestyle.

Rulers - The highest authority in the state was the halach uinic (hah-lach WEE-nik), a Mayan phrase that means "true man." He ruled the state with the help of his advisers. He decided when and with whom to go to war. - The Mayan ruler was considered a god-king. During religious ceremonies, he wore a headdress that was as tall as a person. When he died, a son or another close male relative succeeded him. Mayan rulers were almost always men, but scholars believe that some women had considerable influence, probably through family relationships. Family life/marrage

Include two important pieces of information about Mayan Religious Beliefs and Practices

Sacred Round: only preists could use it. It determined when sacrafices can be made. Mayan Gods: there were about 108 of them, they had sacrafices made in their honor Offerings and Sacrifices: they were made to appease the gods, high honoring officials from conquered places and slaves could be sacrificed. Pok-a-tok: also known as slash and burn. Also used for conquer/clearing land.

List the names of 5 Mayan social classes and include details about the group's duties, work, and lifestyle(slaves)

Slaves - At the bottom of the social pyramid were the slaves. Slaves performed manual labor for their owners. Some were born into slavery, but free people sometimes became slaves. Some children became slaves when their parents sold them to feed the rest of the family. War prisoners of humble origin were enslaved. (Those of higher rank were sacrificed to the gods.) And some people were enslaved as a punishment for serious crimes. - In general, the Mayas did not mistreat slaves. Sometimes, slaves actually had easier lives than peasants, depending on what jobs they did and their owners' social rank. But slaves were not free to come and go as they pleased. Often, they were sacrificed when their owners died.

what did the mayans do to resolve these issues.

The Mayas responded to this challenge by developing different agricultural techniques for the various environments in which they lived. In the mountainous highlands, they built terraces, or flat earthen steps, into the hills to make more land available for planting. In the swampy lowlands, the Mayas constructed raised-earth platforms surrounded by canals that drained off extra rainwater. This technique helped them to grow more food without having to conquer or clear more land.

how did the mayans create the modern day calander.

The Mayas used their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy to develop a complex calendar system. They used two main calendars for religious and other purposes. The first was a daily calendar, based on the solar (sun) year. It divided the year into 18 months of 20 days each, plus 5 "unlucky" days. This totaled 365 days, as our calendar does.

who were the olemecs and where did they live.?

The Olmecs lived in the jungle areas on the east coast of Mexico. Their civilization reached its peak between 1200 and 500 B.C.E.

How do you think the class structure of the Mayas affected people's lives?

The class structure can limit what people did. Since people were born in to what class they were in, they can only obtain certain jobs.

List the three main periods of Mayan Civilization and include the years each covered.

The pre-classic period, classic, and post classical periods were covered in mayan history. The long Pre-Classic period lasted from about 2000 B.C.E. to 300 C.E. During this time, the Mayas farmed the land and lived in simple houses and compounds, or groups of buildings. Mayan civilization reached its peak during the Classic period, from around 300 to 900 C.E. The achievements you will study in this chapter date from this time. Post-Classic period. This period lasted from about 900 C.E. to 1500 C.E. During this time, the Mayas continued their warfare and empire building, but they had fewer great artistic and cultural achievements. the post classic period was located in the yucatan peninsula.

what is a sacrifice?

a gift of an animal, or human for slaughter to honor the gods

what is a ritual?

a set of actions that is always performed the same way as part of a religious ceremony

what is a social pyramid

a social structure in the shape of a pyramid, with layers representing social classes of different rank . The rest of the members of Mayan society were organized into a series of ranks below the ruler.

when did the classic civilization collapse

in 900 C.E. the classic civilization collapsed. no one knows why. the cities that survived were located in the yucatan peninsula while the jungle cities and the southern cities survived the classic period.

what does Halach Uinic mean

it means true man in mayan and it was the highest authority in the state.

what is pok-a-tok

it was a way for Human sacrifice to also play a role in an ancient Mayan game.

ceremonial centers

large plaza surrounded by ceremonial structures

how did the mayans build their civilization?

on ideas they inherited from a people called the Olmecs.

what was the difference between a slave and a peseant in the mayan empire.

since peseants were the back bone of the mayan society, without the pesents, there would be no empire. Also, peseants were free workers, meaning they could work for who ever they wanted and didn't have to worry about getting sacrificed after the master died, as slaves had to be worried about. slaves also had no freedom to do what they wanted and they got forced into the army (sometimes not always).

how was the city-state structured in the mayan empire

the mayan empire had city states that were structured like a pyramid.

during the classic period what did the mayans ADAPT AND DEVELOP from the olemcs?

the mayans adapted - building techniques by - stone cities - decorated and elaborated palaces and temples - observatories for studing the sky - charting the movement of the planets, stars and the moon. although the mayans lacked the wheel, tools, and metal, they were still able to accomplish this.

who was the first civilizations to use the solar calendar?

the olemecs were also the first to use a solar calendar, or a calendar based on the cycles of the sun. The Mayas would build on all these achievements.

which social class was the backbone of the mayan society

the peasents were the backbone of the mayan society.

Mayas definition

the people of an important Mesoamerican civilization

mesoamerica

the region extending from modern Mexico through Central America

why were priests important?

they were important because they were the only ones who were able to mantain peace with the gods.

hieroglyphic definition

writing described as pictures.