Mayan civilization has been divided into two major groups they are Low Lander and High Lander. The main Mayan civilization concerns with the low lenders and are of Native American group but the high Lander are the Hitvada and are not known for their Mayan cultures. The “Mayan” language proper name is “YUCATECO”, from the Yucatan Peninsula.
Mayan Civilization and Cultures
Mayan civilization is one of the greatest in the world. The earliest phase of Maya civilization began around 3000 BCE, a time when ancient societies were emerging in Egypt, China, India, Mesopotamia, and Assyria. Large, complex Maya sites have been dated to 500-200 BCE. The ancient Maya were living in magnificent cities of stone with soaring pyramids and wide plazas decorated with intricate carvings as the Roman Empire was fading. The Mayas developed the most accurate calendars known, mastered astrology and mathematics, and produced exquisite art on ceramics and murals. Their great Classic society reached its apex as Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages. Engineering accomplishments spanning over 100 centuries were not rivaled by modern civilizations until the 19th century. Certain constructions using monolithic stone blocks, and buildings whose structure accurately mirrors solar, lunar and stellar phenomena, still remain a mystery.
Mayan Culture
Mayan-speaking people filled an area including all of the Yucatan peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of the Mexican states Chiapas and Tabasco, and of Honduras and El Salvador. Throughout this large part of Mesoamerica are thousands of ancient Mayan ruins with temples and palaces, carved monuments and hieroglyphic texts. About six million present-day descendants of the ancient Maya still live in this area, speaking over 30 Maya dialects. Most of their written history was lost, when priceless codices written on bark paper or deer hide were burned by Catholic friars in the 16th century. Archeologists began serious exploration of these lost cities in the jungles in the 19th century. Now multidisciplinary teams use advanced technology to study stones, bones, terrain, and artifacts. New reports give different views of ancient Maya life: ideas have morphed from the peaceful astronomer-priest society of JES Thompson and Morley, through the warring city-states of Coe and Grube, to the cooperative polities of Rice and Stuart. The scientists divide Maya culture into chronological periods:
Archaic – 3000 – 1800 BCE, Post classic – 950 – 1524 CE, Preclassic – 1800 BCE – 250 CE, Post conquest – 1524 – 1697 CE, Classic – 250 – 950 CE and Colonial – 1697 CE – present.
Mayan Calendar
The Maya was specialists in time. They developed over 17 calendars, each with a different purpose that guided the rhythms of Mayan society. Now we marvel at the precision and complexity of these calendars, without understanding how they were actually used. The solar calendar (Haab) calculated the year more accurately than our present one, but was based on a 360-day tun (year). The sacred calendar (Tzolk’in) used a 20-day count matched with 13 numbers, but was purely numeric. The Long Count gave each day unique numeric and glyph codes, covering unbelievable time spans, but the Maya stopped using it in the Terminal Classic period. Only one stela contains glyphs for December 21, 2012, a date that may not be significant for the Maya.
Maya Fifth Sun
The Maya called an era a “sun” but the exact time span is not clear. In the Popul Vuh, the book of Mayan creation mythology, there were 3 unsuccessful attempts at creating humans, and the gods were successful on the 4th attempt. Therefore, current humans are the “fourth creation” and we are now living in the “fourth sun.” As this era draws to a close, we enter the “fifth sun” and a new age or creation begins. But, does a sun refer to a cycle of 13 baktuns (5200 tun or 5125.26 solar years)? Or does a sun refer to a much larger cycle of 5 of these 13-baktun cycles (26,000 tun or 25,626.28 solar years)? Another key question is when did the sun cycle begin and end? Over 60 correlations to the Gregorian Calendar are proposed with a span of 600 years for the present 13-baktun cycle
Mayan Elders
Indigenous Mayan elders give another view of Mayan history. In their tradition, the original Mayas came from the Pleiades, and their lineage developed through times in Lemuria and Atlantis. When Atlantis was destroyed, highly advanced teachers left with small groups to reconstruct civilization in Egypt, India, Mesopotamia, China and Tamoachan (the central area of the Americas). The teacher Itzamna came to the Yucatan area with the Itza people. They built early cities and taught the native peoples, who eventually became known as the Mayas. Much of Maya knowledge and technological ability was passed down from higher stellar-seeded civilizations. Common threads are found throughout early civilizations emerging around 3000 BCE. Mayan elders now teach these views of Mayan culture and history, and many Maya Mystery Schools have been established.
Maya Yoga
There is much evidence that the ancient Maya knew and used yogic techniques. Art in Maya codices, on pottery and carved in stone depicts postures, hand signs and meditation. In the shamanic tradition, information about the energy body and subtle structures (chakras) has been passed through generations. These keepers of wisdom have techniques for altering states of consciousness and accessing multiple dimensions. This long hidden knowledge is now taught in programs that include Maya philosophy, cosmology and mystical insights called Yok’ hah Maya, it guides us to live harmoniously with rhythms of nature and celestial cycles.