Hi 'anxietykillsme';
If I understand you correctly, you are worried about something that somebody said, and attributed to the Maya, that they then claimed must be true because the Maya were never wrong. Is that about right?
I would suggest that if you are interested in what the Maya actually thought about the world, that you consult organizations such as the Foundation for the Advancement of Meso-American Studies.
However, to directly answer your question: Yes, the Maya were wrong about quite a bit, and while they were good astronomers, that skill was not unique to them, nor was it as developed with the Maya as it was elsewhere, for example Greece.
First of all, dismiss everything you have heard about the Maya to this point. It is most likely wrong. For example, their calendar does not end in 2012. There is no prediction of apocalyptic events for 2012. Those are both modern "new age" beliefs projected onto the maya. Examining the traditional beliefs of the ancient Maya, we find quite a bit of mythology that does not correlate with reality.
For example:
- The Maya conceived of the earth as flat and four-cornered.
- Each corner had a color value
- East-Red
- White-North
- Black-West
- Yellow-South
- Center-Blue-Green
- Each corner was held up by four Powahtuns (old deities)
- The sky was held up by four Bakabs of the correct color for each direction (Although sometimes these are represented as trees).
- Before anything else, the world was nothing but sea and sky.
- Then the Maker stretched a cord across the sea and sky to create the four corners of the earth.
- In the second stage of creation, the Modeler made mountains, lakes, forests, animals, birds, and insects.
- Although the Maker was happy with the creations, these organisms couldn't speak, pray, keep track of time, or most importantly, show their love and appreciation by returning nourishment to the gods.
- Dissatisfied, the Creator Couple commanded a flood that eliminated all life on the earth so they could start over.
- The third stage is the legend of the Hero twins. The father and Uncle of the Hero twins were great ball players. Unfortunately, the court where they played caused great noise, disturbing the Lords of Death in the Underworld of Xibalba (Place of Fright).
- After trials set forth by the Lords, the Father and Uncle were put to death and buried under the ball court. The father's head was severed and placed in a tree as a warning to others.
- One day the Father called a girl over to the tree. She complied when she was asked to hold out her hand.
- The Father spit in her hand, impregnating her.
- When this girl's father found out, she was banished to the middle world of humans.
- She had twins who she named Hunahpu and Xbalanque (schpah-len-kay), the Hero twins.
- One day they were playing ball like their father and uncle before them.
- Their shouts were heard down below in Xibalba.
- The Lords of Death were affronted.
- These twins were no more humble than the others. And so messengers were dispatched, summoning them to a ballgame in Xibalba.
- Now the Twins were challenged to a series of ordeals, each in a special "house".
- In the Dark House they were given a torch and two burning cigars. They were supposed to return these in the morning just as they had received them.
- Their father and uncle had let the torch burn out, and they had smoked the cigars. But the Hero Twins knew better.
- They swapped a macaw's scarlet tail feathers for the torch's flame. And they stuck fireflies on the ends of their cigars.
- When they were sent to the Razor House, sharp blades were supposed to cut them to pieces. But they convinced the blades that their job was to cut up animals, not hero twins.
- And when they were sent to the Jaguar House, they distracted the tigers by feeding them bones. The Cold House they survived by locking out the cold. The Fire House didn't burn them to ashes, but only toasted them golden brown.
(etc., etc., etc.)
Now, are you prepared to say that a group of people with that fanciful creation myth "have never been wrong"? What this myth tells me is that their creation myth is not based on reality, but rather on their religious beliefs.
The same is true of the people who tell you that the Maya are never wrong.
anxietykillsme (guest) 01 Aug 2011 00:15
