Festivals & Ceremonies
Throughout the Maya Empire, 
every 20th day, there was a religious festival. 

Festivals: The most important activity in the cities were the religious festivals. People who lived near a major city would travel there to attend religious festivals, and of course to see the famed ball games and shop in the market. The market was not restricted to the wealthy. Anyone could shop in the markets.

Every 20th day, there was a religious festival. Priests would climb the pyramid steps, dressed in fierce masks, to please the gods. Wearing huge headdresses, Maya dancers performed in front of the Pyramid or the Temple or both. The Mayas are famous for their dances and their headdresses. The movement of the dance would make their headdresses jingle and rattle. It was quite a site.

Bloodletting:  During the festivals, there were human and animal sacrifices. Not all sacrifices ended in death.  The Mayas communicated with their gods by bloodletting, tribute, and worship. Occasionally, they used human sacrifice.  More often, bloodletting was a personal sacrifice. People would stab or prick themselves. It was their own blood that was offered as a tribute to their gods during worship. When nobles offered blood, a drop was smeared on a bit of bark. The bark was burned and the smoke floated to heaven where it could be consumed by the gods.

K'atun: K'atun is a ceremony that was conducted once every 20 years.  Stelas were created to share what had happened for the past 20 years.  A stela is a very large stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics. The hieroglyphics inscribed on the stela told about the event. Stelas were placed where people could see them. Often, stelas were designed with drawings so that people could understand them. The rulers were an important part of the story told through the stelas. A different royal family ruled each Maya city. So each Maya city erected its own stela during the K'atun to honor its own ruling family.

 

Maya Religion

Maya Priests

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