The Mayan civilization is a Mesoamerican culture that settled in Central America, around the area that we now know of as Guatemala around the year 2100 BC. However it was between 292 and 900 AD that their civilization flourished. The Mayan mythology though goes back to the very earliest Mayan culture and consists of extensive polytheistic religious beliefs (that is they worshipped and believed in more than one god). However most of the gods worshipped were gods of nature, especially the gods of sun, rain and corn; they also had a great interest in astronomy and astrology, made human sacrifices and are well-known for their elaborate stone temples built in a pyramid-type shape. Their most important god was Itzamná, the god of the fire and god of the hearth.

The Mythology of the Mayans intertwines all these different religions and deities and has recurring themes which include the creation of man, the creation and end of the world, the creation of the sun and the moon, heroic actions and most importantly the relationship between humans and crops; their attitude to death and the afterlife is a recurrent theme in their mythology. 

The Mayan rulers were called holy lords and the people worshipped them like gods; in fact they were seen as mediators between them and the gods. When these holy lords died, they were buried in highly structured and intricate tombs that were filled with valuable treasures. However even these semi-gods did not escape from entering the Underworld. The Mayan idea of the afterlife was that it was a dangerous voyage of the soul through the Underworld (or “Xibalba”) and that on death their people entered it through a cave or cenote that was guarded by the jaguar, ruler of the underworld and symbol of night. Most of the Maya, including the kings, went to this underworld as heaven was solely for the people who had been sacrificed warriors killed in battle and for women who had died during childbirth.

They also believed that there was a “world above” and a “world below”, the “world below” being the home of the dead, and the “world above” the home of the gods, the Sun, the Moon and the clouds. They believed that it was the gods who guided the Sun and Moon across the sky and that they continued their journey through the Underworld. So when kings died, they followed the path linked to this movement of the sun into the Underworld. However because of the supernatural powers they possessed, they were reborn as gods. The Mayans believed that in the afterlife there were nine stages of the underworld as well as paradise; those who were sacrificed, women who died in childbirth and warriors killed in battle, and all went to paradise. However, the more evil the person, their afterlife would be spent at the lowest level of the underworld where they would be forever plagued by devils.

Mayan mythology tells us that priests who dressed as the jaguar were able to pass over to Xibalba and even today the Mayan perform traditional Maya ceremonies with priests dressed as jaguars.