Religious Life of the Mayans - Tulum, Mexico
Posted by: denben
N 20° 12.933 W 087° 25.759
16Q E 455152 N 2235392
This information panel is located in Tulum, the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan fortified town serving as a major port for Cobá, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Waymark Code: WMY4H6
Location: Quintana Roo, Mexico
Date Posted: 04/19/2018
Views: 4
"The ruins of Tulum are situated on 12-meter (39 ft) tall cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea in Mexico. Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya; it was at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries and managed to survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. Old World diseases brought by the Spanish settlers appear to have resulted in very high fatalities, disrupting the society and eventually causing the city to be abandoned. One of the best-preserved coastal Maya sites, Tulum is today a popular site for tourists." (
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The information panel says:
"Religious life and a pilgrimage to the sanctuary, a cultural expression associated with economics, politics and nature -
Mayan gods were present in one or more elements of nature. Some were manifest in the astros or in atmospheric phenomens like rain; others in plants like the ceiba (cotton silk tree) and animals like the jaguar.
Each season of the year and each daily activity, such as the harvest, were marked by a ritual dedicated to a deity, aimed at making sure human labor would be rewarded with optimum results.
Tulum was a city dedicated to the planet Venus, a deity with a dual nature: that of the morning and the evening star.
The descending god symbolized by the setting Sun is closely related to Venus, and so it can be said that the evening star was worshipped at Tulum; thus the image of this deity is found on the façade of some of the buildings, and its accesses are oriented to face the point where this planet sets.
Another important deity was Ek Chuah, the god of trade, to whom tribute was paid in the course of commercial interchanges."