Existing comment:
Realm of the Maya:
Today there are 7.5 million Maya living in the territory settled by their ancestors: southeast Mexico (Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula), Belize, Guatemala, and the west of El Salvador and Honduras. This is an area of around 125, 000 square miles divided into highlands and lowlands.
Geologically, the Peten-Yucatan region is a limestone shelf reaching northward into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. In the south, the terrain is hilly, flattening out toward the north. Major rivers include the Usumacinta draining northwest to the Gulf of Mexico and the Motagua, Belize, and Rio Hondo flowing generally eastward to the Caribbean. A high monsoon forest covers the southern lowlands, home of the Classic Maya. Mahogany trees up to 150 feet high predominate along with sapodillas and breadnut. The climate is hot and humid with a rainy season lasting from May until December. Lakes are rare, especially in the Yucatan Peninsula where the main sources of water are circular sinkholes called cenotes, which are not only major geologic features, but also seen as entrances to the Underworld.
The rhythm of tropical life flowed through the experience of the ancient Maya. In the abundance of forest life, in the advent of the rains, and in the deprivation that comes with drought, there is a contrast of life and death, of scarcity and plenty, that teaches life's lessons and the cyclical nature of time with metaphorical force and eloquence. Their major metaphor -- the coming of life-giving rains timed by the summer solstice --contrasts with our spring rebirth times by the equinox.
The experience of the ancient villager provided the foundation for monarchy and Maya civilization. The flora and fauna of the forest, the alternation between wet and dry seasons, the rhythms of burning and planting, provided the substance from which kinds shaped the myth, ritual, and pageantry that were celebrated in art and architecture. |