Sacrifice in Maya culture
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The religious beliefs of the Mayans, like many other Mesoamerican cultures, included human/animal sacrifice. While seen as barbaric to the Spanish conquistadors and people of today, sacrifices were a normal part of daily life. One could take his/her own life to appease the gods, to free him/herself from mourning the loss of another, or for a cause that was simply trivial.
[edit] Examples of Sacrifices
Claimed through many paintings, sculptures, and through their writing, it has been learned that a woman in the Mayan culture would have to cut a hole in her own tongue after her first was born and take a barbed rope and pull it through it. The blood would collect in a bowl under her and then it would be burnt along with spices to the gods. Men would also have to do this through the penis and similarly drag the barbed rope through it. The Maya also had human death sacrifices, though not as many as the Aztecs did, but there was still proof of some sacrificing of captured prisoners. The Mayans Also sacrificed children, orphans, and animals.
