Project Description: For this assignment we had to write and support a thesis based around the success or failure of one specific "pillar" in an ancient civilization. These "pillars" represented 4 of the most important parts of a civilization. This consisted of the following: Science and technology, religion, art and architecture, and government. The requirements for this project were: 3-5 pages double spaced, footnotes in MLA format, bibliography in MLA format, and the paper had to be based around your central thesis.
Process: First we were assigned a civilization (mine was the ancient mayan civilization), then we had to choose which pillar we wanted to study (I chose religion). After that we had to start researching our pillar and getting as much information on it as possible, looking for both the ups and downs of that pillar. After creating our rough draft we went through several drafts while learning and adding in footnotes and a bibliography.
Reflection: Through this project I learned many things such as using footnotes and bibliographies, Using a thesis to persuade your opinion, how to make a professional thesis paper, and how to use a concessive to make your thesis stronger. The main challenge that I encountered through this project was turning my paper in on time. This was very hard for me because i procrastinated the first few drafts and had to catch up by the last few. One thing i would change in this project would be that maybe Charlotte could teach us bigger words so we sound allot smarter while explaining our thesis. Learning how to make a strong research paper will definitely help me in college because you have to research and write alot in college.
Finished Draft
Mayan Religion
Civilization is what makes up the world. Without it we would be nothing but savage beasts. But different parts of civilizations are what mold us into what we are now, and every part of a civilization is important. For example: religion, arguably the biggest maker/ breaker in a civilization. Although the Mayan civilization was prosperous and strived for a long time, they’re religion ultimately lead to their downfall.
The Mayans were a Mesoamerican civilization, located roughly next to the Yucatan peninsula. The Mayans where known for their large temples and sacrificial rituals. They were around from about 2000 BC to 900 AD when the Spaniards invaded them. The Mayan religion was polytheistic, meaning many gods, mainly based around the sun god: Kinich Ahau and the “creator” (as in creator of the world) being Itzamna.
The biggest strength of the Mayan religion was probably the creation of the Mayan calendar. The Mayan calendar was a celestial calendar, which means it follows the stars. The Mayan calendar was based on different cycles, following the same seasonal cycles such as winter, summer, fall, and spring. Another success about the Mayan religion was their purification and divination process1. The purification process involved fasting, sexual abstention and exorcism of evil spirits. These rituals could lead to better lifestyles of a regular person therefore improving the lifestyle of the entire community. Plus I think fasting it gets rid of obesity.
The main downfall to the Mayan religion was that it was very sacrificial. Their main sacrifices included mostly small animals like turkey, quails, deer and fish. But later on adopted the ritual of human sacrifice and sometimes anthropophagy (cannibalism) 1. Some say that sacrifice was the core of Mayan religion. This was bad because the sacrifice of so many animals drained their stock and made for less to eat. Especially since they sacrificed and offered food to the gods the most during a drought. The sacrifice of human beings is also very bad because it lowers the population, especially in big rituals where up to 10 people could be sacrificed. Another downfall of the Mayan religion could be social division. Since the government was mainly wrapped around religion so all the hierarchies were based on priests and deities. Social division is bad in any civilization because it causes separation in the community in general. One of the rites of the Mayan religion is that at the age of three months, you would be presented with different items depending on your gender (i.e. for males it might be a set of tools or a religious artifact, or with females it might be cloth or a sewing needle). This would be bad because by doing this your job was pre- determined when you were only three months old, causing unhappiness as adults making for a more unhealthy lifestyle.
The Mayan religion is closely related to many other Mesoamerican religions, much like the Incan religion. Both religions celebrated and worshiped mostly the sun god and the main creator. Also both religions were very sacrificial and devoted most of their time and resources to their gods. There are also many other similarities, like their purification rituals, and they also ended up being conquered by the Spanish Conquistadors. Though the Mayans were more advanced than the Incans in one way, the Mayans had a calendar, while the Incans just followed the stars.
All in all I think that the Mayan religion was a failure and helped lead to the downfall of the Mayan civilization. The reason behind this being that the Mayans had an over dependence on their religion. But not only their over dependence on religion, the fact that they sacrificed so much to the gods drained their resources, plus a lot of their rituals drained the time of the day and people ended up not doing any work at all.
With the evidence shown I think it is safe to say that the Mayan religion was overall a failure and lead to their downfall. Some important evidence that could be restated would be although the Mayans were very spiritual and “pure” they were also very sacrificial which potentially could reduce population and is overall an unhealthy practice. So although the Mayans were overall a very successful nation their religion ultimately lead to their downfall and failure as a nation.
