Cenotes - The sacred Wells of the Mayans

MEXICO/GUATEMALA. In Yucatan, in underground caves there are many wells called cenotes. In this places someone can fell the surviving of a mystic aura that crossed 14,000 years of history of the Maya. 

Considered sacred places, in these caves and waters are made millenar rituals. These caves are also sacred to archaeologists.

Even today, these places are protected, not only by the INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) as well, by the descendants of that mysterious people who - until today, performs ceremonies in these caves and cenotes where they make offerings to ancient deities and entities: the Lords of the waters and of the fields. 


CENOTES - WHAT THEY ARE



A cenote located in Belize, country at the northeastern coast of Central America

The cenotes, of different sizes, are formations like wells. They are natural pools, fountains. The term "cenote" -  is a  word  compound of three ideias - TS - ono - OT. 

Together, this concepts refer,  among the mayans , to natural water fountains, wells. Cenotes are cavities of limestone rocks - more or less deep. How were formed during periods of low sea level - in many cenotes, the water is salty.CENOTES.




This is a video of researchers in one of the pools of Belize. The images show a diver approaching a crater. He disappears into a cloud of sand that rises from the depths of the waters. When the video reaches about 3 min and 40 s, appears the rescue of part of a huge human femur.

BELIZE. Diver 'VANISHES' in Portal to Maya Underworld 
YOUTUBE. Jul 6, 2010. National Geographic CHANEL.
[http://youtu.be/qG1mKDQnpH4]


For the ancient Maya, the underground caves that contain cenotes were inhabited by gods. The spanish catholic religious - Fray Diego de Landa, who was archbishop of the Archdiocese of Yucatán between 1572 and 1579 - claimed that the gods of the underworld have inhabited these caves.  

Even archaeologists must respect the traditions to study these sites. Are released to enter only after going through a ceremony conducted by a wise man, a priest. The ritual includes the reciting of  prayers and spells (from mayan tradition) - during all the night. In the morning, is made ​​the sacrifice of an animal, usually a turkey or a chicken. 

These priests do not allow to any person enter the cenotes. According to their beliefs, the gods, owners of these caves and wells - they can punish, severely,  the violation of their property. Who dares enter the lakes without the ceremonies and permissions may get sick, or worse, may be captured and disappear, can be abduced - forever, into  the waters's mysteries.

SOURCE

FONTE: FERRER, Almudena.Arqueólogos estudian la historia Maya en cavernas sagradas cubiertas de agua.

LA GRAN EPOCA, publicado em 14/06/2012.

[http://www.lagranepoca.com/24641-arqueologos-estudian-historia-maya-cavernas-sagradas-cubiertas-agua]

 

The Mystery of the Astronomy of the Mayans

by Lygia Cabus

The image above is the what which has been, currently associated, in websites, blogs and newspapers - with the Mayan calendar. But this is not the Mayan calendar. This is The Sun Stone, the AZTEC Calendar also called Mexica or Stone of the Five Eras or, even Haab a name that, yes, belongs to one of the mayas calendars.

The Sun Stone is exposed at the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City - Mexico and - in fact, possesses points of congruence with the chronology of the Haab, one of the Mayan calendars, the Cuenta Larga or the "Long Count of Mesoamerica".

It was found during excavations in Le Zocalo, the main square of Mexico City, on December 17, 1790. It has a diameter of 3.7 meters and weighs about 24 tons.

The truly Mayan Calendar is not recorded in a single block of stone or parchment of any kind. But is scattered in various monuments, numerous, petroglyphs and rock paintings distributed in a wide area of Central America, especially at Guatemala.

MAYAS/COSMO. Wednesday, September 19, 2012. At sunset, the astronomical phenomenon of alignment between the Moon and Mars, produced an eclipse of the called - "Red planet" - which was occulted by the silver disc of the lunar crescent. The eclipse occurred at around 18:05, time Brazil. Just over an hour later, at 19:22 Mars reappeared.

Graphical representation of the astrological alignment between Moon and Mars on September 19, 2012.

The event draws attention not only for its rarity of occurrence but because this is one of the cosmic phenomena most highlighted in the Mayan calendar, the same that has been rumored in this year (2012) for its alleged prophecy of the End of a Time in December 21 next.

The scholars consider that this alignment is one of the most important events of the calendar before the end of an era anticipated by Mayans in their predictions.

MAYANS CALENDARS

The knowledge about the culture of the Maya - and other pre-Columbian nations - is very scarce. This is due to the religious fanaticism of the Spanish colonizers (thus like the Portugueses, in Brazil). They understood that was essential to destroy the native knowledge that they considered like contraries to biblical texts, like demonic things, pagan heresies

Interestingly, the little that has been preserved, is due to the zeal of some of these same religious - most enlightened - that kept parts of this knowledge practicing the smuggling of these documents to Europe. 

Today, much of this material is preserved in the Library of the the Catholic Church West, the Vatican - and in monasteries and other institutions of the Catholic Church.

The Popol Vuh (or po'pol wu' in K'iche modernized), for example, a record of Mayan culture that includes "myths" like the Anthropogenesis, was produced in the sixteenth century, and officially dated in 1544. It is a record made ​​with the Latin alphabet but written in K'iche language.

Much of the original text, compiled language K'iche and, in parallel, translated for Spanish language, in the town of Santo Tomás Chichicastenango (also known as Santo Tomás Chuilá - Guatemala), by the Dominican priest Francisco Jiménez (1666-1729), in 1714 - was lost and the remainder is in the Newberry Library, Chicago - USA.

The Mayan calendar, as far as is known, dates from the fifth century BC (500 BC according to academics). In fact, the calendar is a set of three chronological tables that inteargem each other, each one using uma contagem based in different astronomical references. They are:

TZOLZIN, with 260 days, called "the order of days" was and still is used (for native communities in the highlands of Guatemala) to marks earthly events based on sacred cycles, driven by the movements of the sun, moon, the planet Venus and the star Sirius.

HAAB, the solar calendar - a civic calendar, with 365 days.

CUENTA LARGA or Calendar of the Long Periods - which records the time since August 11 of the year 3114 BC, when synchronized with the Gregorian calendar (current, Western). It happens that this calendar, which marks the Ages since the begin of the Creation, records four "worlds", or Four Humanities - (the current is the fourth). 

The stone "pages"  of the Cuenta Larga have been found in different archaeological sites scattered in Central America, what turns your study even more difficult. This - the Cuenta Larga - is that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of a world that will occur in December 2012.

One of these "pages" or stelas of the Cuenta Larga - which are lithic monuments - the so-called Stela D, which is part of the archeological monuments of Quiriguá, Guatemala - contains a cosmogonic record that goes back to a bygone age estimated at 400 million years. How is this possible? It's a mystery.

For example of this mystery science, according with the Popol Vuh, mentioned in the Anthropogenesis of The Secret Doctrine of H. P. Blavatsky (portuguese edition):

The first men were a race whose field of vision no had limits and they had the immediate knowledge of all things, manifesting, in this way - a divine capacity of knowledge, similar to the gods... 

(BLAVATSKY. A Doutrina Secreta. Antropogênese, p 111. São Paulo: Pensamento, 2001)

West face of Stela D. Photo: Stuardo Herrera, 2008. 

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quirigu%C3%A1Glyphs1.jpg]

North Face of Estela D or monument 4 - part of the Mayan calendar "Cuenta Larga", In Quiriguá - Guatemala. The researchers postulate based in recent studies, that the Stela D can be dated in the year of 766 AD. The Stela D has about 6 feet tall. 

Photo: Alfred Percival Maudslay, 1983.

[http://www.prmprints.com/image/816207/stone-carving-stela-d-at-maya-site-of-quirigua-guatemala].

The stone pages of the Cuenta Larga (the Mesoamerica Long Count calendar) have been found in different archaeological sites of Central America, what turns its study even more difficult. All the three calendars were inherited from cultures more ancient further increasing the mystery of the origin of the pre-Columbian peoples.

MYSTERIES

It is curious to note the banality with, currently, people and the media speak of the Mayan Calendar that, in truth, thus as many mysterious legacies of great realizations of the peoples of antiquity are simply something of unexplained.

The accuracy of astronomical knowledge, not only of the Mayans, but also of the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, of the Dogon, a simple tribe from Republic of Mali - West Africa among many other nations, is an enigma that has been neglected by academic science that usually attribute this knowledge to the mere systematic observation with the naked eye, of the night sky by priests and shamans.

This idea is absurd and even naive. At the same time, the same erudite and ofical science solemn despises the traditions of those cultures whose traditions - all of them - considered as mere myths or fantasies, relate their advanced knowledge with the presence, in ancient epochs of divine Masters that would have been responsible for the instruction of their ancestors, not only in relation to the stars and planets as well, to a whole set of techniques, from agriculture to metallurgy that consist in the fundamentals of a civilized humanity.

SOURCES

La alineación planetaria que ocurrirá hoy fue destacada por los Mayas.

MISIONES ONLINE/ARGENTINA, publicado em 19/09/2012.

[http://www.misionesonline.net/noticias/19/09/2012/la-alineacion-planetaria-que-ocurrira-hoy-fue-destacada-por-los-mayas]

CUENTALARGA. IN WIKIPEDIA/Spanish. Acessado em 19/09/2012. [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuenta_larga]

THIS NEWS IN PORTUGUESE 

[http://sofadasala-noticias.blogspot.com.br/2012/09/o-misterio-da-astronomia-dos-maias.html]

Mayas - Stairs that tell Histories

MEXICO – In the archaeological site of El Palmar, southeast of Campeche, a staircase of hieroglyphs was discovered by researchers at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) associated with the University of Arizona and to Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM). Preliminary analyses have indicated that this pre-Hispanic city was in contact with the cities of Calakmul (Mexico) and Copan, Honduras. The finding has a thousand and three hundred years.

This is not the only staircase carved, decorated with hieroglyphics found in the lowland Maya. Twenty of this kind were cataloged. Evidence of the monument were first found in 2009 among others, which are called Grupo de Guzman. At the time, the evaluation of the stones "in situ" suggested the existence of a stairway.

The field season began in late 2010 and early 2011. According to archaeologists, Javier Lopez and Camacho Kenichiro Tsukamoto, the first four pieces examined, were in good condition, while two others were fragmented. It was necessary to do emergency procedures for conservation.

All blocks, drawings, and specific location of the find were photographed and examined with instruments like a topografic laser, before being transferred to archaeological camp with safety. The INAH's restorers: Yareli Jaida and Diana Leticia Jiménez Arano determined the level of conservation and are working in restoration of the blocks.

Hieróglifos

A preliminary translation of hieroglyphics, led by epigraphist Octavio Olguin Esparza (UNAM) provides important information for understanding the Maya Classic period (250-900 AD). The hieroglyphic stairway relates, among other historical events, the visits by foreign to El Palmar. The events are marked in a calendar. The date shown is "11 Ajaw Sak 18" or 13 September of 725 AD. The stone document also refers to the 'Lords of place' and the contacts they had with cities such as Copan and Calakmul, in the southern of the region that was occupied by ancient mayas.

During the excavations, was discovered a large room whose floor shows signs of having been burned, which indicates the possibility of perform of rituals. There were also fragments of pottery. A funerary instalation with offerings was also found. There were human bones and two objects of polychrome pottery. The anthropologist Jessica Cerezo-Roman, University of Arizona determined that the mortal remains belong to a mature man, as indicated the examination of the jaws and the inlays of jade on the front teeth.

SOURCE: Descubren escalinata con jeroglíficos mayas.
IN Artículo 7, published in 04/25/2011
[http://a7.com.mx/cultura/arqueologia/7105-descubren-escalinata-con-jeroglificos-mayas.html]

Mayas: The Stele of number 6

Monument Maya similar to the Stele of number 6, in exibition in La Venta Park Museum

MEXICO – Recently was publicized the information the discovery in Tabasco (one of 31 Mexican states. Capital: Villahermosa) of a supposedly archeological new find belonging to Mayan culture: the Stele of number 6, a stone compostion that could contain prophetic signs about the end of the world.

The midia announced the fact, but in true, Estela No. 6 was found in 1958 in the hills Tortuguero, at Macuspana. Today, it is under the guardianship of the Museum of Anthropology and History Carlos Pellicer House. The piece was never shown to the public.

The stele, which is not a single object but a monument, it is the only document of the Mayan classic period that specifically refers to the date 13.0.0.0.0.0 Ajaw K'ank'kin 3, meaning the equivalent of 21 or 23 December 2012. Therefore, many consider that the stele No. 6 contains something like a prophecy about the end of the World.

However, according to the Maya's Collection director, that brings together ancient hieroglyphs and iconography (Ajimay-INAH), Carlos Pallana Gayol: What we know is that, according to the Mayans the Stella indicates the end of a period and not the end of the world or the advent of a disaster.

FONTE: GARCIA, Flor. Estela 6 marca el fin de un periodo.
IN Tabasco Hoy, published in 03/29/2011
[http://www.tabascohoy.com/noticia.php?id_nota=209840]

El Salvador: Maya priests are praying for Obama

Photo: AP/Luis Romero

EL SALVADOR – At El Salvador a Council of mayan priests belive that the visit of the president Barak Obama is not a fortuity event. Obama arrives to the country on the epoch of an mystic anual ritual. Then, the priests will use the opportunity to ask their ancient ancestors enlightment for Obama in his decisions.

The coordinator of the Council of priests, Ernesto Campos, speaking to a small crowd, explained that the prayers are for that world leaders can take good decisions, especially Obama. The wish of the priests is that the inspiration of gods reach the mind and heart of the great leaders for they take wise decisions, with spiritual meaning (noetic perception), with respect and harmony sense with the whole mankind.

In the agenda for U.S. president on his visit to El Salvador is scheduled a visit to a Mayan ceremonial center called Pan-Tec, at San Andrés, 32 miles west of the capital (San Salvador), department (state) of La Liberdad.. The place is an archaeological site dated around 900 BC. There are located four pyramids and a museum.

For the priest, Mr. Campos, Obama's visit takes place at the spring equinox, ...when the energy of Sun that comes from the center of the galaxy goes down to mother earth... Campos says: This is a good sign, a president with such power of decision in the world be here, at these lands in this time. Obama, who arrives in El Salvador on Tuesday, April 22 (March 2011) the center on Wednesday, 23.

FONTE: MENDEZ, Diego. Sacerdotes mayas salvadoreños oran por Obama.
IN Yahoo Noticias/AP, published in 03/20/2011
[http://bit.ly/ghNEdH]