Cenote - 'dzonot' - "ts'onot" - well
The Cenotes and caves are the entrance to Xibalbá; the Maya Sacred underworld.
Popol-Vuh - The Sacred Maya Book
The Popol-Vuh describes the creation of the earth by the forces of sea and sky.
According to this book, the earth was created and destroyed three times before this world was made.
First
the Mother Earth had animals, then, wet clay, after the clay the wood
came to the earth.
The creation of the first ancestors made of
clay; they didn't last long.
Then he created a man made of wood; it
didn't work, he didn't praise the gods.
The
god got very angry at his own creation and cut off his head. He sent a
terrible flood to Mother Earth that destroyed all his creation.
Then he
made man from maize dough, the man of corn and he was happy with his
creation.
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| México©María O. Baum |
The first father of men was Hu'Nal'Ye.
He was killed by the "lords of Xibalbá." They buried him under a ball
game, which is the representation of death and re-birth.
Hu'Nal'ye had twin sons: H'unah'Pu and X'balanque.
These two semi-gods were very smart. They went into the underworld and
took out their father's head.
He resuscitated from the crack of a turtle when his sons brought him back from Xibalbá.
He was the one that created our world. The date of the creation was Day 4 Ahau 8 Kumku which corresponds to the date of August 13, 3114 B.C.
This date is very important to Mother Earth. Light didn't exist until this day, then; he organized the stars and wrote in them everything he did, so that in the future, man could read it.
Chilam Balam of Chumayel
The Sacred Maya Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel relates the collapse
of the sky and the erection of the five World Trees.
Four world trees in
the corners and a main one in the center of the Earth.
The murals in
San Bartolo have a Principal Bird Deity seated on top of each of four
world trees, recalling the four world trees which, according to the
Chilam Balam books, were re-erected after the collapse of the sky. These
world trees were associated with specific birds.
Four world trees also
appear in the Mexican Borgia Codex.
The shooting of the Principal Bird
deity is one of the main episodes of the Hero Twins myth. The main
characters, the twins H'unah'pu and X'balanque, defeated a bird demon
and won many battles with tricks.
Images Reveal Submerged Pleistocene Fauna
For the first time, the INAH, National Institute of Archaeology and History of Mexico, presented to the public in video images inside a submerged cave Yucatan, where underwater archaeologists have uncovered important archaeological sites of the Age Ice; 12,000 years old.
Caste War of Yucatán (1847-1901)
Casta - Latin - "pure"
The Caste War was a social movement in which the Maya of Yucatan rebelled against the white population, Spanish, mulatos, criollos and mestizos, to end the exploitation they faced in the henequén haciendas where they worked.
They were considered "less than human," as they did not believe the Spanish god and were treated as animals.
They were subjugated intellectually and paid in coupons that were only exchanged in the hacienda store, this way the owners controlled every aspect of their lives.
In 1901 the Caste War ended when the Mexican Army troops occupied the capital of Chan Santa Cruz Maya.
- It is estimated that the death toll was more than a quarter million of Maya.
- In the Caste War the Maya used caves as shelters and to get water.
Jijijapa or Panama Hats
The Cenotes and caves are still used to manufacture the famous straw hats known as the Panama hat.
The plant fiber Jipijapa or guano palm, with which the hats are made, is so fragile that artisans have to weave them inside the caves to keep moisture and ideal temperatures.
In the village of Becal, in Campeche, hats are woven inside caves and almost every house has a cave in their backyards.
The Three Planes of Maya Existance:
- Kaj' - Cosmic force with thirteen levels
- U'kux U'lew ', Earth with four elemental forces
- U'kux Xibalbá - underworld with nine levels - The Cenotes and caves were the entrance to this underworld
Temples were also divided:
- Tolán Kaj' - Cosmic Temples
- Tolánes - Maya Pyramids
- Tolán Ku - Underground Temple
Sacred Doors to the Underworld
- The sacred Cenotes and caves were sacred gates to Xibalbá, the Maya underworld and were the only way to enter these temples.
- Two hundred and fifty million years of drastic changes in sea level are spectacular caves and caverns.
- Many were created by a meteorite impact.
- Due to its alignment with the edge of the meteorite impact crater, many cenotes, have been linked to the Chicxulub meteorite impact (65 million years ago).
- This impact is associated with 75% of the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.
- The impact crater is 177 km across and is buried under the Yucatan Peninsula with its center near a small town; Chicxulub meaning "tail of the devil."
Sacred Ceiba Tree or Tree of Life
The Tree of Life, as it is known, represents the connection between the Celestial gods or Cosmos (branches), and the X'ibalba or "underworld" (roots), the trunk represents the human life.
For the Maya, there was a direct relationship between the Cosmos and the humans. Everyone, depending on the time and date when they were born, were told by the priest, what was their place in this world. To accomplish this, the priests used the
Master Calendar.
The "Tzolk'in" or Master Calendar
is an energy tracking device that describes the energies of Creation.
The calendar has cycles within cycles, in it, each day is unique, each
person is unique, and each era is unique. When a child was born, the
priest used (and some still do), the calendar to decide the N'awal or
spirit that the child would have.
N'awal
is a sacred energy, a transparent aura in form of an egg that surrounds
all living things. Rocks are considered living things too. Depending on
the kind of energy and its force, the person will be weak or strong,
healthy or sick, alive or dying. A sick person has a weak N'awal. Once
the n'awal was decided, the priest will advise the family of the "job"
that had to be accomplished by that child; their element; Fire (spirit),
Earth (body), Air (mind), Water (emotion) and their positive and
negative aspects. Also, th
e priest would advise what aptitudes had to be developed to accomplish what was expected from the child. Character, things to overcome, etc., was foretold. He/she had no choice. Everything was decided there. The priests ruled in every aspect of their lives.
Bilingual Book Series/Series de Libros Bilingües
(Volume 2)
These
magical bodies of water are connected underground, sometimes creating
caves, open wells like in Dzibilchaltún and ponds in Chichén Itzá. There are two
kinds of Cenotes; the young ones with rapid moving water and the old ones, with
slower flow due to sediments or/and collapse. 
