This page groups sacred sites by their physical type. Wikipedia lists "sacred groves... sacred mountains, sacred trees, sacred waters, tombs" among the recognized types of sacred place. Browsing by site type lets a visitor compare a sacred mountain against a sacred spring or a venerated tomb.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingPyramid-temples, plazas, ballcourts and cenotes of the Maya cities, at which ritual, astronomy and kingship met. Many are aligned to solar, lunar or Venus events, and the inscriptions record the rites of named rulers on dated days - which makes these among the few ancient sacred sites whose ceremonies can be tied to a calendar. 2 Peoples and Traditions Covered"The Maya" is not one people. Some thirty Mayan languages are spoken today by several million people across Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras; the ancient cities belonged to rival kingdoms that fought each other, and descendant communities continue to make offerings at some of these places. 2 Contested Use
Contested or Appropriated Modern UseThe 2012 "end of the Maya calendar" phenomenon, and ceremonies staged for visitors at these sites, are modern constructions rather than Maya practice. The Long Count period it turned on marks the completion of a cycle, not an ending, and the atlas records such claims as claims about the sites, not as readings of them. 3 Learn More
Sacred Sites of the Maya
This group holds the sacred sites of the Maya civilisation, the pyramid-temples, plazas and sacred cenotes of the Maya cities of Mesoamerica, where ritual, astronomy and kingship met. Maya sacred architecture was aligned to the movements of the sun, moon and planets.
The browser will find the temple-pyramids and ceremonial centres of the Maya world. The entries describe each site's religious function and history, noting the continuity of some sacred places in living Maya tradition.
Temple or temple complex
Filter Results2 entries
Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Sites grouped for the Maya tradition.
Source The Maya (9th edition)Michael D. Coe and Stephen Houston
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. The Maya (9th edition)
3. Religions of Mesoamerica, 2nd edition
David Carrasco, Waveland Press, 2013
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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