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The Mayas  days orbited the gods. Itzmana was the most powerful god of multiple gods. He was the fire god, and he created Earth. He was also king of heaven, day, and night. He gave them the calendar, and his name means “lizard house” in Mayan. Another god is Kukulkan, he was the snake god, and he was an authoritarian whose name meant feathered serpent. He also looked like a dragon. He was the main god of Itza. Priests performed rituals, which depended on the stars and the calendar. They also pretended to be gods, looked into the future, and made miracles happen. The Maya believed the afterlife was where you walked through the underworld, and gods tortured them there. They thought the only way to get to heaven was if you died of birth or sacrifice. Usually a pyramid was a god monument, which had a flat top chapel, and had a staircase to get up.

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Daily Life for a Maya Commoner - History

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Maya commoners made up the widest but lowest part of their society’s social pyramid. Most were farmers in the growing season; other times they built cities.

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The Maya had a lot of city-states, each ruled by a king, (ahaw) who the Maya believed were chosen by the gods. There were councils (batab) who controlled the kings, and a military (nacom). A city-state usually controlled the surrounding cities, and at one point, there were over 200.

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ancient maya civilization daily life - story for kids

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Both men and women grew long hair, and got tattoos when they got married. Being a Maya noble was easy because the maya commoners provided everything for them. They wore colorful animal skins, and  feather headdresses. They also lived in giant palaces made of stone.  On the other hand, being a Maya commoner was hard, and peasant-like. They were typically farmers, but they sometimes were other things.

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The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southernMexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as theOlmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizeable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.
Around 300 B.C., the Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government with rule by nobles and kings. This civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the Classic period, A.D. 200-900. Their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centres. It started to decline around A.D. 900 when - for reasons which are still largely a mystery - the southern Maya abandoned their cities. When the northern Maya were integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a close, although some peripheral centres continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century.

Maya history can be characterized as cycles of rise and fall: city-states rose in prominence and fell into decline, only to be replaced by others. It could also be described as one of continuity and change, guided by a religion that remains the foundation of their culture. For those who follow the ancient Maya traditions, the belief in the influence of the cosmos on human lives and the necessity of paying homage to the gods through rituals continues to find expression in a modern hybrid Christian-Maya faith.

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The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southernMexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as theOlmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing.

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Pre Classic

In 2000 BC farms and villages were formed, and 500 years later Olmec formed, from which the Maya adopted a lot of their culture. In 700 BC the Maya developed their writing, and only 100 years later big buildings were built in El Mirador, and there was more farming since the Maya were sustaining larger populations. Tikal formed, which would later become a major city that would peak in the classic period. 400 BC The Maya was carved into stone, and in 300 BC the Maya became a monarchy. In 100 BC Teotihuacan, a city-state, was formed in the Valley of Mexico and molded Maya culture for years. The first Maya pyramids were created during this time too.

Classic

Teotihuacan ruled the Maya highlands in 400 AD, and in 560 AD Tikal fell, getting beaten by other city-states. 40 years later, Teotihuacan stopped influencing Mayan culture, and became less powerful, while Caracol became very powerful. In 900 AD the southern lowland cities caved in, and the Maya left Teotihuacan desolate.

Post Classic

In 925 AD Chichen Itza gained the most power and ruled for 200 years before it declined and was abandoned in 1250 AD. Around this time Mayapan became the capital city, then in 1441 AD, people fought Mayapan and it was abandoned.

Colonial

In 1517 AD The Spanish conquistador Hernández de  Córdoba arrived, and then in 1541 AD, the Spanish conquered most of the land the Maya used to own.