Diario las Américas., 1958-05-24
Know, thy
tNeighb!!o.t!!!
- M
By ANTONIO RUIZ

AAN
Mayas were great builders and art
lists. In order to worship their gods,
to get god harvests, the people
built temples, adorned them with
elaborate painted sculpture, carv.
ed decorations and painted beau
tiful pictures. Around these cen
tiers of worship, houses for priests
were built, until whole cities ap-
peared. Many of the Maya centers
had populations up to $4,000 and
besides the regular residents,
farmers and their families from
surrounding areas gathered there
for religious ceremonies.
One of the things that continues
to puzzle modern men, is how the
Mayas built their magnificent cit
les, of which there are traces of at
least one hundred. 1t is almost i'm
possible to imagine how this ire
mendous feat was accomplished
with only primitive stone tools.
They did not have any beasts of
burden to transport heavy loads
and, since the wheel was unknown
to them, they had no carts nor
wheelbarrows.
Their great stone structures were
so we'll built, however, that many
stand today in spite of the destruc-
tive effects of the jungle, the elm
ate, tropical storms and the ever
destroying effect of time. Mostly
the temples have been able to re-
sist the ravages of time, in cities
that were abandoned anywhere
from five to twelve centuries ago.
Some of the buildings fund are
believed to have been used as
astronomical observatories.
Most of the more important
structures were built around
courts or plazas, and they were
erected on top of huge pyramids,
with stone steps leading up the
sides. In general, the modest houses
of the common people were scat
tered around the outskirts of the
towns. 1t is believed that the huge
size of the Maya temples was the
result of the priests desire to i'm
press the people with the impos-
ing structures. In every town there
was a temple, which rose high
above all other buildings. The pla-
ces of worship were covered with
a special plaster, and painted in
very bright colors, usually red and
blue.
In the sacred city of Chichen
liza, in Yucatan, there were many
temples, in which the designers and
builders added something unusual,
the serpent columns. This strange.
featured was created in honor of
Kukulcan, the feathered serpent
and god of Chichen liza. Snake
heads, with. their huge mouths
open, lie flat on the ground in
front of the buildings. Their bod
les, which rise straight upward,
from the main part Of the colu-
INNS, which are adorned with tufts
of plumes and the rattles of rat
tlesnakes.
The most important of the tenn
pies of the Feathered Serpent in
Chichen liza is the one known as
Ell Castillo of The Castle, which
rests upon a pyramid cutoff at
the top. Within the base is another
temple, which was buried by the
builders of the newer structure.
This is the largest temple in the
city and cit is believed to be also
the Oldest. Most of the Mays to
this date sincerely believe a legend
according to which, this temple
was built by Kukulcan himself.
A complete history of the an
cient Mayas does not exist, but it
is supposed that the earliest peo-
pie came to America from Asia,
about ten thousand years ago. The
difference in their languages and
early travels in the Western Henri
sphere remain a mystery. Only
about 1000 year ago, the Mayas
themselves began to carve their
history on stone monuments. Lat.
er, the Spaniards added informa-
ton about the people they had
conquered.
Spanish Version Page 3