10 Ancient Mayan Traditions You Won't Believe Existed!

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• published: 07 Sep 2016
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You’ll never believe what the Mayans did to their teeth or the deadly sports they played. As one of the most mysterious and successful ancient civilizations to this day, the Mayans had some really unbelievable and shocking practices. Here are ten of the most interesting traditions of the ancient Mayans. Subscribe to Viral Sap http://goo.gl/wKZhwl 10 UNBELIEVABLE Mayan Traditions Ancient Mayans had unique ideals about beauty, and to achieve these ideals sometimes started from infancy. Boards were pressed onto infants foreheads to make them flatter, and objects were even dangled in front of baby’s faces in order for them to develop crossed eyes, which were a desired trait at the time. The Mayans performed some of the most painful body modifications. They were one of the first cultures to practice the art of tattooing. Many Mayans would also get gems implanted in their teeth. This long procedure included manually drilling holes and attaching the gems inside the teeth using some type of resin. Ancient Mayans had a name for every day of the year. Instead of parents choosing the name of their child, they were expected to take the name given to the day. Mayans often used hallucinogenic enemas. They used drugs such as peyote, mushrooms and various others often in rituals, but also as painkillers. They sometimes gave them as enemas to quicken the body’s absorption of the substance. The Mayans liked sports, and one of their favorite games was Ōllamaliztli The games used a ball weighing around 8 pounds that was not allowed to touch the ground in play. The game was religiously significant and was extremely dangerous, if not deadly. They were very skilled at architecture and some of their pyramids may be even larger than Giza. After their civilization faded around the 9th century, the last official Mayan state existed until 1697. Mayans still exist today and descendants number in the millions. Ancient Mayans were infamous for violently killing people to offer as sacrifices. Often, children were the victims of sacrifice because of their purity and innocence. Today, some Mayans still perform blood sacrifices, only they use animals instead. The blood was believed to make the Gods stronger. The Mayan hieroglyphs are one of the most complex writing systems. Experts were only able to begin decoding the language in the 1950s They were capable of writing books, using turkey quills as pens and soft tree bark as paper. Maya blue is a pigment used in much of the art of the culture that left archeologists baffled. It is one most resistant pigments and is perfectly preserved in much of the art work of the Mayans, even after thousands of years. Mayans would create incense using their own blood. These mystical incense would produce smoke through which visions could be seen. To create them, they would pierce themselves through the tongue or penis usually and pass it through the hole until it was soaked with blood. When a king or queen looked into the smoke, they could see a feathered serpent who would tell a prophecy. (smoke video) Mayans were terrified of death. When a family member would die, they would bury them beneath their house with corn in their mouth