April 3, 2009
-
Modern Mayan
I think it would be interesting if the original Mayan civilization was still around today. I have fun imagining some of their rituals and culture modernized in a way similar to today's rituals and culture. For example, imagine tlachtli, the game of putting a ball through a ground-perpendicular hoop. The game arenas of the day were impressive by themselves, but imagine a modern stadium for the sport. A beast with thousands of seats, a retractable dome roof (well, "I"-shaped roof), and concession stands selling greasy, overpriced food-like items. The players would be big, beefy, overpaid leviathans with more safety equipment than your average fireman. And finally, at the end of the game, they would have a huge sacrifice of the losing captain, complete with fireworks, live music, and crowds cheering loudly for blood.
Ho yes, let us not forget the blood sacrifices. The sacrifice is an important aspect of the religion, so it would not be easy to simply ignore. Before their collapse, the Mayans had huge temples built for the purpose of giving a person up for their god of choice (it's getting a little warm; bring me the captured prince to appease the god of air conditioning!). For some reason, I just picture a crystal cathedral here. It's huge. It's modern. It gives plenty of view of the bloodshed. Something like that would be perfect. I just wonder how they would dress. Would feathers remain regular garb? Would the ones holding the guy down wear aprons or goggles or something? Would the aprons be made of fine silk and diamond encrusted? How would they be washed?
Would the Mayans switch to a democracy? That seems to be all the rage in this day and age. I don't think it would work particularly well, though. They need royalty for their best sacrifices. Maybe they would sacrifice politicians, even if the gods continually say they didn't want them (who could blame them?).
Most important of all: would the Maya overtake the Germans as the chocolate professionals of the world? They are the original cocoa growers, after all.
(Disclaimer: Sadly, I did not do much research for this post. I was bringing up most of the facts of Mayan civilization from memory. Some of the facts may be incorrect, so feel free to disregard them. In fact, feel free to disregard this entire post.)
"People aren't afraid of being dead, they're afraid of getting dead." - George Carlin
Comments (4)
I think the sport of tlachtli would end up being one of those pay-per-view venues like wrestling, but I image the sport would be most awesome when your life is on the line...
Because that $30million you make a year means nothing if you lose! bWHAHAHAHAH
I thought it was the Belgians and the Swiss who are the chocolate connoisseurs of the modern day world?
@lunalee1988 - Belgians are known for their superior waffle making, and the Swiss for their cheese and banks.
last quater i took a class a about maya visual culture, so i know more about maya then ill ever need to know. So i find it very ironic that on the card its a picture of a maya queen, can tell by the rope she is holding, but the card is a king. Oh so ironic!