Maya bloodletting
Encyclopedia
Bloodletting was the ritual
ized self-cutting or piercing of an individual’s body that served a number of ideological
and cultural functions within ancient Mesoamerica
n societies, in particular the Maya
. When performed by ruling elite
s, the act of bloodletting was crucial to the maintenance of sociocultural and political structure. Bound within the Mesoamerican belief systems, bloodletting was used as a tool to legitimize the ruling lineage’s sociopolitical position and, when enacted, was important to the perceived well-being of a given society or settlement.
or penis
, and scattering the blood or collecting it on paper, which was subsequently burned. The act of burning the sacrificed blood symbolized the transferral of the offering to the gods via its transformation into the rising smoke.
Piercing was accomplished using obsidian
prismatic blade
s, stingray
spines, or shark's teeth. Under some circumstances, a rope with attached thorns or obsidian flakes would be pulled through the tongue or earlobes.
Jade
or stone spines and teeth have been found in the archaeological record. Some of these jade artifacts have rather dull points but might have been used once the initial cut was made, or might be purely ritual objects not used in actual bloodletting.
The location of the bloodletting on the body often correlated with an intended result or a corresponding symbolic representation. For example, drawing blood from the genitals, especially the male sex organs, would be done with the intent of increasing or representing human fertility.
Ritualized bloodletting was typically performed by elites, settlement leaders, and religious figures (e.g., shamans) within contexts visible to the public. The rituals were enacted on the summits of pyramids or on elevated platforms that were usually associated with broad and open plaza
s or courtyards (where the masses could congregate and view the bloodletting). This was done so as to demonstrate the connection the person performing the autosacrifice had with the sacred
sphere and, as such, a method used to maintain political power
by legitimizing their prominent social, political, and/or ideological position.
While usually carried out by a ruling male, prominent females are also known to have performed the act. The El Perú tomb
of a female (called the "Queen's Tomb") contains among its many grave goods a ceremonial stingray spine associated with her genital region.
One of the best-known lintels from Mesoamerica, Yaxchilan
Lintel 24
(right), shows Lady Xoc
drawing a barbed rope through her tongue. In front of her, her husband and the ruler of Yaxchilan
, Shield Jaguar, is shown holding a torch.
Among all the Mesoamerica
n cultures, sacrifice
, in whatever form, was a deeply symbol
ic and highly ritualized activity with strong religious and political significance. Various kinds of sacrifice were performed within a range of sociocultural contexts and in association with a variety of activities, from mundane everyday activities to those performed by the elites and ruling lineages with the aim of maintaining social structure.
At its core, sacrifice symbolized the renewal of divine
energy and, in doing so, the continuation of life. Its ability of bloodletting to do this is based on two intertwined concepts that are prevalent in the Maya belief system. The first is the notion that the gods had given life to humankind by sacrificing parts of their own bodies. The second is the central focus of their mythology on human blood
, which signified life among the Maya. Within their belief system, human blood was partially made up of the blood of the gods, who sacrificed their own divine blood in creating life in humans. Thus, in order to continually maintain the order of their universe, the Maya believed that blood had to be given back to the gods.
and ceramic replicas of stingray spines and shark teeth as well as representations of such paraphernalia on monuments and stelae and in iconography.
A proposed translation of the Epi-Olmec culture
's La Mojarra Stela 1
, dated to roughly AD 155, tells of the ruler's ritual bloodletting by piercing his penis and his buttocks, as well as what appears to be a ritual sacrifice of the ruler's brother-in-law.
Bloodletting permeated Maya life. Kings performed bloodletting at every major political event. Building dedications, burials, marriages, and births all required bloodletting. As demonstrated by Yaxchilan Lintel 24 and 25, and duplicated in Lintels 17 and 15, bloodletting in Maya culture was also a means to a vision quest
, where fasting, loss of blood, and perhaps hallucinogenics lead to visions of ancestors or gods.
Contemporaneous with the Maya, the south-central panel at the Classic era
South Ballcourt at El Tajin
shows the rain god piercing his penis, the blood from which flows into and replenishes a vat of the alcoholic ritual drink pulque
.
in a 1566 manuscript:
Nonetheless, the misconception that the Aztec and Maya people practised circumcision persists to this day.
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
ized self-cutting or piercing of an individual’s body that served a number of ideological
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
and cultural functions within ancient Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n societies, in particular the Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
. When performed by ruling elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
s, the act of bloodletting was crucial to the maintenance of sociocultural and political structure. Bound within the Mesoamerican belief systems, bloodletting was used as a tool to legitimize the ruling lineage’s sociopolitical position and, when enacted, was important to the perceived well-being of a given society or settlement.
Description
Bloodletting was performed by piercing a soft body part, generally the tongueTongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
or penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
, and scattering the blood or collecting it on paper, which was subsequently burned. The act of burning the sacrificed blood symbolized the transferral of the offering to the gods via its transformation into the rising smoke.
Piercing was accomplished using obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
prismatic blade
Prismatic blade
In archaeology, a prismatic blade is a long, narrow, specialized lithic flake with parallel margins. Prismatic blades are removed from polyhedral blade cores through pressure reduction. This process results in a very standardized finished tool and waste assemblage...
s, stingray
Stingray
The stingrays are a group of rays, which are cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes, and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae , Plesiobatidae , Urolophidae , Urotrygonidae , Dasyatidae , Potamotrygonidae The...
spines, or shark's teeth. Under some circumstances, a rope with attached thorns or obsidian flakes would be pulled through the tongue or earlobes.
Jade
Jade use in Mesoamerica
Jade use in Mesoamerica was largely influenced by the conceptualization of the material as a rare and valued commodity among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Olmec, the Maya, and the various groups in the Valley of Mexico. The only source from which the indigenous cultures could...
or stone spines and teeth have been found in the archaeological record. Some of these jade artifacts have rather dull points but might have been used once the initial cut was made, or might be purely ritual objects not used in actual bloodletting.
The location of the bloodletting on the body often correlated with an intended result or a corresponding symbolic representation. For example, drawing blood from the genitals, especially the male sex organs, would be done with the intent of increasing or representing human fertility.
Ritual performance
Plaza
Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...
s or courtyards (where the masses could congregate and view the bloodletting). This was done so as to demonstrate the connection the person performing the autosacrifice had with the sacred
Sacred
Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...
sphere and, as such, a method used to maintain political power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
by legitimizing their prominent social, political, and/or ideological position.
While usually carried out by a ruling male, prominent females are also known to have performed the act. The El Perú tomb
Tomb
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...
of a female (called the "Queen's Tomb") contains among its many grave goods a ceremonial stingray spine associated with her genital region.
One of the best-known lintels from Mesoamerica, Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta, with Piedras Negras as its major rival...
Lintel 24
Yaxchilan Lintel 24
Lintel 24 is the designation given by modern archaeologists to an ancient Maya limestone carving from Yaxchilan, in modern Chiapas, Mexico. The lintel dates to about AD 725, placing it within the Maya Late Classic period...
(right), shows Lady Xoc
Lady Xoc
Lady K'ab'al Xook or Lady Xoc was a Maya Queen consort in Yaxchilan and is considered to have been one of the most powerful and prominent women in Maya civilization. She was the principal wife of King Itzamnaaj Bahlam III Shield Jaguar the Great who ruled Yaxchilan from AD 681 to 742. Lady Xoc is...
drawing a barbed rope through her tongue. In front of her, her husband and the ruler of Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan
Yaxchilan is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta, with Piedras Negras as its major rival...
, Shield Jaguar, is shown holding a torch.
Ideological undertones
- See also: Maya mythologyMaya mythologyMayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles...
& Maya religionMaya religionThe traditional Maya religion of western Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico is a southeastern variant of Mesoamerican religion. As is the case with many other contemporary Mesoamerican religions, it results from centuries of symbiosis with Roman Catholicism...
Among all the Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n cultures, sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
, in whatever form, was a deeply symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ic and highly ritualized activity with strong religious and political significance. Various kinds of sacrifice were performed within a range of sociocultural contexts and in association with a variety of activities, from mundane everyday activities to those performed by the elites and ruling lineages with the aim of maintaining social structure.
At its core, sacrifice symbolized the renewal of divine
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
energy and, in doing so, the continuation of life. Its ability of bloodletting to do this is based on two intertwined concepts that are prevalent in the Maya belief system. The first is the notion that the gods had given life to humankind by sacrificing parts of their own bodies. The second is the central focus of their mythology on human blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
, which signified life among the Maya. Within their belief system, human blood was partially made up of the blood of the gods, who sacrificed their own divine blood in creating life in humans. Thus, in order to continually maintain the order of their universe, the Maya believed that blood had to be given back to the gods.
Depictions of bloodletting in Mesoamerica cultures
Unlike later cultures, there is no representation of actual bloodletting in Olmec art. However, solid evidence for its practice exists in the jadeJade use in Mesoamerica
Jade use in Mesoamerica was largely influenced by the conceptualization of the material as a rare and valued commodity among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Olmec, the Maya, and the various groups in the Valley of Mexico. The only source from which the indigenous cultures could...
and ceramic replicas of stingray spines and shark teeth as well as representations of such paraphernalia on monuments and stelae and in iconography.
A proposed translation of the Epi-Olmec culture
Epi-Olmec culture
The Epi-Olmec culture was a cultural area in the central region of the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz, concentrated in the Papaloapan River basin, a culture that existed during the Late Formative period, from roughly 300 BCE to roughly 250 CE. Epi-Olmec was a successor culture to the Olmec,...
's La Mojarra Stela 1
La Mojarra Stela 1
La Mojarra Stela 1 is a Mesoamerican carved monument dating from the 2nd century CE. It was discovered in 1986, pulled from the Acula River near La Mojarra, Veracruz, Mexico, not far from the Tres Zapotes archaeological site. The by , four-ton limestone slab contains about 535 glyphs of the...
, dated to roughly AD 155, tells of the ruler's ritual bloodletting by piercing his penis and his buttocks, as well as what appears to be a ritual sacrifice of the ruler's brother-in-law.
Bloodletting permeated Maya life. Kings performed bloodletting at every major political event. Building dedications, burials, marriages, and births all required bloodletting. As demonstrated by Yaxchilan Lintel 24 and 25, and duplicated in Lintels 17 and 15, bloodletting in Maya culture was also a means to a vision quest
Vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures.In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal,...
, where fasting, loss of blood, and perhaps hallucinogenics lead to visions of ancestors or gods.
Contemporaneous with the Maya, the south-central panel at the Classic era
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
South Ballcourt at El Tajin
El Tajín
El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site and was the site of one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. The city flourished from 600 to 1200 C.E. and during this time numerous temples, palaces, Mesoamerican ballcourts and pyramids were built...
shows the rain god piercing his penis, the blood from which flows into and replenishes a vat of the alcoholic ritual drink pulque
Pulque
Pulque, or octli, is a milk-colored, somewhat viscous alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant, and is a traditional native beverage of Mexico. The drink’s history extends far back into the Mesoamerican period, when it was considered sacred, and its use was limited to...
.
Early European reactions
Following the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, many Spanish missionary-ethnographers arrived and recorded graphic and often unsympathetic descriptions of these rituals among both the Mayan and Nahuatl speaking peoples. Although most understood the religious significance of the rites, such idolatry merely confirmed the need for rapid conversion to Christianity. Many also confused genital bloodletting with circumcision, not least because they believed Indians were descendents of the lost tribes of Israel. One of the first to recognise the distinction was Bishop Diego de LandaDiego de Landa
Diego de Landa Calderón was a Spanish Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán. He left future generations with a mixed legacy in his writings, which contain much valuable information on pre-Columbian Maya civilization, and his actions which destroyed much of that civilization's...
in a 1566 manuscript:
."At times they sacrificed their own blood, cutting all around the ears in strips which they let hang as a sign. At other times they perforated their cheeks or the lower lip; again they made cuts in parts of the body, or pierced the tongue crossways and passed stalks through, causing extreme pain; again they hewed at the superfluous part of the penis, leaving the flesh in the form of two floppy ears. It was this custom which misled [engaño] the historian-general of the Indies to say that they practised circumcision."(original translation)
Nonetheless, the misconception that the Aztec and Maya people practised circumcision persists to this day.