9. The Life Force Ceremony
One of the main beliefs that the Mayan people had was that there is a life force that is embedded in every person. In particular, they thought that this life force acted as a form of nourishment for their gods. The Mayans would regularly hold ceremonies that were connected with these life forces. It was an unsavory ceremony in today’s terms.
Arrowheads that had been created using obsidian (a particular type of volcanic glass) to cut the given man or woman’s genitals. Earlobes or tongue and the blood would be then allowed to spill out. Their thought behind this ceremony was that the human life force was acting as a meal to the god. While the ceremony itself was gruesome, it is believed that the people who took part in this sacrifice were usually volunteers and the majority of the time they survived this encounter.
While blood was seen as a strong source of nourishment for the gods, the act of sacrificing a living creature was seen as the most powerful form of blood offering. For the most part, it was living animals that were fully sacrificed, but there are also many instances of human sacrifice, as this was seen as being the ultimate offering to the gods. Most of the prestigious and important rituals in the Mayan way of life involved a human sacrifice. When it came to these full-fledged offerings, most of the time those who were chosen to give their life was a prisoner of war that had a high status. Those prisoners who were of a lower status usually were used for labour means.
The usual way in which humans were sacrificed was by having the head decapitated and the heart extracted. Less common ways include shooting the person with arrows, throwing the person into a sinkhole, entombing the person alive when a noble was being buried and disembowelment.