Yucatan

Book of Marvels

If we look on a map, we can see a small peninsula jetting out from Mexico, this peninsula is called Yucatan. More than five hundred years ago, Yucatan was a great and wonderful nation. A people named the Mayas used to live there, but it has been long uninhabited since. Let us go there for ourselves, to see the remains of a great nation. As we board the plane to Mexico, I begin by telling you of the Maya’s religion. The Maya’s whole religion was based on if their crops grew well, or not. If the crops failed to grow and the rain ceased to pour, Yum Chac, the rain god was not happy with the Maya’s. Therefore, the Mayas would dress the most beautiful of all fourteen-year-old girls in lovely garments, decked with jewels and gems. And, prepare a handsome escort, in the like manner. Then, in a ceremonial procession, the bride of the sun god, for that was what the poor girl was to be, would be flung down, into a holy pit of water, seventy feet deep, while the escort jumped down after her. These unfortunate souls could have possibly escaped, however being covered in jewels, they were much to heavy to try and swim up. As we leave our plane, we head straight for the holy temple, a masterpiece. This magnificent temple is many stories high, a deathly jump for any fourteen-year-old girl. The path to this temple is a causeway, nearly a fourth of a mile long, guarded by statues of feathered serpents. As we climb the many stairs of the temple, we can see in our mind’s eye the sun god’s bride being escorted up the temple stairs. Drums gong, priests chant, the Mayas hold their breath as the bride is flung into the pool of death, and they are saved from starvation.