The significance of the Winter Solstice according to the ancient Mayans

Tikal, Guatemala - site of the Great Temple of the Jaguar.

In the forests of Uaxactun, Guatemala, near where our Copal is wild harvested by the surrounding families there, lies the ancient Mayan temple of the Masks - where some of the largest known carved stucco masks of Mayan deities have been unearthed. Two other major Mayan sacariums are the Temple of the Grand Jaguar and Temple of the Moon, located in Tikal, Guatemala and San Martín de las Pirámides, Mexico. These sacred Mayan sites are host to authentic rituals still carried out to this day by indigenous people. Contemporary Maya culture continues to keep sacred knowledge of the Maya calendar through "day keepers" and Shamans (1). Because the ancient Maya were renowned astronomers, their temples were built in such a precise manner that they are illuminated perfectly by the sun or moon on lunar events like equinoxes and solstices.

Copal is burned as an incense for ceremonies by Shamans.

The observatory of Uaxactun is believed to be one of the first astrological structures in the Mayan world.

A pyramid on the western side of the Uaxactun complex faces a raised, elongated structure with three temples on the eastern side. The northern temple was built to observe the summer solstice, the southern temple was for the winter solstice and the temple in the center was for the equinox. All three are aligned precisely so that, during these solar phenomena, half of the pyramid appears in light while the other half is in darkness. (3)

Tracking the movements of the celestial bodies was important to the Mayans not just because it dictated their calendar year, but because they were their gods. K'inich Ajaw, or the Sun God in Maya mythology, would rise every day, go down to the depths of the sea, into the belly of a monster, and rise back up again the next day. The Mayans were such precise astronomers to track the movements of the gods and make sense of the natural order of the universe.

The Winter Solstice was significant not only because it was one of the major celestial events, but because it symbolized renewal and that spring was just around the corner.

This year the Winter Solstice is on December 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. While you may not celebrate with ritual like the contemporary Maya do to carry on traditions of their ancestors, you can similarly use this period of darkness to reflect and recognize the longer-term/ larger processes at play in your life. What forces are out of your control and therefore not worth wasting your precious energy on? As you look forward to the lighter months, what lessons can you take with you from the darker months?

What the ancient Mayans were great at was acknowledging and celebrating the passage of time and the cyclical nature of life. Perhaps we could all benefit from applying some ancient Mayan perspective in our modern lives.

SOURCES

1 http://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/winter-solstice.html

2 https://rove.me/to/guatemala/mayan-equinox-and-solstice

3 https://news.arizona.edu/story/winter-solstice-reminds-us-civilization-revered-sun