Mayan Culture Essay

The Mayan Indians ate very simple food that was easy to find and make, using their resources. Maize, or corn, was the staple food of the Mayans diet. They incorporated maize into almost all of their meals because it was an easy thing to find and there was a lot of it.They used maize in muffins and pudding, and cooked maize in a pot or just ate it on the cob. In fact, maize was the most important component of daily life and religious life in the Mayans’ culture. Although, maize was a very important part of what the Mayans consumed, they had to harvest it in order to enjoy it. In addition, meat was another major component of the Mayans diet. They enjoyed roasted meat, rabbit stew, turkey, fish, deer, and duck. To obtain these meats, the Mayans would hunt and fish. Spears, blowpipes, and clay pellets were common hunting tools used by the Mayan Indians. Furthermore, the Mayans consumed large amounts of other easily found food, including mushrooms, eggs, greens, pumpkins, beans, cactus fruit, such as pitaya and prickly pear, and chilly peppers. Not to mention, the Mayans even ate bugs, including wasps and maguey worms. …show more content…
Modern Mayan languages descend from the the Proto-Mayan language, which are believed to have been spoken at least 5,000 years ago. The Proto-Mayan language is made up of at least 6 different branches including, the Huastecan, Quichean, Yucatecan, Q’anjobalan, Mamean, and Ch’olan-Tzeltalan branches. Of the Mayan languages, only two (possibly three) were written down, using the hieroglyphic system. It is believed that the Mayan Indians who spoke Ch’olan and possibly those of the Tzeltalan language, invented the Mayan writing system. The speakers of the Yucatec, then adopted the script to write their own language. In short, the many Mayan languages are very confusing, yet fascinating and were used by the Mayan Indians as a way to communicate in ancient