Central America Tattooing as an integral part of body enhancement
For 3 million years, the Central Americas isthmus has been both a barrier and a bridge, separating two vast oceans and connecting two huge continents. The northern areas of Central America were inhabited by the indigenous people of Mesoamerica. The most prominent of these were the Mayans, who had built many cities throughout the region. Before them, the Olmecs had rooted in many traditions and pyramids. The Olmec civilization, dating back to 1200 B.C. and perhaps earlier, is the mother culture of Mesoamerica. The Olmec roots are believed to have the early farming cultures of Tabasco, dating from 5100 BC to 4600 BC. Little is known about the Olmecs, and they remain a mysterious civilization. They are known to have laid many of the foundations for all subsequent Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Mayan and Aztec cultures. In Nahuatl, the language used by Aztec, they were called Ōlmēcatl. The word ōlli means “rubber” and mēcatl means “people”. Thus, the term can be translated as "rubber people".
The first ball game in the world - the first bouncing balls were made of rubber made from the tropical Castilla elastica tree found in the Olmec region. It is the Olmecs who are considered the creators of this ball and are probably the founders of the religious ceremony, which later figured prominently in Mayan creation mythology, in which the ball-playing twin heroes outwit and defeat the evil gods of the underworld in preparation for the dawn of the world and the rebirth of the corn god. In the Aztec creation myth, the sun god killed the forces of night in the ball field.
The Olmecs not only exported rubber balls, but also certainly performed a version of this ball game and may have invented this game. Olmec religious activities were conducted by rulers, full-time priests. Shamans who could transform into their alter ego animals and travel to the supernatural world to become an intermediary for the benefit of society. Mesoamericans elevated the shaman to a holy ruler who not only spoke to the gods, but also descended from them. In Olmec art, Mesoamerican shaman-rulers can be found combining human characteristics and jaguar animal traits.
Feathered Serpent Deity
Corn God
Olmec deities include the Olmec dragon with flames in its eyebrows
Researchers have also found evidence that the Olmecs practiced bloodletting rituals. Sacrificing blood as an offering to the gods. Olmec art feature is incredible attention to detail. It can be found not only in miniature works, but also in monumental stone sculptures. The Olmecs created the finest jade artwork among all Mesoamerican cultures. However, the Olmecs are most famous for their monumental sculptures, especially the 17 colossal heads.
Several researchers have acknowledged many things, including being the first Mesoamerican civilization to develop a writing system, inventing the famous Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and discovering the compass millennia before the Chinese. The Olmecs are the forefathers of all later Central European cultures, but there is no evidence or conjecture of tattoos on their bodies, which makes our search even more interesting, because the next culture that takes over the gods and traditions of the Olmecs is the Maya. Mayans deformed the skulls of their newborns to elongate their heads to resemble corncobs, they filed
their teeth, they were more pierced than modern punks, and of course they were profusely tattooed. For all of this we can find archeological evidence – Let's Go :)
On the island of Ometepe, in Lake Nicaragua, archaeologists came across a sculpture of a seated woman with tattoos. The Mayans were a very spiritual people; for them tattooing had a deep meaning. First, tattoos determined their social status, specialized skills, and religious power. Tattooing was also a sacrifice to the gods to give their suffering and blood to the gods. The symbols they chose as tattoos depicted their totem animals or gods, who would then imbue their lives with a certain power.
The tattoo artist first painted a drawing on the body, then punched the drawing into skin. The resulting scar and color created the tattoo. This process often led to disease and infection. Mayans who dared to get tattoos, were honored for their bravery during the process, because it meant they had the fortitude to cope with pain and suffering.
Some of the clearest Mayan tattooing traditions evidence comes from the testimony of Spanish chroniclers. For instance, brother Diego de Landa in his book Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (translated as "Yucatan before and after the victory"), written in 1566, dedicated paragraph for this practice: ''They tattoo their bodies and are considered brave in proportion to the skin for the quantity of drawings, because the process is very painful. In doing so, the craftsman first covers the desired part with paint and then subtly stabs the images into the skin so that the blood and paint leave outlines on the body.
They do this gradually because of the pain and consequent disorders; festering in areas and shape is important. But for all this, they ridicule those who are not tattooed...
De Landa went on to note that Mayan men tattooed their bodies and faces, but only after they were married. Women also wear (finer) tattoos, but only on the upper body and always excluding the breasts. Both men and women tattooed their bodies with black copal [wood resin], which was also used as incense''.
In Mayan culture, everything was linked to the gods in some way, including their tattoos. Getting a tattoo is a painful process. The tattoo had a sacred meaning. Obtaining it and enduring pain and disease was part of the sacrifice to appease the gods. Tattoo motifs among the Mayans often reflected their gods and were said to be more than (200).
The new corn god was a symbol of creation and renewal of the Mayan world. In ancient myths, the fearsome Mesoamerican gods of the underworld cut off the head of the corn god, who is then reborn at the dawn of this world. This theme of sacrifice and resurrection is integral to the pre-Columbian worldview. What Maya reflect in their culture with the constant sacrifice of captives, where the numbers isn’t decisive, there can never be too many sacrifices for the gods.
According to Popol Vuh, the K'iche Maya Bible, the new corn god was central to the birth process. About the sun and the creation of the world. After the decapitation (harvest) and subsequent rebirth (sprouting) of the corn god, his mother, “grandmother of day, grandmother of light,” grinds corn and mixes it with water to create the first humans. The Mayans believed that the first humans were formed from sacred cornmeal. The second most important ingredient in Mayan society was Chocolate, cacao trees were everywhere, from rainforests to Mayan gardens. The Mayans used chocolate for practically everything - including rituals.
In the lower part of Central America, where Nicotiana burials, pottery vessels were found, where many were with jaguar designs. Jaguar symbolizes courage, stealth and strength. It is celebrated as the Mayans' most sacred animal. The jaguar could cross the realms of the living and the dead, night and day, dark and light.
The naturalism and soft, curved lines of ruler's portraits and palace scenes make Maya art accessible and easy to admire; and the Maya painting and calligraphy traditions have been recognized by art historians among the finest in the world.
The Mayans were great astronomers. They were able to calculate the 500-year cycle of Venus with the mistake of only two hours. Their solar calendar - used by all Mesoamericans was more accurate than that of the Spanish conquistadors, Mayan astronomy went hand in hand with Mayan mathematics. Numbers had patron gods, and certain combinations, such as 13 and 20, were imbued with sacred meaning. The 260-day ritual calendar used by all Mesoamericans was a combination of 20 days rotating with the numbers 1-13.
The Maya perceived the written word as no other culture before them, not even the Olmecs or Zapotecs, who probably invented writing. Although Mesoamerican cultures were very different, they also shared many common features. They were the only indigenous cultures in the America to compile books, books made of folded bark paper, most often written in pictographs.
P.S.
Every Central American culture’s story begins with a myth about the creation of the world, all of which vividly reflects the fact that they see the world and live with such traditions. Unlike the Inca culture, the indigenous people of Central America, had no mummification traditions, but today's Mayan descendants are passionately trying to restore their culture. Of course, the bloody time of sacrifice to the corn god is over - however, the traditions of Mayan tattooing and body art are still alive today.
