Today is the Mayan New Year. 10 things you might not know about the Mayans.
The term "Maya" was derived from the city of Mayapán.
They lived in Mesoamerica, which today comprises south-east Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. Their civilization lasted from around 2000 BC to around 1600 AD. During this time Britain went through the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval and Tudor periods.
They had a complex writing system comprising 800 glyphs, each representing a syllable. They wrote down historical events, astronomy, mathematics, and religion. They even wrote books, but very few survived the zealous book burnings carried out by Spanish Catholics. That said, only the elite could read or write – commoners were illiterate. One of the surviving texts is called the Popol Vuh. It contains the Mayan creation story and myths about a pair of heroic Twins called Hunahpu and Xbalanque. It was translated by one Father Francisco Ximénez, and although the original was lost, the translation survives.
The Mayan calendar was very precise and included a Leap Day type adjustment to keep it in step with the solar year. There was a 260-day cycle known as the Tzolkin and various other shorter and longer cycles. Every so often all the cycles would come to an end at the same time and the whole thing would reset to zero. This is what happened on 21 December 2012, when some people took it to mean that the world would end. It didn’t, of course. The Mayans themselves didn’t see such an event as the end of the world, but rather as a new beginning.
We have the Mayans to thank for Chocolate. They made it into a drink with water, Honey, chilli peppers and cornmeal to be consumed on special occasions or as part of a religious ceremony. The concept of zero is another thing they gave to the world.
The Mayans saw flat foreheads as a beauty standard. They even went so far as to use boards to flatten babies’ foreheads, or to bind their heads. Beauty standards also included filed and decorated teeth. They would inlay their teeth with jade or other precious stones as a sign of wealth and status.
They had priests who would perform public ceremonies which might include feasting, bloodletting, incense burning, music, ritual dance and even ritual enemas, possibly as an efficient way to take in hallucinogenic substances while avoiding vomiting. Sacrifices were a part of it too, as Mayan deities were a bloodthirsty lot. While animals or birds might suffice a lot of the time, there were occasions when only a human sacrifice would do. More often than not the unfortunate victims would be high status prisoners of war. The best possible sacrifice would be a captured enemy king. Methods of sacrifice included decapitation or removal of the Heart. People who were to be sacrificed to the rain god were sometimes painted Blue.
If they had enough prisoners, they might force them to play a ball game called Pok-a-Tok. The object of the game was to get a ball made from natural latex (the Mayans were the first to use rubber as well) through a hoop without using hands. The stakes were literally life or death as the losing team would be sacrificed.
The Mayans were also known for their architecture. They built cities and pyramids. Many of them survive today and it’s possible to see them at Chichen Itza, Palenque, Uxmal, and Yaxchilan in Mexico, Tikal in Guatemala and Copán in Honduras. Mayan pyramids are still being discovered, too. As recently as 2015 a Maya pyramid more than 1000 years old was discovered at Toniná in Mexico, and was found to be Mexico’s tallest pyramid at 246 feet (75 meters) high.
The Mayan culture seemed to disappear around 1600 AD and nobody knows for sure why. Conquering Spaniards, disease and climate change have all been blamed. That said, the Mayans are actually still around. More than 6 million people alive today in the area that was Mesoamerica are descended from them and speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages. They practice ancient shamanistic religions and still use recipes the Mayans used. Cochinita pibil tacos are an example of an ancient Mayan recipe still in use today.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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