Chichen Itza

Here we are at Chichen Itza, the most famous Mayan ruin in Mexico, another UNESCO site, and recenly named as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The expectations have been built to a remarkable level, and this place lives up to its billing.

This was a purely Mayan ruin, until the Aztecs near Mexico City sent the Toltecs scrambling. The Toltecs had to go somewhere, so they came and invaded Chichen Itza. The result was a blending of Mayan and Toltec cultures. The Mayans were peaceful people, but the Toltecs definitely were not.

With them, the Toltec warriors brought the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl and human sacrifice. Sacrifices were important enough and necessary enough that they had to continually send out raiding parties to nearby cities just to maintain a ready supply of sacrificial victims. The Toltecs believed that the sun god travelled across the sky freely each day, but at night he was at war with the many gods of the underworld. If the priests perceived and weakening of the sun when he rose, this was interpreted as a sign that the battle had not gone well the previous night. A human sacrifice was required to give the sun god strength.

When these people played their ball game, the competition was intense, because the winner was given such a great honour. He was decapitated and sacrificed to the sun god.

"The Castle" in the centre of the city.

This pyramid has been called "The Castle", and it actually serves as one very large calendar. Each side shows the faces of nine tiers. The staircase divides each tier into two sections. There are eighteen sections representing the eighteen months. Each month had twenty days and there are twenty carvings on the faces of these sections, representing the twenty days. I can imagine placing a marker on one section, representing the current month, and another marker on a single carving, representing the current day. This pyramid has four sides and it sits in the centre of the main square. Anyone, from any direction can easily identify the date at a glance. The extra five days did not have names, so the markers could just be removed on those unlucky days.

Also of note is the fact that each staircase has 91 steps. Four staircases have 364 steps. When you add the platform at the top you have 365, the number of days in a year.

There do seem to be serpents everywhere.

The main Ballcourt is the largest in any ruin, and from the reports, it may have been the most deadly.

The hero who won was honoured by being sacrificed.

There is some uncertainty about the purpose
of the wall of skulls.

There are suggestions that the heads of enemies or of
sacrificial victims were displayed here.

The Jaguar (below) and the Eagle (above)
are both seen devouring human hearts.

More Serpents

A Chac Mool was used to hold a human sacrifice
and to catch the blood.

Each side of each staircase of "The Castle" was
decorated with a serpent's head.

At each each equinox, the rising sun would cast a shadow on the side of the starcase. The undulating shape of the tiers made a serpentine shadow which appeared to be coming down the staircase as the sun got higher in the sky. The serpent head at the bottom completed the illusion.

At sunset, the serpent could be seen rising back up to the sky on the opposite side of the staircase.

This illusion was made possible because the entire pyramid was precisely aligned 17 degrees off of true north and south.

A chac mool sits at the top of the stairs.

The "Thousand Columns" were thought to be something
of a hostel. People who were invited to the ceremonies
we lodged here. In return, they provided labour.

This is called "The Observatory" and the reason is obvious
Windows were aligned carefully and bowls of water were
used to view the stars without bending the head back.

Deb had her picture taken with an eagle
and a jaguar

Dinner was at a local cenote. It was
beautiful and it tasted okay.

We had the option to swim in the cenote, but we did not.