. An introduction to the study of the Maya hieroglyphs . at the aim and object ofall Maya ceremonies were to secure threethings only: Health, life, and sustenance;modest enough requests to ask of anyfaith. The first step in all Maya reh-gious rites was the expulsion of the evilspirits from the midst of the worshipers. This was accomphshedsometimes by prayers and benedictions, set formulae of provenefficacy, and sometimes by special sacrifices and offerings. It would take us too far afield to describe here even the moreimportant ceremonies of the Maya rehgion. Their number was liter-ally legion
. An introduction to the study of the Maya hieroglyphs . at the aim and object ofall Maya ceremonies were to secure threethings only: Health, life, and sustenance;modest enough requests to ask of anyfaith. The first step in all Maya reh-gious rites was the expulsion of the evilspirits from the midst of the worshipers. This was accomphshedsometimes by prayers and benedictions, set formulae of provenefficacy, and sometimes by special sacrifices and offerings. It would take us too far afield to describe here even the moreimportant ceremonies of the Maya rehgion. Their number was liter-ally legion, and they answered almost every contingency within therange of human experience. ? First of aU were the ceremonies dedi-cated to special gods, as Itzamna, Kukulcan, and Ixchel. Probablyevery deity in the pantheon, even the most insignificant, had at leastone rite a year addressed to it alone, and the aggregate must havemade a very considerable number. In addition there were the annualfeasts of the rituaHstic year brought aroimd by the ever-recurring. Tig. 8. Conflict between the Gods of Lileand Death (Kukulcan and Ahpuch). 20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BnLu 57 seasons. Here may be mentioned the numerous ceremonies incidentto the beginning of the new year and the end of the old, as the renewalof household utensils and the general renovation of aU articles, whichtook place at this time; the feasts of the various trades and occupa-tions—the hunters, fishers, and apiarists, the farmers, carpenters, andpotters, the stonecutters, wood carvers, and metal workers—eachguild having its own patron deity, whose services formed another largegroup of ceremonials. A third class comprised the rites of a morepersonal nature, those connected with baptism, confession, marriage,setting out on journeys, and the like. Finally, there was a fourthgroup of ceremonies, held much less frequently than the others, butof far greater importance. Herein faU the ceremonies held on extra-ordinary occasi
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