Maya dedication rituals

The Classic Maya used dedication rituals to sanctify their living spaces and family members by associating their physical world with supernatural concepts through religious practice. The existence of such rituals is inferred from the frequent occurrence of so-called 'dedication' or 'votive' cache deposits in an archaeological context.

Caches can be found in the Maya common places and public buildings, which contained objects made or found by commoners. More specifically, these caches were usually found in fields or family altars, and contained less valuable materials such as ceramic vessels, copal, food, and drink. These dedication cache materials relate more closely to household tasks, such as preparing food or working a field. The content and placement of these caches suggests a request for aid in acquiring daily necessities, such as food, as they dedicated their work places and homes to deities in exchange for a better harvest or other living needs. These contents also relate closely to the common mesoamerican idea that the people have an obligation to nourish the life-providing Earth as it does them.

The location of a cache in relation to others can also play a significant role in dedication rituals. At the Classic Maya site in Tonina, three caches covered by a circular stone mark the north, south, and center of a ballcourt alley. The north and south caches contained eight obsidian blades, likely used in bloodletting, whereas the center cache contained nine. The number nine represents death and the underworld, dedicating the ballcourt to those concepts and deity, as well as emphasizing the directions of the Earth. Including this example, caches mark the center of nine ballcourts across Belize, Chiapas, and Central Mexico. Ballcourts were commissioned by the elite, and hosted ritual activities for the elite and commoners, associating them with power and wealth. These caches then dedicated the ballcourts, including their power and rituals, to Classic Maya deities.

Dedication rituals through burial were most common in the Maya highlands, in which they were used to commemorate dead ancestors, make an offering to their deities, and give life or nourishment to the community or structure the ritual serves.

In Maya cultures, elites were buried as cremations in urns. Dedicated to their power, large ritual structures such as temples were built above these burials. The Maya Tikal Triple Ballcourt held two young female burials placed facing each other inside benches located under a central structure. Dedicatory burials are unique in that they utilize ancestors to worship ancestors, as well as provide an offering that had also once provided offerings to their deities, signifying both power and life-giving.

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