Nomadic Tribe

The ancient Maya social structure featured priests and kings along with royal families at the top of the ladder, followed by wealthy nobles. With commoners, servants and workers in the levels below.

The Maya have their own form of Christianity which consists of characteristics of old tribal religions and Roman Catholicism. Catholic Maya often perform ceremonies that also have characteristics of traditional shaman rituals.

One of the most interesting Maya traditions is the intricate calendar system they invented, which allowed them to plot time for the next 400 million years. It enabled them to predict the movements of the planets, as well as solar and lunar eclipses down to the nearest second.

Some speak Mexico’s official language, Spanish, as it is used in church, trading, and tourism. But, many of the community still speak their native dialects from the two dozen languages spoken by the Maya.

Maya design is instantly recognizable, especially the architecture of terraced pyramids—one of the greatest Maya accomplishments. Other art forms include unglazed pottery, woven goods, and wooden masks used in ceremonies.

Mayan women are excellent weavers. They used their ancestors’ back-strap loom to produce plain white and striped cloth, which is then made into children’s clothes, shirts, and shawls. They still frequently use designs that are more than
1,200 years old.

Due to the rise of Catholicism, modern Maya observe holidays in the Christian calendar. They also have some observances close to those of their nature-worshiping ancestors.