The History of the Maya communities dates as early as 1500bce. Where the people civilized in villages that practised cultivation of beans, squash and corn. In 600CE, the community were able to grow cassava. By 200CE the Maya people had begun building cities that had temples, courts, palaces and pyramids. They had enough limestone that they utilized in the building of the cities. The Maya people lived in small states that were governed by Kings. Besides successfully building their cities, the Maya people developed an ancient system of writing. They used glyptic symbols to inscribe on artefacts, stele, buildings and paper they made from barks of trees (Hansen 2017). Today the Maya people no longer own cities as they did before. They were conquered and thus scattered in different parts, some of them live in Mexico and others in Central and Southern America. They still practice their cultures as they continue to practice farming and creating of handcrafts. The Maya people also believe in living in groups, they have formed small villages and have, therefore succeeded in preserving their identity.
Their religion and cultures heavily influenced the Maya people. The society had priests whose roles were to keep the calendars and maintain peace in the community. They wrote their History on how their dynastic rulers would capture aristocrats from their rivals during the war. They would then torture and sacrifice the captives to their gods (Thompson 1990). Human sacrifices and torture were essential in their religion. They believed that failure to perform these practices, there would be chaos in their communities. In the present day, most of the Maya people are Roman Catholics while some of them are Evangelical Protestants (Leventhal & Espinosa 2012) . Their choice to follow Christianity is attributed to their native religion. They no longer practice human sacrifices since such rites are not allowed in Christianity. However, in their communities, the Mayan people still have the Shaman- priests who conduct traditional rituals in the community.
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The ancient calendar of the Maya people is one of the most intricate and complex. It consisted of twenty months a year, and every year there were two calendars. Two hundred and sixty days were a sacred round while Three hundred and sixty-five days comprised of the vague year. Every fifty-two years the calendars of the two years would coincide. In the present-day, The Maya communities, especially those who live in the Guatemalan highlands, still use the calendar. It has survived for so many years (Leventhal & Espinosa 2012) . The priest Shaman- priest present in the communities, act as day keepers whose role is to keep track of the days in accordance to the Maya Calendar.
In the present times, the Maya communities are not as powerful as they were during their civilization. Despite lacking power, they have maintained their traditions, culture and values. In spite of the rise in modernization and many intermarriages the Maya people are still many in the population (Hansen 2017). They have faced many challenges and continue to struggle, especially with limited land to cultivate their crops. The major problem they faced was the political upheaval that led to their economic collapse and loss of so many lives. However, in present times, the human rights groups are working to end the problems of discrimination. Maya communities now have intellectuals who have realized the importance of unity in the many Maya communities. Therefore, they have begun advocating that the many language groups should band together so that their culture and languages can survive. Maya populations also continue to increase, and some people believe that the Maya people will survive future centuries because their unity enhances strength and their ability to adapt to change.
References
Hansen, V., & Curtis, K. R. (2017). Voyages in world history (3rd ed., Vol. 1). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Leventhal, R. M., Espinosa, C. C., & Coc, C. (2012). The modern Maya and recent history. Expedition , 54 (1), 46-51
Thompson, J. E. S. (1990). Maya history and religion (Vol. 99). University of Oklahoma Press.
