Mayan Health
The Mayan’s health was very different than it is now. If you had a toothache they would tell you to take the tooth of a crocodile with a fish skin and wrap it in cotton or wool and apply to the tooth. For sneezing take a handful of orange leaves, boil, apply the liquid to the foot and on the rest of the body. When someone was sick it was the priests who would tell you how to treat it. It was common for tobacco to be used, the Mayans used tobacco as a cure all. They may have prayed to the gods, for the Maya believed that the priests were a pathway from the gods.
FamilyLife
The family life was very different then it is now, for a few reasons. For one thing villages were made up of a few families. The families had extended family as well. They did this because there were enough people to make work light. The men would farm and do the hard work while women would cook and weave and clean. The children would watch and learn from their parents and do what the adults did. Neither boys nor girls went to school, only if you were to become a scribe.
EveryDayFood
- Even though the Mayans lived long ago, they had some food like us. They grew crops such as fruit, avocados, beans, tomatoes, chili peppers, corn and chocolate. They used the slash and burn method, even though they didn’t know to come back to the fields after a while. They also hunted. Some things they hunted were rabbits deer and they fished.
- Chocolate was more than just a plant to the Mayans. The Maya even had a god of chocolate that they worshiped. They had chocolate as a drink, and it wasn’t sweet at all. They added little or no sugar, so it was bitter.
- Corn was the most important crop of all, for it was their main staple. They had a god of corn, and they also believe that the very first people were made of corn. They ate it every day and it was considered sacred.
Fashion
- The Mayans had a real sense of fashion. Non-royal men wore loin cloths, women wore tunics. Both wore sandals and jewelry. Nobles, however, wore long skirts, tunics, and capes. The fabric was brightly colored, decorated with embroidery. The Mayans wore intricate headdress, the more complicated the more important the person wearing it was
- The Mayans sense of beauty was odd. Since they considered a forehead that sloped back beautiful, they tied boards to their babies heads to shape them while their heads were still soft. They would also dangle a small object in front of their eyes to cross them, which is also considered beautiful. The Mayans also pierced their ears. They stretched their earlobes by putting bigger and bigger metal earrings in. Not all Mayans were allowed to wear these all the time. They were mainly used for ceremonies and sacrifices.
Los Dias deLos Muertos
The Mayans celebrated the Day of the Dead (Los Dias De Los Muertos with food. The bread they had was called Pan de Muertos (bread of the dead) and they decorated it in chocolate bones. They had many different kinds of sweets as well. They ate chocolate and marzipan skulls. They would decorate cookies with sugar and place these on their dead ancestor’s graves. Sometimes they would put the dead person’s favorite food on the grave. Here is the recipe!
