Theatrical performances in ancient Maya society took place primarily in plazas--large open spaces constructed at the heart of every Maya city. Spectacles provide communities with the ability to create and recreate the idea of a community, and a sense of solidarity is created with the active participation of the population in such spectacles. A large public performance unites a community beyond day-to-day interactions making the moral and aesthetic values of a community a living, ongoing idea.
Many of the Maya festivals continued to be held into the Spanish colonial period, and some of the Spanish chroniclers such as Bishop Diego de Landa described festivals well into the 16th century. Three types of performances are cited in the Maya language: dance (okot), theatrical presentations (baldzamil) and illusionism (ezyah). Dances followed a calendar, and ranged from performances with humor and tricks to dances in preparation for war and dances mimicking sacrificial events--sometimes including the real sacrifice. During the colonial period, thousands of people came from all around northern Yucatán to see and participate in the dances.
Illustrated here is the plaza of Tulúm, a postclassic Maya center first occupied about AD 1200. Tulúm was probably a port city for the Maya, as it overlooks the Caribbean; and it may have been one of the first inhabited towns seen by the Spanish invaders in 1518. More information and sources:
Many of the Maya festivals continued to be held into the Spanish colonial period, and some of the Spanish chroniclers such as Bishop Diego de Landa described festivals well into the 16th century. Three types of performances are cited in the Maya language: dance (okot), theatrical presentations (baldzamil) and illusionism (ezyah). Dances followed a calendar, and ranged from performances with humor and tricks to dances in preparation for war and dances mimicking sacrificial events--sometimes including the real sacrifice. During the colonial period, thousands of people came from all around northern Yucatán to see and participate in the dances.
Illustrated here is the plaza of Tulúm, a postclassic Maya center first occupied about AD 1200. Tulúm was probably a port city for the Maya, as it overlooks the Caribbean; and it may have been one of the first inhabited towns seen by the Spanish invaders in 1518. More information and sources:
- The Role of the Plaza in Maya Festivals, more on the project by Takeshi Inomata
- Tulum, from LocoGringo, with text from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), in Mexico.
- Tulúm, article in Athena Review
