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Into the Light – Fay Marvin Clark

What was ancient Maya, grew and was perfected independently of any other race in the world, until their land was invaded, centuries later, first by barbaric tribes from northern Mexico and then by the brutal Spanish conquerors.

Until these invasions started, the Maya were a peaceful people, gracious, idealistic, moral, and kind. These traits are still clearly evident among their present-day descendants.

They did not war among each other, nor did they engage in any cruel and inhuman practices. With the infiltration of northern tribes, their mode of life was changed. Civil strife was engendered; the sacrifice of animals and human beings to appease the gods was instituted; and all kinds of cruelties were inflicted on their captured enemies. Hunters of deer gradually became hunters of men. Young men were now no longer trained to become good farmers, skilled artisans, great civil and religious leaders, but valiant fighters for survival. The terrifying plumed serpent with a human head in its open jaws was substituted in place of the simple unadorned serpent of the early Maya.

Under the new regime the barbaric practices did not halt or seriously retard the development of Mayan knowledge. The newcomers, too, were skilled artisans in many fields of endeavour and, while not as advanced in their civilization as the Maya, they brought with them many new ideas and concepts which they found no trouble introducing and having adopted.

This, briefly, was the situation when the Spaniards arrived.

Franciscan missionaries in 1535 were easily able to gain the confidence and friendship of the Mayans of Yucatan.

During their brief sojourn in Yucatan, the friars discovered to their amazement that the religious practices and beliefs of the Mayan in that section were strangely analogous to Christian doctrine.

They discovered that the Mayan worshipped a god (Hunabku) of whom they made no image; that they had a cross, the tree of life, represented by two crossed branches; that they baptized their children in the belief that "they would be born again." The Mayans believed that life was continuous and that the nagual or life principle became perfected by dipping again and again into physical embodiment.

The Maya today believe in reincarnation or rebirth.

Mayans in almost every walk of life have confided in me that, regardless of the teachings of the Church, they believe that life is continuous and that Hunabku is not vindictive and Hunabku does not punish his children.