{"id":1077,"date":"2016-05-05T16:53:18","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T22:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sintellectual.org\/hstr467\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2016-05-05T22:07:09","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T04:07:09","slug":"1077","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sintellectual.org\/hstr467\/2016\/05\/05\/1077\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain theology of Mesoamerica"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mountains have a unique ability to put the human race in a state of awe. Throughout the world, and across time, civilizations have exalted mountains far beyond simple geological structures. Mountains are physical boundaries and therefore protectors.\u00a0More abstractly, mountains symbolize stability, determination, and a place where one can find solace.\u00a0Mountains are also contradictory, for example, while dangerous, one can find peace and tranquility. Mountains are sometimes the home of demons, while others see mountains as a place close to heaven. Mountains can awaken man\u2019s natural urge to explore and conquer. A mountain can also inspire men and women to push past their natural limits\u00a0with the goal of\u00a0spending mere moments on their summits. Mountains present ideal conditions for an\u00a0individual\u00a0wanting to leave their temporal mind behind\u00a0in order to\u00a0obtain\u00a0enlightenment. In order to ascend to the top of the mountain, one must sacrifice his or her own body and sanity, leaving them emotionally naked before\u00a0Mother Nature\u00a0and open to sacred wisdom. It is an obvious trend in the various\u00a0pantheons of the world, that deities demand the body\u00a0to be\u00a0worn down and humbled before the veil between the temporal and spirit worlds can be\u00a0parted. The Bible, Book of Mormon (which are\u00a0set\u00a0in the New World), and other religious texts contain many stories in which man\u00a0is required\u00a0to ascend a mountain\u00a0in order to\u00a0receive instruction from God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Various Mesoamerican cultures have used mountains as the foundation for their religions. It is upon these religions that these civilizations\u00a0were built. Some cultures, such as the inhabitants of\u00a0Teotihuac\u00e1n\u00a0view their specific mountain as their deities\u2019 literal presence on earth; similar to the inhabitants of Tibet and their mother goddess\u00a0Chomolungma (TIME, 1952).\u00a0Other cultures, like the\u00a0Kogi\u00a0people, use mountains and the caves and plants thereon,\u00a0as a means to\u00a0gain status and enlightenment. To them the mountains are a refuge, or a protector, teacher, or perhaps a provider. The Mayan people have documented that they need mountains\u00a0in order to\u00a0pass between worlds. This paper is not meant to compare or contrast these civilizations, it\u00a0is meant\u00a0to give a variety of religious and cultural perspectives, showing that mountains are central to Mesoamerican theology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thirty miles northeast of\u00a0modern day\u00a0Mexico City,\u00a0lies the\u00a0legendary\u00a0city of\u00a0Teotihuac\u00e1n. The inhabitants of the city remain a mystery, but the murals within the city, particularly the mural known as\u00a0Tepantitla\u00a0and the Paradise of Tlaloc,<\/em>\u00a0claim that the city was a haven for all racial and cultural factions. The Mayans referred to it as the \u201cPlace of Reeds\u201d, while the Aztecs later dubbed it \u201cThe Place of the Gods\u201d (Miller, 78). This was no minor civilization. The city\u00a0is thought\u00a0to have housed\u00a0a population of\u00a0200,000, making it the sixth largest city in the world during its golden age, which was\u00a0approximately\u00a0550 AD. (Miller, 81). The architectural layout of the city shows a deliberate relationship between the mountain Cerro Gordo and the city itself. The city\u00a0was established\u00a0with the goal of benefiting from the spiritual properties of Cerro Gordo (Miller, 82).<\/span><\/p>\n

To understand\u00a0the importance of\u00a0the mountain, it is vital to understand basic Mesoamerican divinity. Cerro Gordo\u00a0was thought\u00a0to be\u00a0more than a mere mountain because it reflects characteristics that all gods of the Mesoamerican pantheon possessed. Clefts, in many Mesoamerican cultures, were a sign of supreme spiritual beings. The easiest way to\u00a0identify\u00a0a Mesoamerican deity is to look for an obvious cleft down the middle of the forehead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carson\u00a0Murdy, one of the leading Mesoamerican researchers theorized as to why the cleft was a sign of divinity; this speaks to the cultural views of both animals and mountains. For centuries, royal Mesoamerican families made a habit of intermarrying each other. Because of this, many children were born with genetic disorders. The most common disorder to have cursed these people was Spina\u00a0bifida. Having no knowledge of the dangers of inbreeding, Mesoamericans believed that the children bearing these diseases were descendants of their gods, because the physical malformation\u00a0was likened\u00a0to that of a jaguar. The jaguar itself\u00a0was seen\u00a0as a divine spirit because of its mastery over land and water. The artwork depicting nobility and deities\u00a0had the addition\u00a0of the cleft. This was how royal families could declare that their blood was\u00a0elite, and show that their families\u00a0were ordained by the\u00a0gods, thus establishing dominance over others (Murdy, 866).<\/span><\/p>\n

The mountain, Cerro Gordo has a similar prominent cleft near the apex. As the mountain itself is a dormant volcano, the cleft is a sunken cone formed by volcanism. It is this cleft that set this mountain apart from others. The cleft exalts the mountain into supernatural being and is the foundation on which\u00a0Teotihuac\u00e1n\u00a0built its empire. Cerro Gordo\u00a0is referred\u00a0to as the Great Goddess (Miller, 81). Cerro Gordo\u00a0is embodied\u00a0in several ways throughout the city, further revealing\u00a0the importance of\u00a0the mountain. First, the mural mentioned above,\u00a0Tepantitla\u00a0and the Paradise of Tlaloc\u00a0<\/em>illustrates a diverse spectrum of people and cultures dancing and celebrating, with Cerro Gordo in the backdrop. The personages dancing seem\u00a0to be\u00a0praising the mountain and thanking it for\u00a0the city’s diversity\u00a0and prosperity, dubbing it paradise on earth (Gee, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\n

The second representation of the mountain is the Temple of the Moon, which\u00a0was built\u00a0to mimic the physical features of the nearby mountain. The prominent cleft is clearly visible, as well as the angle of the slopes. According to radiocarbon dating, the Temple of the Moon\u00a0was erected\u00a0in 100 A.D., the oldest structure in the city, perhaps the first, meaning that the city started as a shrine then later turned into a city (Miller, 81). The city\u00a0is built\u00a0using bilateral symmetry, and\u00a0is oriented\u00a0northeast. The axis of the city, known as the Avenue of the Dead,\u00a0is also orientated\u00a0northeast, with all roads pointing to the Temple of the Moon itself. The temple was built\u00a0as a portal, channeling the power and energy of the mountain and bringing it into the city (Miller, 84).<\/span><\/p>\n

The third way in which Cerro Gordo is proven to have influenced\u00a0the city of\u00a0Teotihuac\u00e1n\u00a0is found in the statue of a woman, showing the same cleft in the forehead as the mountain. The cleft immediately indicates that the woman is super natural. This statue, like the mountain, is also\u00a0referred to as\u00a0the Great Goddess. The Great Goddess\u00a0was thought\u00a0to be\u00a0The Provider, giving blood, water, and seeds; her gestures always\u00a0appear\u00a0to be\u00a0giving gifts to the people. The Great Goddess\u2019 gifts include rain for agriculture and fertility (Miller, 99). The statue\u00a0was painted\u00a0and dressed up depending on the season, indicating that this one deity provides\u00a0a wide variety of\u00a0annual blessings. Cerro Gordo, in the role of the Great Goddess, was the apex of all cultural activities in\u00a0Teotihuac\u00e1n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the Mayan people, believed that when on a mountain, to enter a cave or a pond was to literally enter a portal to the spirit world. These portals are the basis of their creation stories. Very few books still exist today that cover such topics. The\u00a0Popol\u00a0Vuh\u00a0is one of the few books that has survived. It\u00a0contains\u00a0the origin story of the Mayan civilization. Similar to the Bible, the\u00a0Popol\u00a0Vuh, teaches by the use of stories. The main story is that of the hero twins,\u00a0Hunahp\u00fa\u00a0and\u00a0Xbalanqu\u00e9. The two brothers were\u00a0summoned\u00a0to the underworld to compete against the gods in a ball game. To get to the underworld the two brothers have to climb a mountain, and enter through the portal which is a cave (Tedlock, 1985). It is this legend that inspired the infamous ball game that straddles the lines between religion, war, and culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mesoamerica\u00a0is littered\u00a0with arenas for the purpose of the game, for which there is no known name. The architectural structure of these arenas\u00a0were built\u00a0to recreate the mountain cave that the two brothers entered (Gee, 2015). The game was used as a substitute, for war by solving conflicts between regions. The game also gave elites the opportunity to prove their worth to their subjects. Elite families were expected to be some of the better players (Gee, 2015).\u00a0The game was very much a part of Mesoamerican daily life, and it all sprung from two men ascending into a mountain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mountain caves continue to play a role in modern Mesoamerican theology. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500\u2019s to wage war on the New World, The Tairona people\u00a0were pushed\u00a0from their homeland near the Caribbean Sea and sought refuge in mountains (Crystalinks). Some of the oldest\u00a0Tairona\u00a0artifacts\u00a0have been dated\u00a0around 300 AD. (Crystalinks). The\u00a0Tairona\u00a0people have the safety of the mountains to thank for surviving four centuries of war, assimilation, and disease brought on by an immigrating European society. Today, the\u00a0Tairona\u00a0have diverged into several groups, the most famous and most learned tribe is the\u00a0Kogi. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present day Columbia has been their home ever since (Crystalinks).<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like the Maya’s before them, the\u00a0Tairona\u00a0people seek mountain caves for enlightenment.\u00a0Kogi shamans, or\u00a0Mamas,\u00a0are chosen\u00a0at birth. The first nine years of their lives\u00a0are spent\u00a0in mountain caves, in total darkness. Trees, animals, sunlight, and the entire world outside of the cave is never seen until it is time for the Mamas to leave. It is here that these future\u00a0Mamas\u00a0learn the mysteries of the cosmos, which they call\u00a0Aluna (Aluna The Movie). These chosen few grow up to become the leaders, priests, and judges of their people (Crystalinks). Clearly the\u00a0Tairona\u00a0people increase their spiritual connection through\u00a0the utilization of\u00a0mountain terrain.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1990 a group of\u00a0Kogi\u00a0Mamas\u00a0came out of isolation and\u00a0reached out to the western world\u00a0in order to\u00a0organize a video documentary (Crystalinks). The\u00a0Kogi\u00a0have made multiple documentaries; the latest one filmed in 2012\u00a0is entitled\u00a0Aluna: The\u00a0Movi<\/em>e. The documentary\u00a0is meant\u00a0to warn the rest of the world to stop destroying Mother Earth. The Mamas live a life in close proximity to the mountains, they can tell that the Earth is out of Balance. The documentary shows that this underdeveloped primordial society has a deep understanding of string theory, biology and astronomy. This is a culture that does not use instruments like the telescope, but still can recognize up close pictures of faraway galaxies. The theology that\u00a0Mamas\u00a0are learning in these mountain caves is on par with advanced science of modern western society (Aluna\u00a0The Movie, 0:14:19). What this group of Mamas are trying to\u00a0accomplish\u00a0is next to impossible as the rest of the world\u2019s societies ignore the effects of the human expansion. To them, the human population is not just destroying wildlife and terrain; it is also destroying cultural and spiritual rituals, connections, and understandings of the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Kogi, like many cultures in the area, use the coca leaf\u00a0on a daily basis. The coca leaf helps with altitude sickness, hunger, and fatigue. The coca plant allows the people to travel freely among the mountains with efficiency (Crystalinks). Over time the leaf has become more than a remedy, it is how the\u00a0Kogi\u00a0people connect with one another. All day the men chew on toasted coca leaves to turn it into a paste. Upon meeting a person, the men exchange paste with each other (Crystalinks). The paste is then rubbed\u00a0onto\u00a0a gourd that one keeps on his person. This custom is never-ceasing\u00a0as the hands of the male\u00a0Kogi\u00a0are constantly adding to their gourd (Aluna\u00a0The Movie, 2012). Over time the paste accumulates. Status is made\u00a0clear\u00a0by the amount of paste that one has on his gourd. It is a sign of wisdom, and social prosperity (Crystalinks). What started out as a mountain climbing supplement has turned into a daily ritual in which their entire day revolves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spiritual enlightenment via mountains is not a thing of the past nor far from home; Native Americans, who share close ancestry with Mesoamerican, still consider mountains some of their most sacred sites. The native tribes of North America still claim to procure visions from ancestors and spirits on top of these sacred mountaintops. For instance, in the case of the Cheyenne Nation of the American Northwest, vision seekers must climb the mountain Bear Butte, near Sturgis, South Dakota. \u00a0They do it as quickly as possible and after days of constant self-sacrifice, the\u00a0individual hopes\u00a0to be\u00a0sufficiently broken down physically and mentally, so that\u00a0the spirits\u00a0will take pity on him or her and grant a vision (Deloria, 154). Cases of such experiences are still seen today in Native American ceremonies; these practices\u00a0concerning\u00a0mountains go back thousands of years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although western cultures typically are not aware that mountains are an\u00a0integral part of\u00a0theology, it is not uncommon to hear a mountaineer exclaim that as they climb they feel disconnected from the corporate world that has taken over western society. \u00a0Robert\u00a0Macfarlane\u00a0claims that mountains break\u00a0mankind\u00a0of social amnesia (Macfarlane, 275).\u00a0Macfarlane\u00a0also wisely states that mountains help climbers feel as if they\u00a0are detached\u00a0from the monotony of the world (Macfarlane, 275). It is undeniable that mountains have a supernatural effect on the human psyche. While Mesoamerican cultures are nearly extinct, there are still remnants of the spiritual connections in what little culture there is left. Mountains have been a part of the spiritual journey in most cultures throughout the world and while the western world has become commercialized and detached from the theology of mountains there still remains a deep spiritual link that refuses to digress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Work Cited<\/span><\/p>\n

Aluna the Movie<\/span><\/i>. Dir. Alan Ereira. 2012. Amazon Prime. (Primary Source)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Deloria, Vine. <\/span>The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men<\/i>. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Pub., 2006. Print. (Primary source)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gee, Regina. \u201cArt History of Mesoamerica.\u201d Montana State University. Bozeman, Montana, July 2015. Lecture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Miller, Mary Ellen. <\/span>The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec<\/span><\/i>. 5th ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2012. Print.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Macfarlane, Robert. <\/span>Mountains of the Mind<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print. (Primary Source)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Murdy, Carson N. “Congenital Deformities and the Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif.” <\/span>American Antiquity<\/i> 46.4 (1981): 861. Print.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Tairona – Kogi – Crystalinks.” <\/span>Tairona – Kogi – Crystalinks<\/i>. Web. 05 May 2016. <http:\/\/www.crystalinks.com\/kogi.html>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tedlock, Dennis. <\/span>Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings<\/i>. <\/span>New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. Print.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“TIBET: Call It Chomolungma.” Time<\/i>. Time Inc., 16 June 1952. Web. 05 May 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountains have a unique ability to put the human race in a state of awe. Throughout the world, and across time, civilizations have exalted mountains far beyond simple geological structures. Mountains are physical boundaries and therefore protectors.\u00a0More abstractly, mountains symbolize stability, determination, and a place where one can find solace.\u00a0Mountains are also contradictory, for example,…<\/p>\n

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