MAYA BELIEFS The Mayas, in Central America, believed that 13
heavens were
arranged in layers above the
earth, The earth was 10cated on the back 01'''' a huge crocodile that noted on the ocean, Nine subterranean worlds existed under the earth, a1so
arranged in layers. Thirteen gods presided over the
heavens; nine gods ruled the underworlds,
According to the Lacandones Indians, the sun spends the night in 3n underworld, where his brother Usukunkyum gives him food and protection against the hostile Kisin, the earthquake god.
This myth renects the strong dualistic tendency of Maya thinking,
that life is a struggle between good and evil.
By Fausto Fabio de Araujo