National Geographic: Lost Kingdoms of the Maya Page #3

Year:
1993
465 Views


was regularity in that movement.

They thought that if they played

the game in the right way,

and honored the gods in the right way,

that they would ensure the

agricultural cycle

and enable the sun to rise

and the rains to come on time

and for there to be

a bountiful harvest.

In the secret world of

the Maya

the gods were the source of all life,

and only the kings had the power

to intervene with them.

The gods sustained the

physical universe with sun and rain

and expected humans to nourish them

in return.

The supreme source of

that nourishment was blood.

When the Maya wanted to acknowledge

the sacredness of the moment or

an important event,

they would let blood.

Blood was the vehicle that carried

a quality that they called chu'lel,

which means their soul.

It was something that not

only permeated human bodies,

it permeated buildings,

it permeated the trees, the sky.

It permeated all things sacred

in the world.

And when they gave blood,

what they were doing was

they were activating the chu'lel.

It's like George Lucas's the "Force."

If you can think of Obi-wan-Kenobi,

you know,

calling the "Force" out,

or Luke, as he guides the plane in

you know, in the final Death Star battle.

That's what the Maya were doing

by these rituals.

They were touching what they

considered to be

the living force

of the universe and it's still here.

On special occasions

the king himself would give blood.

This was one of the most

secret rituals in Maya life.

After days of fasting

and spiritual preparation,

the king would pierce his foreskin

with a stingray spine

and let the blood drip

onto paper strips.

With this act of sacrifice

a doorway to the gods was opened.

When the paper strips were burned,

the Maya believed they could see

their gods in the rising smoke.

Today,

the descendants of the ancient Maya

still live much like

their ancestors did.

The myths they remember

and the ceremonies they perform are

all part of a tradition

that the Maya say God gave them

at the beginning of time.

Casimiro Sagajau is a Maya priest

who blesses the fields at harvest time

We are Cakchiquels, direct descendants

of the ancient Maya.

Our religion is from a long time ago.

I learned as a child

from the Maya priests.

In dreams we learned

from the Maya gods

when to plant and when to harvest,

when to set the fires,

and when to do the corn ceremony.

The Maya passion for ritual

was one of the first things

Spanish missionaries observed

when they arrived in Yucatan

almost 500 years ago.

When the Catholic Church banned

traditional forms of worship,

the old ways went underground.

Today the religion the Maya follow

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Patrick Prentice

All Patrick Prentice scripts | Patrick Prentice Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "National Geographic: Lost Kingdoms of the Maya" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/national_geographic:_lost_kingdoms_of_the_maya_14550>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    National Geographic: Lost Kingdoms of the Maya

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.