Week 6: Mayan Empire (400 AD)

Originally, we were going to talk about Chichen Itza, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. But, once we found out that one of our class friends was born in Guatemala, we decided to study a Mayan city there: Tikal! Campbell has even traveled to Tikal to visit the ruins!

The Mayan empire was large and powerful -- it stretched from Southern Mexico through Central America, including Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. Among their amazing contributions were math, astronomy, architecture and farming.

Speaking of farming, guess what important crop they cultivated? Cocoa! To the Maya, cocoa pods were sacred, symbolizing life. Cocoa was considered food of the gods and royalty -- and cocoa beans were even used as money! We sampled the type of chocolate the Mayans ate (it had no sugar or milk mixed in!). Here's what the kids thought:

Sad eyes from Noah!

Campbell says, "Yuck!"

Porter tries to wave away the taste!

We also sampled some Hershey's chocolate as a comparison. Everyone liked that much more!

After our snack, we talked about another Mayan invention -- the ballgame. Archaeologists have found ball courts at every major Mayan settlement (Tikal has five!). Although they haven't figured out all of the rules, they do know this: each team had to keep the ball in play (off the ground) without using their hands OR feet, while trying to get the ball through a hoop. The other thing we know is that the losing team was often beheaded as a sacrifice to the gods!

We went outside to try out Mayan ball (called Pok ta Pok or Pitz). I'm glad to report that everyone did so well, there were no sacrifices necessary.

Playing Pok ta Pok. It was really hard not to use our hands or feet!

L to R: Olivia, Hammond and Evan peer through the goal hoop.
Enthusiastic Kendall is in front!

If you'd like to check out modern-day Mayans play Pok ta Pok, check out this link
Next week we will head to Northern Europe to study the fearless Vikings!