"The feathered serpent Kukulkan is back!" A whisper of sacred horror swept through the Maya ranks as they watched a gigantic, scales-covered body wriggle down the ancient pyramid's wall. Only the divine phenomenon disappeared, crowds of strangely dressed people filled the white-stone "Road of Worship". It stretches for almost 300 m from the pyramid of Kukulkan to the sacred well …
Those who participated in the procession beat drums and sounded horns made of sea shells. The priests lined up in a column accompanied by a stretcher trimmed with gold, on which sat girls from noble families. Now they will reach the edge - and young girls will fly into the blue-green waters … Yumkash, the god of fields and forests, who lives at the bottom of the well, requires only virgins. He needs a new wife every time - otherwise there will be no harvest. And after that the priests will wait until noon: if the beauty has not drowned, it means that she is not pleasing to Yumkash. She, of course, will be caught - but the life of the disgraced is over. The quiet contempt of her relatives is her lot. And the victims themselves tried to drown. Such a death was considered honorable …
The day of the vernal equinox began
It was on this day - and even on the day of the autumn equinox - in the ancient city of Chichen Itza that what seemed to the ancient Maya magic was happening. True, in our time for the uninitiated, this is a real miracle. Thousands of people, as in ancient times, gather at the foot of the stone mass in anticipation of an incredible sight …
17 hours 15 minutes - the play of sunlight appears on the balustrades. Gradually, the image formed by the shadow cast by the north-western corner of the pyramid begins to appear. As the sun goes down to the horizon, the picture becomes clearer …
17 hours 30 minutes - 7 triangles of light seem to pull out from the shadow 7 bends of a huge wriggling snake. Her tail is on the top platform, and her body flows down the stairs. And - already at the very ground ends with an impressive sculpture of a snake's head with a fiercely gaping mouth … The illusion lasts exactly 3 hours 22 minutes. you cannot take your eyes off the amazing phenomenon. Moreover, according to those who "who have at least once observed this", an unprecedented spiritual enlightenment descends on all those present …
Magic? Maybe. However, it is also a mathematically accurate calculation. If the pyramid of Kukulkan had been turned even one degree to the side, the incredible play of light and shadow would never have manifested!
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The pyramid of Kukulkan - the supreme Mayan deity - is all of formulas and calculations. At a height of 25 m, there is a temple on the upper platform. At the base of the pyramid lies a square with a side of 55.5 meters. On both sides! - 9 terraces, one for each area of the realm of the dead. This is how the Maya imagined the afterlife - the place where they go after death.
Four wide, steep staircases lead to the top of the pyramid, divided into 18 flights - the Mayan calendar had 18 months. Each staircase consists of 91 steps. If you multiply the number of stairs by the number of stairs and consider the platform at the top as another rung, you get 91 x 4 + 1 = 365. The number of days in a year …
These numbers are not a coincidence. Researchers are convinced that all the majestic structures in Chichen Itza were erected in accordance with the instructions of the amazing Mayan calendar. They erected pyramids not because they were necessary, but because the calendar prescribed it. The next pyramid with a strictly defined number of steps must be built after a certain period of years. But suddenly the unexpected happened. Suddenly, a whole people left the diligently built cities and left - never to return …
An onslaught of foreign invaders? However, the Mayan civilization was at the height of its power. Perhaps climate change, which led to chronic crop failures, has also not been proven. There is no confirmation of the terrible stories about the raging epidemic. Who forced the Maya to leave? In search of an answer, let us try to direct our gaze to the direction of the pyramid of Kukulkan …
And suddenly it was from there - from the sky - that the great gods once descended to the ancient Maya? Chief among them, of course, he is Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent, the ruler of the country in which the sun rises. He wore a white tunic and a beard. He taught people the arts and sciences; he invented wise laws for them. But what is there - at his beck, a corn stalk reached the height of a man, and cotton grew already colored … Having completed his mission, he went on a ship to the morning star, giving his word to return - when all the pyramids were built in accordance with the laws of the astronomical cycle. And people tirelessly raised them - because in the year of completion of the work Kukulkan will descend from heaven and will live in them, sowing justice and grace all around …
However, nothing happened. Kukulkan did not return. Neither prayer nor sacrifice could help. The sky was silent. The age-old work was in vain. And the deceived Maya decided to leave the cities that were being built with such trepidation. Let the pyramid of the Great Serpent fall into the jungle …
But the work of their hands did not disappear. Now the pyramid of Kukulkan, or El Castillo (“Castle” - as the Spaniards call it) is a visiting card of the entire Mayan culture. The staircase is built at a steep angle - so that when you stand on the pyramid, you get the impression that you are on the edge of a cliff. It's creepy - it's enough for someone to inadvertently push you, and you will zag down … By the way, the ascent to the upper platform of the pyramid is unsafe - only one, the western staircase has been fully restored. Everyone climbs along it, holding on to an iron chain. The staircase is almost sheer …
If you look at it from below, it seems that the width of the steps at the bottom and top of the pyramid is the same. This optical illusion is cheating again! - has a truly mesmerizing effect. In reality, the staircase expands upward in such a way as to precisely compensate for the perspective effect.
Of course, this is not the last "special effect" of the Kukulkan pyramid. Relatively not long ago, scientists found that the Kukulkan pyramid is also a giant resonator. The sound of footsteps on the stone steps is quiet and inaudible. But those who climb them will certainly flinch with horror. The cry of an unknown bird is heard inside the pyramid! It turns out that the rustle of feet outside is transformed into an exact imitation of the voice of the quetzal, the sacred bird of the Maya. How did ancient builders manage to calculate so precisely the thickness of the limestone walls and the acoustics of the halls? The guides will be happy to demonstrate one more trick. The voice of a magic bird can be reproduced if, standing at a certain distance from the northern edge of the pyramid, you loudly clap your hands …
The ancient builders of Chichen Itza precisely adjusted the location of each building, achieving a special acoustic effect. Here is a ball court. The one who was in the Northern Temple, and the one who was in the Southern Temple, could talk to each other without straining their voices. And this is 150 m away! Moreover, no one else could hear their conversation … Not really hard to believe? However, even now everyone can experience the action of this incredible "stone phone".
The ball game ("pok ta pok") among the ancient Maya had a ritual character. Chichen Itza had at least 12 playgrounds, including the grandiose Grand Stadium, an entire architectural complex that consisted of a walled playground and four temples.
Its dimensions are truly impressive - the total length of the field for the game is 147 meters (the Russian national team diligently writes out basketball exercises on the field only 28 meters long). And the rings are built in at a height of 8 meters! The spectators were also located on the steep 8-meter wall. As you can see, only this could ensure their safety. The molded rubber ball flew with such force that it could very well kill a gaping fan …
A ball the size of a man's head was beaten off with a stone bat that resembled a kettlebell. Players could only touch it with their hips, elbows and knees. Hand or foot play was strictly prohibited. Something like a gladiatorial duel, where a mistake could cost your life!
The game went on for many hours. It was very difficult to get into the ring - its diameter is only a negligible amount larger than the size of the ball. Each collision with the ring was counted as a penalty point (the ring looked like a coiled Feathered Serpent, touching it was a great sin)! The winning team was the team that managed to score in the end. And the captain of the winning team, against the background of thick smoke rising to the sky from lighted balls, solemnly beheaded the outsider captain …
This bloody sight was remarkably visible from the top of the Kukulkan pyramid. Hence, the city is in full view. A round observatory tower is visible in the distance. The building overlooks the jungle with three terraces; in the vault there are slots and openings directed towards the stars. Once there they monitored the movement of the Sun and Venus, determined the time of harvesting and sowing maize …
And this temple with a thousand columns is called the Temple of the Warriors. At its top is the god Chak-Mol, carved out of stone. He is reclining, his head is turned, and in his hands is a dish, on it a living heart, torn from the victim's heart, should be beating. Four priests spread the man on a special bed, and the fifth, supreme, cut the intercostal space with an obsidian knife … The writhing victim was thrown onto stones and immediately ripped off the skin. Having smeared with oil, the priest pulled it over himself. Looking at his wild dances, leaving bloody footprints, no one even remembered that Kukulkan - the same Kukulkan, humane and just, forbade human sacrifices throughout America, recommending replacing people with flowers and roots …
For more than 200 years the city of Chichen Itza ruled over the country. Its heart was a sacred reservoir, from which the city got its name. Processions of pilgrims stretched here from all over Yucatan … "Chichen" and translates as "mouth of the well" …
The famous well is almost round, as if it had been drilled out by a giant brace. Diameter - about 60 m! It is difficult to say how deep its steep walls go, but the distance to the muddy surface of the water is 20 meters. That is how much the victim flew to the surface of the water … Together with the victims, they threw jewels, though broken. Only a "dead" thing can unite with God!
The first explorer to reach the day of the cenote well was Edward Herbert Thompson of England. For many days, the dredger brought by him brought only mud and debris from the bottom. But then one day the ladle raised two strange objects that resembled eggs. Thompson cleaned them up and found - they were balls of copal resin used in rituals! Then they got the first hulche - the Mayan wooden weapon. Finally the girl's skull was lifted. Then more and more …
It's time to sink to the bottom yourself. The work was carried out by touch: no lamps could penetrate the water column and suspended silt. Dressed in ultra-modern diving gear, Thompson has descended dozens of times. Jade figurines, golden animal figurines, more than a hundred golden bells with torn tongues out, a crown with two rings of the Feathered Serpent … And - a sacrificial knife! How did he end up at the bottom of the well? The right to rip out the heart was exclusively with the high priest, and the ritual knife was always with him. He would never and never have thrown him into the sacrificial waters!
The mystery was resolved when, years later, the skull of an old man was found in the Well of the Virgins. Apparently, the cruel priest was carried away by a nameless girl, who had nothing to lose …
It should be noted that a replica of the sacred well of Chichen Itza is hidden nearby in the jungle. Snakes and poisonous centipedes vigilantly guard a hole in the ground - with the same diameter, distance to water and even a play of color on its surface. It was established long ago that both sinkholes are of the same age - and both are exactly 984 yards away from the foot of the largest pyramid of Kukulkanu … But for what that forest well was intended, scientists still do not know. Perhaps the answer will be given by the Mayan letters, if they can ever be deciphered.
By the way, the shuddering symbol of a snake is found on almost all buildings of this mysterious people. The primitive idea of evil was bizarrely transformed in their minds into the image of a good god. "Born to crawl cannot fly" - but at the behest of the ancient Maya, the snake grows wings …
… Nowadays, the pyramid of Kukulkan does not seem terrible at all. Against the background of the blue sky, she stands somehow quite naturally and calmly. Doesn't overwhelm you with grandeur - rather, it lifts you up and detaches you from everything that worried you a minute ago …
Secrets to this day remain unsolved. Researchers have never been able to understand how the Mayan builders managed to draw parallel lines, to outline a triangle, square and circle. In addition, they had no draft animals, and they did not know the wheel. For buildings, the Indians used limestone from local quarries. The processing of the blocks began right on the ground, where the monolith came out. The surface was polished, then divided into equal parts using grooves. Rows of deep holes were drilled into them, dry wooden wedges were driven in and filled with hot water. The wedges swelled and split the rock into pieces. The finished blocks were transported to the construction site, wooden rollers were placed under them.
The pyramid of Kukulkan is made of roughly hewn stones and fastened with a very persistent lime mortar … The Maya, unlike the ancient Egyptians, never sought to achieve a truly pyramidal geometric volume. They simply laid one platform on top of another, and a small temple was erected on the tetrahedral top of the structure. As a rule, a long staircase led from the foot to the entrance to the sanctuary. If the structure was of impressive size, then the stairs were located on four sides, as in the pyramid of Kukulkan …
El Castillo, as it turned out relatively not so long ago, was built on top of an older pyramid. It is possible to get inside it through a hole in the floor of the temple. A sculpture of the so-called Red Jaguar was discovered there (the eyes and spots on the skin are made of jade, and the fangs are made of mother of pearl). Well, the jaguar is another of the earthly incarnations of the famous Feathered God …
But the most unusual image of Kukulkan was discovered in 1935 in Palenque. His upper body is tilted like riding a motorcycle. But in reality, the vehicle painfully resembles a rocket. It is pointed in front, flame bursts out of the tail. The hands of the god move mysterious toggle switches, and the heel rests like a pedal. He peers closely at the "control panel." The seat is fenced off from the rear of the rocket, in which buttons, boxes, circles, spirals are symmetrically located …
Short pants with a wide belt, a kimono jacket, bandages on the arms and legs … This kind of attire has already been repeatedly found in other images of the Feathered Serpent. But the head of this "space alien" is adorned with a rather strange headdress. To what corners of the Universe the antennae crowning it are tuned remains a mystery.
V. Pimenova