There are countless dialects spoken in the area corresponding to Yucatan, Guatemala, El Salvador and Belize. In any case, linguists divide them into two major branches:the Huastec and the Mayan. This second branch has been subdivided into other languages (such as Chol, Chintal, Mopan, etc.).
The Mayan language, spoken in Yucatan, underwent numerous transformations with the Toltec invasions and also due to the influence of the Nahuatl language spoken by the Aztecs.
In their monuments they left a series of inscriptions that until today have not been deciphered. Unfortunately, many Mayan documents were destroyed, leaving us with only three books. They are the Dresden Codex, the Madrid Codex and the Paris Codex.
Mayan books were made from a single sheet that was folded like an accordion. The paper was made with a vegetable fiber covered with a thin layer of lime. The contents of these books are of a calendar and ritual nature, serving for divination.
One of the chroniclers who lived at the time of the conquest, Bishop Diego de Landa, refers to the books that the Mayans used, allowing them to know what had happened many years ago. Therefore, writing represented an important element in the preservation of their cultural traditions. But, unfortunately, most of them were destroyed, as can be seen in the bishop's own statement:"... We found a great number of books written in these characters, and as they had nothing but flagrant superstitions and the devil's lies, we burned them to death. all".
The Mayans developed a hieroglyphic writing that, unlike the Egyptian hieroglyphics, was carved and not painted, in fact the Mayans were the best sculptors in the New World.
Unfortunately, little material survived the white invasion that destroyed everything in the name of the Catholic faith "against pagan heresies". The best vestiges of this writing are the books by Chilan Balam (the rosette stone of the Americas), written in the Mayan language, but with Latin characters that helped a lot in the translation of part of the hieroglyphs.
Mayan Civilization
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