Chaac, the Ancient Mayan God of Rain

Chaac, the Ancient Mayan God of Rain Chaac (spelled variously Chac, Chaak, or Chaakh; and referred to in scholarly texts as God B) is the name of the rain god in the Maya religion. As with many Mesoamerican cultures that based their living on rain-dependent agriculture, the ancient Maya felt a particular devotion for the deities controlling rain. Rain gods or rain-related deities were worshiped beginning in very ancient times  and were known under many names among different Mesoamerican people. Identifying Chaac For example, the Mesoamerican rain god was known as Cocijo by the Late Formative period Zapotec of the Oaxaca Valley, as Tlaloc by the Late Postclassic Aztec people in Central Mexico; and of course as Chaac among the ancient Maya. Chaac was the Maya god of rain, lightning, and storms. He is often represented holding jade axes and snakes that he uses to throw at the clouds to produce rain. His actions assured the growth of maize and other crops in general as well as maintaining the natural cycles of life. Natural events of different intensities from the vivifying rain and wet season storms, to the more dangerous and destructive hailstorms and hurricanes, were considered manifestations of the god. Characteristics of the Mayan Rain God For the ancient Maya, the rain god had a particularly strong relationship with rulers, because- at least for the earlier periods of Maya history- rulers were considered rainmakers, and in later periods, were thought able to communicate and intercede with the gods. The alter-egos of Maya shamans and rulers roles often overlapped, especially in the Preclassic period. The pre-classic shaman-rulers were said to be able to reach the inaccessible places where the rain gods dwelled, and intercede with them for the people. These deities were believed to live on the tops of mountains and in high forests which were often hidden by clouds. These were the places where, in the rainy seasons, the clouds were hit by Chaac and his helpers and the rains were announced by thunder and lightning. Four Directions of the World According to Maya cosmology, Chaac was also linked to the four cardinal directions. Each world direction was connected with one aspect of Chaac and a specific color: Chaak Xib Chaac, was the Red Chaac of the EastSak Xib Chaac, the White Chaac of the NorthEx Xib Chaac, the Black Chaac of the West, andKan Xib Chaac, the Yellow Chaac of the South Collectively, these were called the Chaacs or Chaacob or Chaacs (plural for Chaac) and they were worshiped as deities themselves in many parts of the Maya area, especially in Yucatn. In a burner ritual reported in the Dresden and Madrid codexes and said to be conducted to ensure copious rains, the four Chaacs had different roles: one takes the fire, one begins the fire, one gives scope to the fire, and one puts out the fire. When the fire was lit, hearts of sacrificial animals were cast into it and the four Chaac priests poured jugs of water to put out the flames. This Chaac ritual was performed twice each year, once in the dry season, once in the wet. Chaac Iconography Even though Chaac is one of the most ancient of Maya deities, almost all of the known representations of the god are from the Classic and Postclassic periods (AD 200-1521). Most of the surviving images depicting the rain god are on Classic period painted vessels and Postclassic codexes. As with many Maya gods, Chaac is portrayed as a blend of human and animal characteristics. He has reptilian attributes and fish scales, a long curly nose, and a protruding lower lip. He holds the stone ax used to produce lightning and wears an elaborate headdress. Chaac masks are found protruding from Maya architecture at many Terminal Classic period Maya sites such as Mayapn and Chichen Itza. Mayapns ruins include the Hall of Chaac Masks (Building Q151), thought to have been commissioned by Chaac priests around AD 1300/1350. The earliest possible representation of a pre-classic Maya rain god Chaac recognized to date is carved into the face of Stela 1 at Izapa, and dated to the Terminal Preclassic Period about AD 200. Chaac Ceremonies Ceremonies in honor of the rain god were held in each Maya city and at different levels of society. Rituals to propitiate rain took place in the agricultural fields, as well as in more public settings such as plazas. Sacrifices of young boys and girls were carried out in especially dramatic periods, such as after a prolonged period of drought. In Yucatan, rituals asking for rains are documented for the Late Postclassic and Colonial periods. In the sacred cenote of Chichà ©n Itz, for example, people were thrown and left to drown there, accompanied by precious offerings of gold and jade. Evidence of other, less lavish ceremonies have also been documented by archaeologists in caves and karstic wells all over the Maya area. As part of the care of a cornfield, members of historic period Maya communities in the Yucatan peninsula today held rain ceremonies, in which all the local farmers participated. These ceremonies reference the chaacob, and the offerings included balche, or corn beer. Updated by K. Kris Hirst Sources Aveni AF. 2011. Maya Numerology. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21(02):187-216.de Orellana M, Suderman M, Maldonado Mà ©ndez Ó, Galavitz R, Gonzlez Aktories S, Camacho Dà ­az G, Alegre Gonzlez L, Hadatty Mora Y, Maldonado Nà ºÃƒ ±ez P, Castelli C et al. 2006. Rituals of Corn. Artes de Mà ©xico(78):65-80.Estrada-Belli F. 2006. Lightning Sky, Rain, and the Maize God: The Ideology of Preclassic Maya Rulers at Ancient Mesoamerica 17:57-78.Cival, Peten, Guatemala.Milbrath S, and Lope CP. 2009. Survival and revival of Terminal Classic traditions at Postclassic Mayapn. Latin American Antiquity 20(4):581-606.Miller M and Taube KA. 1993. The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. Thames and Hudson: London.Pà ©rez de Heredia Puente EJ. 2008. Chen K’u: The Ceramic of the Sacred Cenote at Chichà ©n Itz. Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI): Tulane, Louisiana.Sharer RJ and Traxler, LP . 2006. The Ancient Maya. Sixth Edition. Stanford University Press: Stanford, California.

Understanding the Ninth Amendments Effect and History

Understanding the Ninth Amendments Effect and History The Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution attempts to ensure that certain rights - while not specifically listed as being granted to the American people in the other sections of the Bill of Rights - should not be violated. The complete text of the Ninth Amendment states: â€Å"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.† Over the years, the federal courts have interpreted the Ninth Amendment as confirming the existence of such implied or â€Å"unenumerated† rights outside those expressly protected by the Bill of Rights. Today, the Amendment is often cited in legal attempts to prevent the federal government from expanding the powers of Congress specifically granted to it under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. The Ninth Amendment, included as part of the original 12 provisions of the Bill of Rights, was submitted to the states on September 5, 1789, and was ratified on December 15, 1791. Why This Amendment Exists When the then proposed U.S. Constitution was submitted to the states in 1787, it was still strongly opposed by the Anti-Federalist Party, Led by Patrick Henry. One of their main objection to the Constitution as submitted was its omission of a list of rights specifically granted to the people - a â€Å"bill of rights.† However, the Federalist Party, led by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, contended that it would be impossible for such a bill of rights to list all conceivable rights, and that a partial list would be dangerous because some might claim that because a given right was not specifically listed as protected, the government had the power to limit or even deny it. In an attempt to resolve the debate, the Virginia Ratifying Convention proposed a compromise in the form of a constitutional amendment stating that any future amendments limiting the powers of Congress should not be taken as justification for expanding those powers. This proposal led to the creation of the Ninth Amendment. Practical Effect Of all the amendments in the Bill of Rights, none is stranger or harder to interpret than the Ninth. At the time it was proposed, there was no mechanism by which the Bill of Rights could be enforced. The Supreme Court had not yet established the power to strike down unconstitutional legislation, and it was not widely expected to. The Bill of Rights was, in other words, unenforceable. So what would an enforceable Ninth Amendment look like? Strict Constructionism and the Ninth Amendment There are multiple schools of thought on this issue. Supreme Court justices who belong to the strict constructionist school of interpretation essentially say that the Ninth Amendment is too vague to have any binding authority. They push it aside as a historical curiosity, in much the same way that more modernist justices sometimes push the Second Amendment aside. Implicit Rights At the  Supreme Court level,  most justices do believe that the Ninth Amendment has binding authority, and they use it to protect implicit rights hinted at but not explicated elsewhere in the Constitution. Implicit rights include both the right to privacy outlined in  the landmark 1965 Supreme Court case of  Griswold v. Connecticut, but also basic unspecified rights such as the right to travel and the right to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.   Writing in the Court’s majority opinion Justice William O. Douglas stated that â€Å"specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance.† In a lengthy concurrence, Justice Arthur Goldberg added, â€Å"The language and history of the Ninth Amendment reveal that the Framers of the Constitution believed that there are additional fundamental rights, protected from governmental infringement, which exist alongside those fundamental rights specifically mentioned in the first eight constitutional amendments.† Updated by Robert Longley