History

Cancun comes from the Mayan language meaning “Nest of Snakes”.

The Mayan civilization originated around 2,600 B.C. At that time the Mayan people covered a territory which today comprises a part of Central America, specifically the South of Yucatan, northeast of Chiapas and western Campeche in Mexico, western Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras.

The Mayans were an amazing people who developed unique concepts in astronomy, hieroglyphic writing and a calendar system on which our present-day calendar is based.

The Mayans built temples, palaces and observatories. They were skilled farmers, weavers and potters. They developed an extensive network of pathways through jungles and swamps so they could trade with distant people.

Their society was made up of a number of independent states and large ceremonial cities.

Nowadays pyramids and the ruins of ancient monumental cities can be seen throughout Central America and Mexico. The most famous are Chichen Itzá, Uxmal, Ek Balam, Tulum and Kohunlich in Yucatan, Palenque in Chiapas, and Tikal in Guatemala.

Chichen Itza

One of the most important Mayan cultural centres is Chichen Itza.Chichen Itza was a major regional centre covering a vast area of land of around 3,700 acres. There were hundreds of buildings on this site with about 30 still standing today including the Kukulkan Temple (El Castillo), the Temple of the Warriors, the Observatory, the Nunnery, Temple of Chack Mool, the Hall of the Thousand Pillars, the Playing Field of the Prisoners and the Ball Court.

The Kukulkan Temple is one of the greatest of all the Mayan temples and dominates the rest of the buildings. It is a 75 foot high, stepped pyramid built in honor of Kukulkan (the feathered serpent), the main god of the Mayans. The design and structure of this temple reflects the Mayan’s deep knowledge of mathematics, geometry, astronomy and acoustics.

The Mayan culture used an agricultural calendar called Haab that had 18 months (uninales). Each month was made up of 20 days (kines). There were another 5 days which were ‘evil days’ (wayeb/uayeb). So, the calendar was made up as follows: 18 months x 20 days = 360 days + 5 evil days = 365.

The Kukulkan Temple has four staircases – one per side. Each staircase has 91 steps (364 in total) and when added to the top step, where the four staircases converge, makes 365 steps – the number of days in the Haab calendar.

Another notable design feature of the Kukulkan Temple is that during the Spring and Fall equinoxes, the late afternoon sun casts a shadow of triangular shapes down the northern stairway. These triangular shapes take the form of a serpent snaking its way down the pyramid and linking up with the stone carvings of a snake head at the bottom of the pyramid.

It is believed that this symbolised Kukulkan falling from the sky twice a year to fertilize the soil.

Before building this great pyramid the Mayans built another smaller one 400 yards away. It was built in proportion to the larger Kulkukan Temple which indicates that the Mayan people tested the design before building the larger temple.

Another interesting feature of the Kukulkan Temple is its acoustics. A person can stand at the top of the temple and speak in a normal speaking voice which can be heard at the base of the pyramid. Also if you stand at the base of the pyramid and call out, the echo will come back as a loud shriek.

If you stand in front of the temple and clap your hands, you will hear a sound like chirping birds echoing off the steps. The chirp is said to resemble the sound of the endangered Quetzl bird, which was sacred to the Mayan people.

The ancient Mayan people disappeared in the 9th Century, possibly due to a long drought that ravaged the land for two centuries. Mayan people had important irrigation systems but they depended on the seasonal rainwater for their agriculture.

The snake shape can be seen as a shadow over the edge of the stairway on the north side of the pyramid in Chichen Itza.