Sacred Cenote - Importance To The Maya

Importance To The Maya

The Yucatán peninsula is a limestone plain and does not have any streams or rivers, so cenotes provide the only access to underground rivers. Cenotes are scattered across the peninsula, but the sacred cenote of Chichén Itzá was by far the most important to the Maya. In fact, Chichén Itzá translates to “At the mouth of the well of the Itza.”

The Mayans believed there were three entryways to Xibalbá. The bottom of the sacred cenote was one entryway; the other methods of entry were through caves or through competition in the Mayan ball game. They believed they could communicate with the Gods and ancestors by offering sacrifices into the cenote. The rain god Chaac was thought to live at the bottom of the sacred cenote, and many humans were sacrificed to appease him. A “cenote cult” eventually formed as people sacrificed objects to worship the gods. The Mayans would pray for bountiful harvests, good rains, and fortune. Many priests would also collect water from the cenote, which they thought to be sacred, to perform rituals at temples.

Cenotes were so important and central to Mayan culture that they were often represented in art. Many depictions of gods such as Chaac, the Water Lily Serpent, and Chaac Chel show the gods pouring water into a cenote or creating storms. Water lilies growing on the edges of the cenote also symbolized the cleanliness of the water.