Our topic for this discussion blog assignment was Mesoamerican
Medicine where we will be primarily focusing on Mayan remedies as well as the beliefs that embody these healing practices. Mayan remedies
did not consist of what we perceive today as pharmaceutical drugs but rather
Mayans utilized more natural resources that were believed to cure a variety of
ailments. Mayan medicine involved the application of various plants to concoct
herbal applications that were deemed adequate to bring about physical, mental,
and spiritual healing. Therefore, the complexity of creating and administering
medicine led only the select few to become medicine men. These medicine men
were referred to in Mayan society as ah-men and
garnered much respect for they posed as intercessors between the spiritual and
physical realms.
These elites believed that ailments were caused by the disturbance
of a deity in an angered, displeased state within the human's soul. The sick
human was perceived as receiving punishment for a potent wrongdoing or mistake.
Also, it's important to note that these medicine men were not only
capable of healing ailments but causing ailments as well. Therefore, in some
contexts the ah-men was
referred to as ah-pul-yaah which
roughly translates to "disease-thrower."
In the group of social elites the shaman (medicine man) can be seen at the far left.
Medicine
in Mesoamerican culture had such importance because medicine and the men who
administered such remedies were capable of ensuring a sound relationship
between the spiritual and physical worlds. The peace between both realms would
bring physical, mental, and spiritual balance to society. In essence, the
existence of an ah-men could appease spiritual deities who
would in turn allow for societies and groups to prosper and flourish.
Depiction of ah-men (Mayan healing men on pottery.
