1. MAYAN GOD CAMAZOTZ – THE DEATH BAT BY ALEXANDER GOODWIN

2. WHO WERE THE MAYANS? The Mayans were Mesoamerican people who lived in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. They lived from around 2000 BC to 900 AD when the Spanish invaded.

3. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS The Mayans were very religious people they believed in more than 150 gods. They believed in making sacrifices to the gods. They would use slaves who were receiving punishment or captured soldiers from battle. These sacrifices would be to please the gods, to mark the reign of a new king or to assist in helping the Mayans to gain victories.

4. THE MAYAN GOD - CAMAZOTZ The god I researched is Camazotz - The death Bat The Maya worshipped Camazotz to ask him not to kill innocent people. They performed blood sacrifices to him believing this would keep him happy and prevent the deaths of the innocents. Camazotz is a God of the underworld.

5. WHAT DOES HE LOOK LIKE? Camazotz represents half-man, half-bat. Part of the underworld, he represents dark, Evil Gods It is believed the Mayans thought he was a vampire bat

6. THE MYTH Camazotz was the enemy of Chaac – storm god. Naturalists and godologists believe him to be a leaf nosed Vampire bat who lives in a cave filled with bats. He is a blood feeder with two human arms, razor sharp claws, bat wings and dracula teeth. He was supposed to have wiped out an entire civilisation of humankind as a punishment for their sins.

7. CONTINUED … He ripped off the head of the most important god in Maya history – Hunanpu – one of the Hero twins. His name Camazotz means “Snatch bat’, ‘death bat’ or ‘sudden bloodletter’. He would prey on goats, pigs and cattle even humans.

8. THE STORY I found many stories of Camazotz, this one is from the early days of human history. Living in the underworld he commanded armies of demons to fight against the Gods. In order to ensure the Gods kept up the fight against the demon armies, they demanded human sacrifices from the people because human blood was energy to them to ensure they could fight off the demons. Humans soon stopped the sacrifices and the Gods opened up a portal. Camazotz then killed all humans, however soon the Gods made more humans and Camazotz returned to the underworld.

9. DANCING FOR THE GODS

10. THE HERO TWINS I

11. WHO WERE THE HERO TWINS? Hunahpu and Xbalanque were ball players just like their father and uncle. They lived with their Grandmother and their mother – who was called blood woman.

12. THEIR MYTH AND HOW THEY DISCOVERED THEY WERE BALL PLAYERS The twins father and uncle were previously very good ball players who were summoned by the rulers of the underworld to play a ball game, they were told to bring their rubber ball and protective gear. Instead they hid them. When in the kingdom they faced many trials and tests, they failed the tests and were killed by the lords.

13. CONTINUED … T he twins, when older, were trying to make a garden but every time they cleared away the under bush, the forest animals put it back again. They tried to snare the animals away but had no success until at last they caught a rat. They held it’s tail over the fire (which is why rats have no hair on the tail). They began to kill him when the rat protested, talking too fast to save himself. “Look, you two aren’t cut out to be gardeners anyway,” he squealed. “There’s something you will be better at, I will tell you it for some food”.

14. THE HERO TWINS – A SYMBOL OF DUALITY

15. The Rat told them about how their father and uncle had been great ballplayers, and how they were could be great themselves. He also told them where to find the previously hidden clothing – by their father- that they required to play. They became good ball players and again were noticed by the dark lords. They were summoned to Xibalba to a ball game. However this time they knew all the tricks they had used previously to fool their father and uncle and managed to avoid all the dark lord’s attempts to kill them.

17. THE HERO TWINS However it was during a visit to the bat cave that Camazotz sliced off the head of one of the twins and his head rolled onto the ball course. In the place of Hunahpu’s head they placed a squash and went on to play the game of football with the lords using his head as a ball. They managed to get the head back at one point and replaced it with the squash. But the twins still died at the hands of the dark lords and the lords made the mistake of killing them in the only way that they could be brought back to life. The story says they came back as a catfish first and then as themselves.

18. CONTINUED They had the last laugh when they fooled the dark lords and killed them with the special powers they gained when the were reincarnated.

19. CONCLUSION Both of these stories show the moral that - “Good always triumphs Evil”.