Mayans’ Universe


Mayans believed that the world was multi-layered consisting of thirteen levels of the heavens and nine layers of the underworld. The Earth is in the middle and belongs to both the heavens and underworlds.

Layer of heavens:
Description

Layer 1 (Earth)
A large wheel surrounded by the divine water, which is an ocean that extends to the horizon.


Layer 2 (Ilhuicatl metzli)
Moon and clouds reside here


Layer 3 (Citlalco)
Where the fixed stars lie. Also where Citlallicue ("She of the Starry Skirts") lives


Layer 4
Occupied by the Sun (Ilhuicatl Tonatiuh)


Layer 5
Occupied by Venus


Layer 6 (Ilhuicatl Mamalhuazocan)
Occupied by unidentified constellations. This layer is also where comets come from, and where the fire serpents attend to their duty of bringing the sun from the east to the zenith.


Layer 7
The black or green heaven, fierce with winds or storms


Layer 8
The blue heaven, where dust lies


Layer 9 (Itztapal Nanatzcayan)
Where Stone Slabs Crash Together


Layer 10
Represents White


Layer 11
Represents Yellow


Layer 12
Represents Red


Layer 13 (Omeyocan)
Where the dual male-female god, who created space and time, lives.

The nine-layered underworld was where the Milky Way was believed to be. Some Mayans believed that the Milky Way was a road of souls travelling to the underworld (scaring!?), while some, thought that it was the umbilical cord connecting heaven and the underworld to the Earth.