PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Psychological Anthropology

Psychological Anthropology

This paper compares and contrasts the two cultures chosen: the Maya and the Maasai, stressing the importance of their cultural values and rituals concerning the concept of human development and so foth.

Since ancient times, the Maya peoples lived in the region, which included the eastern states of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and along with the western regions of El Salvador and Honduras. There are only a few parts of the world today, where language and culture are so closely match that line drawn across the Maya-speaking peoples includes all the archaeological sites and hieroglyphic texts assigned in the ancient Mayan civilization (Coe, 2005).

The life cycle of rites (or rituals) to distinguish between different stages of life. Landa details of one of these rituals, designed to deal with young boys and girls marriable (Caput sihil "second birth"). Continue Yucatec Maya ritual (loaf MEK [7]), which marks the movement of the child from hugging or carrying a thigh mother. It takes place in three months and godparents of the ceremony. Child was asked to implementing the appropriate gender, tools for boys and fabric or thread for girls. If children understand them, it is considered a prediction. Of course, all children are offered crayons and paper.

Although the Maya existed as a nation for over 2 millennia, they developed an extremely sophisticated civilization over 6-1/2 centuries of service (CE 250 to 900), in tropical forests in the southern states of Yucatan and northern Guatemala. They built the magnificent city of stone pyramids, temples and palaces, sculptures and paintings produced remarkable aesthetic quality, and the screen-fold books on paper.

The achievement of intellectual and artistic heights that no other people in the New World can be compared at the time, they carved hieroglyphic inscriptions on monuments and used writing system, which is now largely solved. They created a mathematical notation more complex than any of their European contemporaries, including the marking and the concept of zero (Nash, 2001). They counted over time in hundreds of thousands of years and developed a number of calendar systems. In the center was a sacred calendar of 260 days in the cycle number for 13 days and 20 days of them. In addition, they had Haab, which was a long 360 days plus 5 unlucky days of the conclusion. Other calendar Katun, which was a cycle of 20 barrels, each of which consists of 360 days. They also used the Venus calendar (584 days), half a lunar calendar year, and other cycles. These calendars, the Maya made the most accurate time to consider the modern period. All the days of these calendars have been recorded in astronomical almanacs, which is dictated by a religious ceremony.

On the other hand, people living in the Maasai of East Africa. They may be separated from other Nilotic groups already 1000 years ago and moved to what is known today as the country of Sudan and Uganda. This split was followed by two large waves of migration, which may have occurred 300 years ago ...