FASHION : The Maya had long skulls. This is because not long after birth the mother would strap two wooden boards to the child's head. One in the front and one in the back. The object was to flatten the skull. The Mayan thought head-shaping was gorgeous. On the right you will see a picture of it.

A Mayan girl would mostly have coppery-brown skin with straight, long black hair. Her maximum height would reach no more than four feet four inches. Her brother wouldn't reach and higher than five feet five inches. At the base of her spine was a small purplish spot called the Mongolian Spot which would fade away after her tenth birthday.

The mother would also dangle a little piece of wax in front of the~child's eyes to make her cross-eyed. The Maya also fancied crossed-eyes. As she grew older she would get her earlobes, septum, lips and nostril pierced.

Average people would wear bone, shell, wood and stone in their ears, nose and lips as decoration. Higher-ranked people would wear metal or jade. Females and males both plaited their hair with 2 or more plaits. They filled their teeth with precious stones or even jade. Jade was very valuable to the Maya. It was probably the most valuable thing they had.

These are the colours people wore.
Warrior = red and black
Priest = blue
Slave = black and white stripes

Tattooing was also fashionable to the Maya, it was so important they even had a god for it. Clothes and pieces to wear were hard to find but the Maya loved to have decorations.

CHILDBIRTH : If a Mayan woman knew she was going to have a baby she would place a little stone carving of Ix Chel under her bed and she might call on her for help. On Isla Mujeras, an island just off the Yucantan Penninsula of Mexico, the Mayas built a shine dedicated to Ix Chel. Pregnant women often made the journey by coaoe to ask Ix Chel for help during pregnancy. The Mayas loved large families so the birth of a child was a time for great celebration.

Boys were taught by their fathers and worked in the fields. They lived in a communal dormintory until they were married. Girls, on the other hand, were taught by their mothers.

A child was given four names. The first was his private name which most people did not call him. the second was his father's name, the third was his mother's name or his father's and mother's combined and the fourth was his casual name by which most people referred to him.

MARRIAGE : Boys usually married around eighteen while girls were married by the age of fourteen. Divorce was common among the Mayas. Powerful people such as kings or other high-ranking authorities usually had several wives while the peasants had only one. If a man's wife had a lover he had the right to kill the lover by dropping a rock on his head from a great height.