At that time, Maya religions were polytheistic, meaning the Maya believed in multiple deities, or gods. Nobles performed rituals to give thanks to different gods, and lower-class people often worked to pay tribute to nobles, whether through labor, gifts or performances. Cahal Pech is an ancient site where many of these activities took place.
Indigenous Maya culture was as sophisticated as it was creative. Advanced art, masonry (stonework), literature and farming are just a few examples of the complexities of society back then. The Maya were also educated in astronomy, had an intricate calendar and were skilled in large-scale agricultural production.
Beginning around 900 CE, the Maya civilization in Cahal Pech began to decline, or weaken and fade away. By the 1400s, the site had reverted (or gone back) to its original dense forest. Around this time, like in many other Caribbean civilizations, colonization began with the arrival of the Spanish. Devastated by smallpox (a deadly disease) and slavery, the Maya population decreased sharply in the late 1500s.
However, today, many Maya descendants still live around the Guatemala-Belize border, practice their evolving Indigenous culture and speak the Q'echi Mayan language. At the northernmost border of Belize, in Corozal, the Mestizo people represent the mixture of Maya and Spanish culture. To this day, the Maya live on.
