They are empty and silent
now; pale spectres of cities that teemed with life and seethed with
color. Once priestly processions moved in solemn splendor across those
wide plazas and climbed the steep stairways to make their bloody offerings
to the gods while hushed crowds of worshippers looked on in awe and
wonder
and fear?
On happier occasions there might be shouts
and cheers from excited spectators at the sacred ball court or the sound
of bells,drums and rattles accompanying the ritual dancing.
Some were not cities at all. Only the gods and the priests and acolytes
who ministered to them lived there. These were ceremonial centers, often
serving wide areas, where the faithful came to worship and appease their
sometimes terrible deities. They might also be administrative centers
but, since Kings were usually High Priests, it amounted to the same
thing.
Today, only small groups of tourists move
about the vast courtyards. The voices of guides and the roar of tour
buses raise brief echoes among the ancient stones and are quickly gone.
Only the ghosts remain.....
More....