Stepping into the past at the Copan Ruins

Listening: Casting Crowns - "If His People Prayed"
Copan is probably one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. Megan really enjoyed it too, but she said that Machu Pichu was a little better. I could write page after page about our experience there, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum here so that Mom and Dad McAdam can experience some of the awe and wonder for themselves.

When you go through the main entrance to the ruins, there's a resident family of scarlet macaws that hang out at the gate to mooch from the park employees. These two felt free to pose on top of an ancient carving for me - they seemed pretty photogenic!


After you go through the entrance, you walk down a well worth path that leads to a huge courtyard - probably the size of 3 football fields - that contains many statues (called stela), alters, monuments, and stone stairs around the perimeter that were used as bleachers to seat the people of Copan for special ceremonies. Archaeologists believe that the city of Copan existed from about 300-1000 A.D., with somewhere around 17 different rulers. The stela in the courtyard depict some of the more prominent and successful rulers, and the detail of these statues is truly mind boggling.


The Mayans of Copan also played a kind of "old school" soccer with a hard rubber ball, where the players were only allowed to use their hips to try and hit concrete bird heads that were erected on both sides of the ball court. There were two teams that would play; the good guys and the bad guys. The good guys dressed up in brightly colored suits of macaw feathers, while the bad guys dressed up in suits made of human bones and masks made of human skulls. The game was kind of "stacked" because the best players in the city were chosen for the good team. The game was supposed to be more symbolic than anything else, illustrating the good overcoming evil for the next year or so until they played again - kind of a Mayan farmers almanac.


On the top of each side of the ball court are what archaeologists believe are dressing rooms that the players used before the games. Here's a shot of Megan and Heather showing how short the Mayans were.


On top of the good guys dressing room is a screaming macaw head surrounded by feathers. All of the monuments and stelas at Copan were once painted with really bright colors, so this macaw was probably once painted with its original reds, blues and yellows.


The really crazy thing about the ball game they played is that the best players from the good team were sacrificed at the end of the match! It was considered an honor to be sacrificed, and so the games were only played a few times every year. All classes of people would come after the game to watch as the players were sacrificed. Here's a picture of what the altar looked like (the turtle shell thing) for human sacrifices, with our guide explaining how the channels on the sides of the altar were used to drain the blood from the sacrifice.


This is a picture of part of the throne room of one of the rulers, 18 Rabbit, that is situated with an awesome view of most of the valley of Copan. The man depicted in the monument is 18 Rabbit himself, wearing a headdress of quetzal and macaw feathers.


This is the "Old Man of Copan" who is placed near the highest monument at the ruins. He is supposed to signify wisdom and knowledge, because the site of the tallest monument was used by Mayan astronomers in making their calculations using the stars for their calendar.


Hope this gives you a taste of what an amazing place Copan is, and maybe whets your appetite to come down and visit Honduras someday!