What a way to spend a day! First - up before sunrise to see the sun peak through the door of Temple of the Seven Dolls at Dzibilchaltun. Now back to Chichen Itza with several thousand of our closest friends to share the sunset at El Castillo pyramid to watch the Feather Serpent "Kukulkan" descend the staircase. The Mayan's constructed the pyramid in direct alignment with the sun so that the shadow on the staircase has the 9 diamonds of the snake as it makes its way down the staircase.
Its quite the party at the Chichen Itza complex as so many gather to watch this spectacle. We were fortunate - the sun actually did come out enough to provide a nice shadow.
Kukulkan was a deity closely associated with the
Itza state in the northern
Yucatán Peninsula, where the cult formed the core of the
state religion.
[4] Although the cult of Kukulkan had its origins in earlier Maya traditions, the Itza worship of Kukulkan was heavily influenced by the
Quetzalcoatl cult of central Mexico. Kukulkan headed a pantheon of deities of mixed Maya and non-Maya provenance, used to promote the Itza political and commercial agenda.
[4] It also eased the passage of Itza merchants into central Mexico and other non-Maya areas, promoting the Itza economy.
[4]
At Chichen Itza, Kukulkan ceased to be the Vision Serpent that served as a messenger between the king and the gods and came instead to symbolise the divinity of the state.
[12]
El Castillo in
Chichen Itza served as a temple to Kukulkan. During the spring and fall
equinoxes the shadow cast by the angle of the sun and edges of the nine
steps of the pyramid combined with the northern stairway and the stone serpent head carvings create the illusion of a massive serpent descending the pyramid.
