Girls Thrown into Well

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10307, 17 January 1927, Page 3

Girls Thrown into Well

DREAD RITES IN CITY Of Hi MAN SACRIFICE..

RAIN GOD’S BRIM

Grim sacrifices of human beings have been brought to light by recent discoveries in the buried e-ties of Yucatan by Mr. Edward Thompson, the famous archaeologist. For centuries the tragedy of the Sacred Well was enacted yearly. The grim old well still exists, a vast, black pool, overgrown with trees, at the end of a broad, raised roadway, along which the sacrificial cortege used to pass. In its' murky depths lie the mouldered bones of the once lovely maidens of the Maya race, sacrificed to appease the grim Main Gocl. Leaving the sacred temple, the funeral cortege with its still living victim passed along the great highway. At the head of the prdc-ession the stately figure of the high priest marched slowly, clad in ceremonial vestments and feathered headdress. Following him came the embroidered litter, borne by sturdy priests, in which reposed tire most lovely maiden to be found in the Maya kingdom. With terror in her eyes she goes to tlie consummation of the supreme honor, her bridal with the Rain God in the depths of the Sacred \\ eh. Two muscular priests lift the maiden from her litter,.forming with their arms a sling in which she lies motionless as they carry her to the edge of the great well. With a last forward swing the priests holding the maiden hurl her fair body far out over the waters oi the well. , According to Mr. T. A. M iliard, who tolls the story of the ancient sacrifice in his iust-p’ublished book, “The City of the Sacred Well,” the city of Cliichcn-Itxa, in which these sacrifices were held, still contains many secrets of the old Maya races.