Olmec Religion
The Olmec believed in 8 gods. They were:
The Olmec Dragon
The Maize God The Bird Monster The Were-Jaguar The Rain Spirit The Banded-Eye God The Feathered Serpent The Shark Monster |
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Origination of Religion
It is thought that a group of shamans at the time of the Olmec beggining decided to unite the disparate peoples of the lowland areas into stronger and larger communities, creating the first sophisticated culture of mesoamerica. To do this they taught everyone this religion, which came to influence most of the other mesoamerican religions
Religious Practices
The Olmec Religion was headed by shamans, full-time priests, and political leaders. They did do human sacrifices, and called the sacrificee's 'man of crops' saying that this person was giving their life so that the Olmec's could have crops