Mesoamerican world tree

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A world tree depicted on the sarcophogus lid of the Classic-era Maya ruler of Palenque, Pacal II
A world tree depicted on the sarcophogus lid of the Classic-era Maya ruler of Palenque, Pacal II

"World trees" are a prevalent motif occurring in the mythical cosmologies, creation accounts and iconographies of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. World trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which also serve to represent the four-fold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi which connects the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial realm.[1]

Depictions of world trees, both in their directional and central aspects, are found in the art and mythological traditions of cultures such as the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of Mesoamerican chronology. Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as or represented by a ceiba tree, and is known variously as a wacah chan or yax imix che, depending on the Mayan language.[2] The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright caiman, whose skin evokes the tree's spiny trunk.[3]

Directional world trees are also associated with the four Yearbearers in Mesoamerican calendars, and the directional colors and deities. Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the Dresden, Borgia and Féjerváry-Mayer codices.[4] It is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept.

World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water (sometimes atop a "water-monster", symbolic of the underworld).

The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.[5]

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[edit] Alien hypothesis

Erich von Däniken proposed the alternative interpretation that the sarcophagus of Pacal depicts the king departing the Earth in a space craft. This speculation is discounted by all Mayanist researchers, who from the iconography and Maya inscriptions are able to read the depiction as a representation of the ruler and a world tree.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Miller and Taube (1993), p.186.
  2. ^ Finlay (2003)
  3. ^ Miller and Taube, loc. cit.
  4. ^ Ibid.
  5. ^ Freidel, et al (1993)

[edit] References

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