Mayan tree of life

Mayan Tree of Life

The Maya did not evolve in isolation. They made up one of the cultures of mesoamerica. Their neighbours were people like the Zapoteca, Huaxteca, Tolteca, Tlaxcalans, Mexica (Aztecs) - these peoples were all contemporary with the ancient Maya. The Teotihuacanos were one of the firs...

The Maya saw the structure of the Universe mirrored in the sacred Cieba tree. This image shows the Yuumstilo'ob seated on the Sacred Tree of Life, the Cieba Tree.

For the Maya, the trees constituted the ambient living environment, the material from which they fashioned homes and tools, the source of many foods, medicines, dyes, and vital commodities such as chocolate and paper.

The ancient Mayans represented the Universe by means of a huge ceiba tree or YAAX-CHÉ. The branches supported the sky (CAAN), in the trunk the life of man on earth passed (CAB) and the roots sank into the underworld (XIBALBA). They conceived of the earth in a square shape and believed that it rested on a huge alligator or turtle. The sky was divided into thirteen layers ruled by the gods OXLAHUNTIKÚ and nine were those of the underworld in the power of the gods BOLONTIKÚ...

It's the monumento a la patria again. So good we had to see it twice.

Discover historical and mythical origins of Cacao in Mesoamerica. Cacao – or traces of the compounds theobromine and caffeine – have been found in archaeological deposits from a number of…