World trees are a prevalent motif occurring in the mythical cosmologies,
creation accounts, and
iconographies of the
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
cultures of
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...
. In the Mesoamerican context,
world trees embodied the four
cardinal directions, which also serve to represent the fourfold 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.
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
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
,
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
,
Izapa
Izapa is a very large pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Chiapas; it is best known for its occupation during the Late Formative period. The site is situated on the Izapa River, a tributary of the Suchiate River, ...
n,
Mixtec
The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Culture w ...
,
Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that ...
, and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –&nb ...
. Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as or represented by a
ceiba
''Ceiba'' is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to N Argentina) and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to tall or more, with a straight, la ...
tree, and is known variously as a ''wacah chan'' or ''yax imix che'', depending on the
Mayan language
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
. The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright
caiman
A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America f ...
, whose skin evokes the tree's spiny trunk.
Directional world trees are also associated with the four Yearbearers in
Mesoamerican calendars
Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Besides keeping time, Mesoamerican calendars were also used in religious observances and social rituals, such as for divination.
T ...
, and the directional colors and deities.
Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
,
Borgia and
Fejérváry-Mayer codices
The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
. 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.
Izapa Stela 5 is considered a possible representation of a World Tree, as is the tree on
Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal's sarcophagus at Palenque.
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
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...
.
[Freidel, ''et al.'' (1993)]
See also
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
Art 347L Mesoamerican Art Syllabus: West Mexico, accessed April 2008.
* McDonald, J. Andrew. “DECIPHERING THE SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLIC MEANING OF THE MAYA WORLD TREE”. In: ''Ancient Mesoamerica'' 27, no. 2 (2016): 333–59. doi:10.1017/S0956536116000249.
*{{cite book , author=Miller, Mary , author-link=Mary Miller (art historian) , author2=Karl Taube , author2-link=Karl Taube , date=1993 , title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya , publisher=Thames and Hudson , location=London , isbn=0-500-05068-6 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill
Trees in mythology
World tree
Religious cosmologies