Maya Wisdom

I returned from my journey to Palenque and its Maya ruins with much on my mind. Once I had expressed my admiration for the Mayas, the grandfatherly gentleman who sometimes joins the table at casa Carmelita looked me in the eye and gradually began to unfold a story of Maya cosmology. The cross of the Maya represents their sacred tree, he said. It was confusing to the Spanish when they arrived -- they thought this symbol meant that some other Christian had visited and converted the Maya before them. It served to provide some protection for the Maya, but in fact, it had nothing to do with Christianity. The sacred tree has parts, he said, with the part around the base of the tree representing water and all the life within the waters, the trunk representing the land and its creatures, including humans, and its branches the air and the life of the air. Although there were some special trees in certain places, there was no need to have any one particular tree as a focus for worship, because all trees have these parts. The gods have their places within the parts of the tree, as well.

If ever there is need for a tree to be cut down, as to build a house, it is done with appropriate ceremony, establishing the place of the house with rites lasting three days. Offerings are made at each corner of the house, where the cut- down tree will be set into the earth. The gods come to ¨eat¨ the offerings and bless the house. The house becomes of itself a sacred space. My informant said that his great grandfather had taught him the Maya tradition that there are as many stars in the sky as there are trees on earth. The great grandfather had been sure that there were fewer stars in the sky in his old age than when he was young, so many trees had been destroyed. Everything is interdependent. Everything is sacred. I like the idea of beginning with trees, myself. More trees, more stars. May it be so.