THE TREE OF LIFE

The Izapa Stela 5 stone is the most detailed rendering of any Tree of Life in the world. It is significant because it provides insight into Mesoamerican culture’s early beliefs and mythology. This Ancestral Tree represents humanity’s journey from its 12 Tribal Ancestral roots at the bottom of the Tree to the fruit-filled branches near heaven.  The Quetzalcoatl God, at the right center of the Tree, directs people to the Tree.  The mother Goddess, at the left center of the Tree, gives the Tree’s fruit to a person who has followed Quetzalcoatl’s directions that led him out of darkness and to the tree. He partakes of the fruit, and is now reborn. The story of humanity’s origin and life on earth is expressed symbolically by the Stela 5 rain cycle surrounding the scene. On the upper right, the spirit children descend from heaven, as represented by the cloud and rain glyphs. to their pregnant earthly mothers, as represented by the water glyph coming off the umbrella on the right represents birth by their earthly mothers. The blue water represents time on Earth. At death, the evaporation symbols on the right represent their spirits returning to heaven. The family seated beneath the Tree correlates with the first ancestral family of the Maya Popol Vuh migration account and represents a family on their life-cycle journey. The Ancestral Tree of Life preserves a historic record of the Five World Ages and calendar systems. On August 13, Stela 5 begins the 9-moon month count of the sacred Maya 260-Day Gestation Calendar that ends on April 30 when the spring rains grow food to nourish mothers and newborn children—just like all animals that mate in the fall so their babies are born in the spring to have food to survive.