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The World Tree at Palenque

The Tablet of the Cross illustrates the World Tree , which connects Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. It is flanked by the Palenque Ruler Chan Balam, who dedicated the Temples of the Cross group in 690 AD, and his father, the greatest of Palenque Kings, Pakal. The glypic text tells of the birth of First Mother and First Father, and the "raising of the sky" by First Father, the Maize God Hun-Nal-Ye. The World Tree is a symbol of the creation and ordering of the cosmos .

Temples of the Cross Group consists of three structures, the Temple
of the Cross, Temple of the Foliated Cross, and Temple of the Sun. When the temples were dedicated in 690 AD, the moon was in conjunction with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, likely thought to represent the reuniting of First Mother and her sons, the three deities of the "Palenque triad ," whose births are reported in inscriptions of the Cross Group.

The World Tree is depicted as a symbol of the Milky Way, the Wakah Chan ("Raised-up Sky") in the Temple of the Cross. On the dates assigned to centering of the world at Creation of the present era, the Milky Way stands erect in the sky at dawn.

In the Temple of the Foliated Cross, the World Tree is the Na Te K'an ("First Precious Tree"), a symbol of the sky-raising Maize God Hun-Nal-Ye.


Comparison of World Trees in the Temple of the Cross and the
Temple of the Foliated Cross (Schele, Maya Cosmos)
Linked from Mesoamerican Art images, Calif. State University Los Angeles







http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/palenquecross.html