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QUETZAL! www.irwingtours.com.mx
Quetzal, nombre común que reciben algunas aves grandes propias de América Central y Sudamérica pertenecientes a la familia del trogón. Una especie de quetzal es especialmente llamativa por el plumaje y las largas coberteras superiores iridiscentes del macho. Este mide unos 35 cm, pero las coberteras de la parte superior de la cola alcanzan los 61 cm de longitud. Tiene la cabeza, el dorso y las alas de color verde esmeralda, mientras que el pecho y el abdomen son rojos. Los quetzales se consideraban sagrados por culturas como la azteca y forman parte del arte y la mitología prehispánicas; sus plumas se empleaban como decoración. El quetzal es el ave nacional de Guatemala y figura en su escudo nacional. Se distribuye desde los bosques de alta montaña de México y Centroamérica, hasta el norte de Bolivia. Otra especie, la viuda de montaña o airón limita su distribución a la zona andina de Perú, Bolivia y Venezuela.
Clasificación científica: los quetzales componen el género Pharomachrus, perteneciente a la familia Trogónidos, orden Trogoniformes. El nombre científico del quetzal es Pharomachrus mocinno y el de la viuda de montaña es Pharomachrus pavoninus.
8/03/2009
yaxche o ceiba maya
Yaxche, the Maya Tree of Life
The Tree of Life is a common symbol in many cultures. For the Maya, as for others, it represents the axis mundi, the stable world center. It constitutes a symbolic vertical line--like the line of balance on a spinning top--that unites the three realms of underworld, earth, and heavens.
For the Maya, the Tree of Life, called Yaxche, is traditionally a Ceiba tree. This is a tall tree with large buttressed roots, a remarkably straight trunk, and a high horizontal crown. The roots are said to shelter bats, symbolic of the underworld. The trunk teems with insect life, and attracts the animals and birds that feed on them. The crown spreads wide over the jungle canopy, often with four branches that would suggest the four cardinal directions that are so significant to the Maya. The eagles that roost there represent the celestial realm.
The axis mundi is the navel of the world. A Yaxche could be found at the center of most pre-Columbian Mesoamerican villages. The Tree of Life is a natural analog to the constructed Mayan temple, which was also a vertical structure representing the passage from subterranean to heavenly realms.
For the Maya, the cross was viewed as an iconic representation of the Yaxche, so that in the symbol of the cross Christian and traditional motifs are confounded. This may account in part for the power of the Talking Cross that summoned the Maya of the Yucatan to rebellion during the War of the Castes. Ceiba flowers served as the pattern for earflares worn by Classic Maya kings; in modern Mayan ceremonies, the same blossoms are used to decorate crosses. The Tree of Life motif is also commonly found as a design element in highland Maya textiles.
The Tree of Life is a common symbol in many cultures. For the Maya, as for others, it represents the axis mundi, the stable world center. It constitutes a symbolic vertical line--like the line of balance on a spinning top--that unites the three realms of underworld, earth, and heavens.
For the Maya, the Tree of Life, called Yaxche, is traditionally a Ceiba tree. This is a tall tree with large buttressed roots, a remarkably straight trunk, and a high horizontal crown. The roots are said to shelter bats, symbolic of the underworld. The trunk teems with insect life, and attracts the animals and birds that feed on them. The crown spreads wide over the jungle canopy, often with four branches that would suggest the four cardinal directions that are so significant to the Maya. The eagles that roost there represent the celestial realm.
The axis mundi is the navel of the world. A Yaxche could be found at the center of most pre-Columbian Mesoamerican villages. The Tree of Life is a natural analog to the constructed Mayan temple, which was also a vertical structure representing the passage from subterranean to heavenly realms.
For the Maya, the cross was viewed as an iconic representation of the Yaxche, so that in the symbol of the cross Christian and traditional motifs are confounded. This may account in part for the power of the Talking Cross that summoned the Maya of the Yucatan to rebellion during the War of the Castes. Ceiba flowers served as the pattern for earflares worn by Classic Maya kings; in modern Mayan ceremonies, the same blossoms are used to decorate crosses. The Tree of Life motif is also commonly found as a design element in highland Maya textiles.
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