[Aztlan] more world roads

[Karen Bassie]

<>The Maya also saw these landscape configurations in the night sky. As 
discussed by Linda Schele and Dave Freidel in Maya Cosmos, the Maya 
identified three stars in Orion as the three hearthstones, and the Great 
Nebua as the fire at the center of the world. They also envisioned both 
the Milky Way and the ecliptic as celestial rivers, and these two 
pathways intersect twice: once in Sagittarius and the other near Gemini. 
When the Three Hearthstones constellation is at its apex position it is 
just to the south of the center of the sky, and the Gemini/Milky Way 
crossroads is seen just to the north of the zenith position. At this 
time, the paths of the ecliptic and Milky Way radiate out from this 
central crossroads to the four directions. The Maya identify rivers as 
roads, and this celestial configuration echoes the four world roads 
leading out from the center of the world and the four major rivers of 
central Guatemala. This means that each of the four rivers was 
identified with a particular section of the ecliptic or the Milky Way. 
Just below the horizon, on the northern section of the Milky Way 
associated with the Chixoy River there is a black rift. In Classic Maya 
art, this rift is illustrated as the open mouth of a crocodile, and this 
Milky Way crocodile has been identified as being parallel to the 
crocodile deity in the Popol Vuh who was called Zipacna. Zipacna 
inhabited the Chixoy River. In order to defeat him, the hero twins had 
Zipacna follow the river to Meauan Mountain and stick his head in a cave 
on the mountain. When the cave collapsed on Zipacna's head, he was 
trapped and defeated. The word Meauan literally means daughter of a 
lord, and Meauan Mountain was thought to be the manifestation of a corn 
goddess with corn, water and salt attributes. I have presented evidence 
that Meauan was the mountain manifestation of the corn goddess Lady Bone 
Water who was the first wife of One Ixim/One Hunahpu. There is 
considerable evidence that Meauan Mountain and its goddess were thought 
to be the source of rain at the beginning of the rainy season. This is 
reflected in the Classic Period imagery that shows rain water pouring 
from the mouth of the crocodile Zipacna.
When One Hunahpu, Seven Hunahpu and the hero twins journeyed from their 
house at Lake Atitlan to the underworld, they journeyed along the Chixoy 
past Meauan Mountain to Alta Verapaz. In other words, they took the 
north world road. The major trade route between the Guatemalan highlands 
and the lowlands was through Alta Verapaz so this route was extremely 
important to the Maya, and we would expect that the dominant landforms 
in this area would play a key role in their mythology. It is no 
coincidence that Xucaneb Mountain which is the highest mountain in Alta 
Verapaz was the manifestation of Lady Bone Water's father Gathered 
Blood. His Classic Period parallel was God L, the underworld god of 
trade and commerce.
This world model is also application to Teotihuacan. Karl Taube has 
proposed that the large compound at the center of Teotihuacan 
represented the center hearth. A wide and visually dramatic roadway 
extends about 1.6 kilometers to the north and terminates at the Pyramid 
of the Moon. On the horizon behind the pyramid is the massive Cerro 
Gordo known to the Aztec as Tenan "our mother", and the road is aligned 
with its peak. Cerro Gordo was a primary source of water for 
Teotihuacan. The Moon Pyramid echoes the shape of this mountain, and the 
pyramid is thought to replicate this sacred source of water. Two large 
monolithic sculptures of a goddess were found near the Moon Pyramid, and 
one of these goddesses wears a diamond patterned jade skirt that is 
similar to the one worn by Lady Bone Water. In Aztec mythology the route 
to the underworld was north. Today, the northern roadway of Teotihuacan 
is referred to as the Avenue of the Dead because this is how the Aztec 
referred to it at the time of the conquest. In summary, Teotihuacan has 
a road that leads from its center to a northern mountain that was 
associated with a water goddess and with the underworld. The parallels 
with the northern route from Lake Atiltan to the female Meauan Mountain 
and the underworld are obvious.
The headwaters of the four major rivers of highland Guatemala are 
located at 15º North. It has been argued that the 260 day calendar of 
Mesoamerica was created by people living at this latitude because the 
two zenith passages at 15º North are on April 29 and August 12, and 
these zenith passage dates divide the year into a 105 day period and a 
260 day period. Teotihuacan is located at 19º 41'. Its zenith passages 
on May 18 and July 21 are separated by 64 days and 301 days. As noted by 
Aveni, however, the sun sets on the east/west axis of Teotihuacan on 
April 29 and August 12. Teotihuacan was laid out to replicate the sacred 
landscape of highland Guatemala.
I also believe that the mountain cave illustrated on the north wall of 
the San Bartolo murals which contains three young goddesses represents 
Meauan Mountain. But that is another topic.

Karen Bassie