Izapa Stela 2

The Izapa Stelae are enigmas full of graphic symbols. Few researchers have studied them in detail. Garth Norman, who did the preliminary studies in 1972 wrote in detail about them. But since then the monuments have deteriorated in the open with only insignificant palm frond shed coverings for lack of scholars' interest. Information regarding Stela 2 found in Garth Norman's book, Izapa is as follows:

(1) Human figures shown near the top of the calabash tree supplicate a descending\anthropomorphic winged deity.(Plate 3. Stela 2 and Plate 4)(Stela 2 with tracing p. 93)
(3) mask in lower left hand corner of Stela 2 is cleft head with floral petals. (p. 96)
(4) Quetzal bird power thunder of heavens also is Jaguar symbol or human with jaguar paws.- associated with serpents, frogs and toads who come out of hiding after rain. (Norman, p. 18 ) (Boyhegyi 1965, 15N:29 Archeological Synthesis of Guatemala Highland, volume 2, p. 3 - 58 U.T. Press Austin).

Without glyphs there has been little more done on this stela. Since there was no text, it did not appear to be very important. Yet, there is a lot of information included in this small space.

We begin with the sky dragon and a boat form at the very top of the stela. The sky dragon mouth identifies the source of the event: the heavens. The boat form may or may not indicate that it came over the waters of the Pacific Ocean, Lake Texcoco and the Gulf of Mexico, the location of the rift in the land which was created by the sheer thrust.

Next, the wings framed in sky bands (rainbows) and bat claws are the most telling part of the monument. They tell us that the bird image was probably multi-colored and iridescent and that the event occurred at night. The wings contain, not feathers, but fingers. It calls to mind an avatar of Quetzalcoatl called Huemac, He of the Strong Hands. This designation for Quetzalcoatl and another, just as important, is long forgotten. Quetzalcoatl was also known as the "brother of Huitzilopochtli, (of the Aztecs) war god and the god Tezcatlipoca." Instead Huemac and the others have since become "gods" by themselves.

I discovered Huemac's association with Quetzalcoatl in the 1946 edition of the Encyclopedia Americana. In this reference book, Quetzalcoatl can become Ehécatl - air; Yolcuatl - rattlesnake; Tohil, the rumbler, and Huemac of the Big Strong Hands and as above, the brother of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec war god and Tezcatlipoca. (p. 85 - 86) The explanation of the hands was thought to be "probably significant of protection of buildings and mechanical arts."

Apparently, in 1946, the Mixtec Vindobinennses Codex was an unknown quantity. It clearly showed Huemac, separating the top of a mountain. This event is verified by a survey in geology which shows that the volcanic mountains of Central México, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccíhuatl are separated by a rift in the land called a sheer thrust. This rift extends from the Puerto Rican Trench in the Atlantic Ocean to Baja California.

For the event that occurred, one must refer to the great pyramid of Cholula. The temple was once a repository for a "sacred" meteorite.

"At the summit of the Cholula pyramid originally stood a temple, replaced by a church since the Spanish Conquest, enshrining a meteorite fragment" which had fallen from heaven, wrapped in a ball of flame." Before the pyramid was completed, "fire fell upon it causing the death of its builders and the abandonment of the work." The original Nahuatl caption to a native Aztec drawing of the Cholula temple read, 'Nobles and lords, here you have your documents, the mirror of your past, the history of your ancestors, who, out of fear for a deluge, constructed this place of refuge or asylum <sic> for the possibility of the recurrence of such a calamity." (Nuttall, Zelia, Peabody Museum, p. 269)

The assumption that the "god" protected buildings and mechanical arts was an educated guess that had little to do with the actual purpose of this particular aspect of Quetzalcoatl. As a Mexican informant has stated: "Our links with other brother cultures will be fortified if we follow the same principles that our great-grandparents followed: respect and learn from Mother Nature."

Other natural elements found as attributes of Quetzalcoatl are: Son of White Cloud, Serpent, whirling wind and a strange element that states: "when he walked he shook fire from his sandals." This was thought to be "emblematic of lightning." However, except for the Dragon/Serpent that was the comet, serpents crawl actually craw; along the ground.

First, one must return to the attribute "Son of White Cloud." A white cloud is formed when water is heated in a cold atmosphere. If the mountains (both volcanic) were split open when Quetzalcoatl, (that which is now recognized as a flying fire serpent) dropped fire balls (meteorites) in the night-time sky (implied by the bat claws on the wings), then there had to be volcanic eruptions in the area of Lake Texcoco. The hot lava coupled with the colder waters of the lake would have produced an unexpected white cloud of steam pushed aside by Quetzalcoatl.

A whirling wind containing volcanic gasses has been recorded during many volcanic eruptions, as early as Homer in theIliad and more recently from Mount Pelee in Martinique. This "wind" destroys everything in its path. Then as lava flowed along the earth in rope forms (serpents), fire from under them burned the land. So, yes, "as he walked (as a serpent form close to the earth), he shook fire from his sandals." If there were visible "lava ropes" the extreme heat would produce fire flaring from either side which would consume anything in its path. So there is a visual concept that agrees with the verbal title.

The Maya name for Huemac of the strong hands is not yet known, even though we do know the name Kulkukan (feathered serpent). The iconography of the Izapa stela is very clear.

The two persons between the flying image and the Tree are non-entities. The stela, even during the time of Garth Norman, was not very clear. The split headdress may indicate another "god" element, or it may not. The tree, however, is one of the forms of the Cosmic Tree found in many parts of the world. It is always located in the center of the universe (Here, of the Maya world) and the animals at its roots tell us its location.

The tree itself, is interesting. It was thought to be a calabash (gourd) tree which is plentiful in the area around Izapa. (Stirling, p. 63, Stela #2) However, there is another tree in the area that has a similar leaf formation. The leaf ending has a triangular shape; the leaflets flare out from the end of the leaf stem. It is the same formation that is shown at the end of each tree "branch."

It is as if those creating the monument decided to carve each leaf stem as large as possible for later identification. This particular tree has a similar leaf configuration to the poinciana or honey locust tree: long pinnae or leaf stems, having eighteen to twenty-eight small oval or slightly pointed leaflets in opposite pairs. The tree, called the Leucaena leucocephala, can reach twelve feet high six months after planting. In eight years it can be as tall as a five-story building. This tree is used by the Maya and the Zapotec. It is dubbed the "tropical alfalfa." Even though there are long seed pods, the seeds themselves are round, similar to peas, which are eaten as Mung beans or dried bean cakes. Tender leaves are used as candy, while beans themselves are also used as a coffee substitute. (Up Date, Science Digest, September 1982, p. 22.)

So here we have a tree with multiple uses of life and enjoyment in the Maya area. But instead of two large limbs filled with gourds, each branch may actually represent a leaf unit called pinnae with many small leaflets attached and has round seeds. Even though, the use of symbols associated with the land is an "iffy" situation because positive identification can not always be clearly defined. However, a Maya symbol, just as an Aztec or Mixtec, must have some association with its physical surroundings or the implied message will be lost to the ordinary person working the land.

The animals at the base of the tree tell their own story. Garth Norman believed that the "Quetzal [man-]bird with its feathered fingers, indicated the thunder of heavens and also was a Jaguar symbol (inferred by the sky bands on the edge of the wings) or was a human with jaguar paws and associated with serpents, frogs and toads who come out of hiding after rain."

A serpent (dragon head), as the one on the right side of the roots of the Cosmic Tree and frog or toad legs, as those on the left side, were the direct result of the cosmic fallout of the meteorites. They are a direct visual link to the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlán dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, whose courtyard contains many statues of the frogs which inhabited the lake system called Texcoco.

Frogs in San Antonio Nexapa and the surroundings areas in Chiapas were called "los macheteros." (Sargeant, Helen H. (1952) San Antonio Nexapa, New York: Vantage Press, Inc. p. 25.) I did not understand the concept until I visited the lake which surrounds the city of Flores near Tikal. Having gotten lost in the tiny city of Flores (don't laugh), it was already dusk before I recrossed the causeway and started back to the hotel. As I walked along the lake, I could hear many workmen, sawing and hammering. The noise was quite loud but I could find no workshop that would generate such racket. Most shops and businesses were closed for the night. When I asked at the hotel where the shops were located, I was told that the noise did not come from people, but from the frogs in the lake. They, indeed, sounded like "macheteros!"

Frogs associated with sawing and hammering are also associated with night activities such as star-gazing. The frogs and serpents at the base of the tree indicate the central astronomy observatory of Lake Texcoco where the main Temple of the sky version of Quetzalcoatl, the turquoise serpent, is decorated with frog images that come from the lake: the Cosmic tree of the Central American Empire which for a time extended into the Maya world. However, it probably also indicates the designers and builders of the complex. The sounds of the macheteros do not indicate silent watchers, but active woodmen and builders.

If one uses the Conquistadores own description of this temple but change them from the emotion-packed "blood-encrusted" walls to the truer version, that of black (probably bitumen-coated) walls of a star observatory, a completely different picture of the Americas emerges. It is a place where builders created impressive pyramids in many different areas for star observations and kept accurate records of the same. Whether they were Aztec, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Quecha or even Inca is immaterial. What is important is that they left records on their monuments and on papyrus which we have yet to unravel. Izapa is only one step in that direction.