To understand the relationship between the tree, the winged serpent or "circle" and the "monarchs" it is again necessary to consult the annals left carved in stone or written in their books by the wise men of Mayax. From them we learn that the Mayas held certain trees sacred, Landa, Cogolludo, and other early writers tell us that, even as far down as the time of the Spanish conquest, the aborigines believed in the immortality of the soul, that would be rewarded or punished in the life beyond the grave, for its deeds whilst in the body.
Their reward was to consist in dwelling in a delectable place, where pain was unknown, where there would be an abundance of delicious food, which they would enjoy, with eternal repose, in the cool shade beneath the evergreen and spreading branches of the yaxché (ceiba tree), which is found planted, even to-day, in front of the main entrance of the churches, throughout Yucatan and Central America. Sometimes the churches are built in the midst of groves of ceiba trees, that in some localities are replaced by the gigantic palm tree (Palma real).
The Maya empire was of old, according to the author of the Troano MS., figured as a tree, planted in the continent known to-day as South America, its principal branch being formed by the Yucatecan peninsula. (See map, page [120].) Here we have the key to the origin of the tree worship, and its intimate relation to the winged serpent and the king. It is again the worship of the country symbolized by a tree, as it also was by a serpent, or by the Ruler. Thus we find a natural explanation of the tradition current among the ancient nations, that the TREE par excellence, the tree of life, that is of civilization, of knowledge, was placed in the middle of the land, of the garden, of the primitive country (Mayax) of the race; the empire of the Mayas being placed between the two great continents, North and South America, forming the "Lands of the West."[[3]]
This relation of the tree, the serpent and the country in the middle of the World, is confirmed by the Chinese writers, commentators on the Chou-king, one of the most ancient literary monuments of China. Speaking of the Tien-Hoang or kings of heaven, Yong-chi says: Tien-hoang had the body of a serpent. He was the origin of letters. He gave names to the ten Kan, and to the twelve Tchi, in order to determine the place of the year; and Yuen-leao-fan, another writer, says that Kan means the trunk of a tree, and that Tchi are the branches, reason why they are called Che-cull-tse, the twelve children. It is well to remark here that the children of king Can were called Can-chi, which is still a family name among the aborigines.
Ti-huang, king of the Earth, is also called Hoang-kiun, that is, he who reigns sovereignly in the middle of the earth, and also Tse-yuen, or the son principle, the engendered, the Brahma of the Hindoos, the Kneph of the Egyptians, the Mehen of the Mayas.
The cross is another sacred symbol much reverenced by all nations, civilized and semi-civilized, ages before the establishment of Christianity: and although we find representations of it in almost every part of the world, from its mere delineation scratched on the rock, to the stately temples and admirably hewn caves of Elephanta in India, still nowhere do we learn of its origin. There are several varieties of crosses, but all may be traced back to the primitive form which resembles the Latin cross.
Among the earliest type known on the Eastern continents is the "Cruz Ansata," called the "Key of the Nile." It was the "symbol of symbols" among the Egyptians, the Phœnicians and the Chaldees, being the emblem of the life to come. It was placed on the breast of the deceased, sometimes as a simple
on the fulcrum of a cone; sometimes represented as supported on a heart. It is also seen adorning the breasts of statues and statuettes in Palenque, Copan, and other ancient cities of Guatemala, Nicaragua, and various localities of Central America. Everywhere it was associated with water. In Babylon it was the emblem of water deities. In Egypt, Assyria, and Britain, it was emblematical of creative power and eternity. In India, China, and Scandinavia of heaven and immortality. In Mayax of rejuvenescence and freedom from physical suffering. The cross, as a symbol, was placed on the breast of the initiate after his new birth was accomplished in the Bacchic and Eleusinian mysteries.