Pointing out that all of the above symbols are but variations on the fundamental theme of the “Middle, Four Quarters, Above and Below,” I also emphasize the fact that, in ancient America, language powerfully influenced the choice of symbols, as may be particularly seen in the case of the serpent, the Nahuatl and Maya names for which are homonymous with duality and quadruplicity.
The origin and meaning of the ancient American symbols of the cross, the serpent, the tree, etc., are clearly apparent. It remains to be seen how far this is the case in other countries where the identical symbols were or are employed, and it is to my fellow archæologists that I look for final authoritative statements on this important subject, in their special lines of research.
Meanwhile I shall present some facts which are accessible to the general reader and suffice for the purpose of my present investigation.
CHINA.
Pole-star worship and determination of time by Ursa Major existed in China from remote antiquity. The Chinese name for the pole-star is Teen-hwang-ta-tee, literally the great imperial ruler of the Heaven. In China “the pole-star, round which the entire firmament appears to turn, ought to be considered as the Sovereign of the Heavens, and as the most venerated divinity” (G. Schlegel, Uranographie Chinoise, p. 524). The sacred central forbidden enclosure, at Peking, contains a temple of the North Star God. In the description of the imperial worship held at the winter and summer [pg 285] solstices, in James Edkins' Religion in China (London, 1878, p. 24) it is stated: “On the second terrace of the east side, the tablet of the Sun is placed, and also that of the Great Bear, the five of the 28 constellations and one for all the other stars.” The following passage shows the origin of the Chinese year:
1. “The months and seasons are determined by the revolution of Ursa Major (the Chinese name for which is Pek-tao the ‘Seven Directors’). The tail of the constellation pointing to the east at nightfall announces the arrival of spring; pointing to the south the arrival of summer; pointing to the west the arrival of autumn and pointing to the north the arrival of winter. This means of calculating the seasons becomes more intelligible when it is remembered that in ancient times the Bear was much nearer the north pole than now and revolved around it like the hand of a clock” (Prof. Rob. K. Douglass, China. London, 1887, p. 418). The Chinese zodiac is represented with the pole-star and circumpolar constellations in the centre (Astronomy of the Chinese, Ancient China, W. H. Medhurst, Shanghae, 1846).
2. The determination and designation of six directions in space. In Chinese the six ho or ki designate the limits of space, the zenith, nadir and four quarters (Mayer's Manual, pp. 306, 312 and 321). “The term Liu-ho also applies to the six pairs of cyclical signs and means ‘Universe,’ that is, Heaven and Earth [being Above and Below] and the Four Quarters.”[79]
The syllable ho also occurs in the following words which deserve to be collated with the Maya list: Hô=river, hu=lake. C-hó-o=master, cf. Maya hol=head. Hó-o=resident, cf. Maya ho=capital. Shó-o=tree, cf. Maya ci-hom=tree. Pih-shó-o=cypress. Kwó=country, cf. mouth, symbol for land or below. Kòw=mouth, etc. Chow=name of ancient metropolis.
3. The conception of the Above and Below=duality. The zenith is naturally associated with heaven and the nadir with earth. Heaven is father and earth is mother. Heaven is figured by a circle and earth by a square. “The marriage of Heaven and Earth produces all things.” The association of heaven with the male and earth with the female principles is shown by (1) the injunction: “Thou shalt honor thy father as the heaven and thy mother as the earth.” (2) In Pekin, the Emperor, termed “the [pg 286] Son of Heaven,” inhabits the “Palace of Heaven” whilst the Empress inhabits the “Palace of Earth's repose.” The sun is male and the “Temple of the Sun” is situated to the east. The moon is female and the “Temple of the Moon” is situated to the west in the sacred enclosure at Pekin. The emblematic color of the heaven is naturally azure; of the sun, red; of the earth, yellow; and of the moon, white. It is thus evident that the cult of heaven and earth is indissolubly linked to that of the Yang and Yin, the male and the female principle, and that in China the following chains of association concerning duality were formed:
| Zenith. | Nadir. |
| Above. | Below. |
| Tien=Heaven. | Tec=Earth. |
| Father. | Mother. |
| Yang. | Yin. |
| Color: Azure. | Yellow. |
| Emblem: Sun. | Moon. |
| East=place of rising. | West, place of setting. |
| Light. | Darkness. |
| Day. | Night. |
| Personification: the Shang-ti= | The Earth-Mother. |
| Emperor=Above, The Lord of Heaven or Universe. | The Empress=Below? |
| Earthly representative: the Light Emperor. | The Empress? or Sombre Emperor? |