Focusing on the Prehispanic Panel of Oaxaca en la historia y en el mito, explore the Mixtec Tree of Life about the Codices.
Mixtec Tree of Life The image below reflects elements of the Yuta Tnoho Tree Glyph; found on page 37 of the Yuta Tnoho Codex. The crossed limbs of a pochote tree, a newborn child, the whirlwinds representing Quetzalcoatl (the source of rain and life) are all elements of this mixteca Tree of Life. Humankind, in this creation myth is said to have developed from the flowers of a tree. The male and female branches of the tree are crossed in order to produce human life.The two main figures above, one male, one female have inspired different interpretations. Some see in the two figures the story of a town being formed by an indigenous couple. Other see a wedding.  This is the way that Garcia Bustos identifies the scene in his biography.  The clues to the identities of the people represented lie in the glyphs below their figures, indicating their dates of birth, which are also used as their names. The male figure on the left, identified by a bare chest, with an alligator icon below him and four dots, is Lord Four Alligators. The woman on the right, identified by her long hair, with the skull and one dot is Lady One Death. The newborn baby, born from the tree, is a key element for the Mixtec rulers because the child establishes the ruling line on the Mixtecs of Apoala. They extended their domain and power through marriages among leading families.
Mixtec Tree of Life Codices helped hereditary rulers establish their right to govern from one generation to another. The codices also demonstrated that the gods played a role in the birth of rulers, thereby establishing their connection to the gods. And the stories depicted of subsequent generations of family members illustrated their divine right to rule.
Mixtec creation myth pochote tree left