Ceiba Pentandra. The Sacred Tree of the Maya.
Posted by T. Budd on
The Ceiba tree, whose name in Maya is Yaaxche, “Green Tree” or “First Tree”, also Kapok is a tropical tree native to Central and South America, as well as west Africa. It usually grows in the wet tropical jungle, savannah, and near rivers.
Different species of ceiba exist in tropical America, and it is one of the highest trees in the Maya area. The ceiba was the most sacred tree for the ancient Maya, and according to Maya mythology, it was the symbol of the universe. Its roots, growing outside the ground surface, reached the underworld, the trunk represented the middle world, where the humans live and its umbrella of branches symbolized the upper world and the thirteen levels in which the Maya haven was divided.
Come to Belize to admire one these huge 100' trees!