THE supernabrative STELA 5
culebro 1939 56 first suggested
carving culebra
that a market scene is depicted in which mer-
chants with attendants are transacting their
business in a market place under a great ceiba
tree this possibility must be discredited if
for no other reason than the basis of the
czapa
strong religious orientation in the many izapa
monuments some years later culebra
culebro 1957
79 80 gave a reappraisal of stela 5 and re-
7980
ferred to the tree as the tree of humanity
symbolizing the genesis of the race a view
which my own study sustains more recently
miles 1965 258 referred to stela 5 as a
fantastic visual myth but made no effort to
interpret it
the most detailed attempt to interpret
stela 5 has been made by jakeman in several
publications one of which 1958b attempts
to identify principal figures and motifs from
Meso american mythology with possible near
mesoamerican
eastern origins through his analysis jake-
man rendered the following conclusion as
to the general meaning of the carving 1958b
29 brackets added by me for reference to the
accompanying stela 5 illustration fig 4 21
this carving is a por traval of some
portrayal
ancient event actual or mythological
concerning the yax cheel cab tona
maquahuitl or tree of life symbol of
caquahultl
caquahuitl
ancient Mesomesoamerican
american religion evi-
dently an event in which one of the
Meso american tradition
famed old men of mesoamerican
person 6 called cipact6nal
cipactonav by the
azteca and ixpiyacoc by the quiche
aztecs guiche
vuich
mayans probably the second of these in
chronological order the legendary an-
cestor of the ancient peoples of guate-
mala and chiapas attended by his wife
person 7 the old woman called exo oxo
ixmucan6 undertook to ex-
moco or ixmucane
plain or relate something about this sym-
bolic tree to four young men seated
around ie the sons of this ancestral
pair the latter seem to be shown tak-
ing part in the discussion with one of
them person 2 apparently a large
young man who was a ruler also re-
cording what was being said on a tablet
or plate by means of a stylus evidently
167
among the things mentioned on this oc-
cipact6nal as part of the sym-
casion by cipactonal
bolism of the tree of life were two
hieratic personages A and BJ who at-
tended the tree a river of water that came
by the tree a narrow path or road that
nver to the tree a field
ran along by the river
and a person eating of the tree s fruit
person 13 or perhaps people rep-
resented in the portrayal by a single
person who could reach the tree of
life from the field by way of the path
and thereby partake of its fruit assuring
ring
aAu ning
ahu
everlasting
them of ever lasting life
the above interpretation reflects some of
jakeman s considerations in his other rather
controversial work 1958a which is a study
in parallelism attempting to show direct rela-
tion ship
ships between the stela 5 narrative and
tionships
an allegorical account of the tree of life in
the book of mormon much of this work
must be rendered invalid because of oi the in-
accuracies in the jakeman reproduction of
stela 5 which have long been evident
regardless of its eventual full interpreta-
tion the close interconnections apparent be-
tween the multifarious motifs of stela 5 and
the peculiar nature of these repeated symbols
leave little doubt that there is an underlying
myth with religious themes
relationship indicators
A relationship between different human
figures on stela 5 is most evident from gesture
indicated interactions between persons 2 and
4 3 and 4 5 and 6 and 13 with deity B
direct contact made between figures also
indicates relationship as between deity A
and persons 3 and 4 below and with person
10 and symbol 8 behind A purely symbolic
simila head gear
relationship is indicated by similar
the book of mormon is espou ed by several
espoused
despou
churches chief of which is the church of jesus christ
of latter day saints also known as the LDS or
mormon church as sacred scripture of ancient
american and near eastern origins the accounts of
its discovery and translation in the late 1820s 182ds
through the work of joseph smith are of a super-
natural nature