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Find out moreQuetzal feathers and maize leaves
9th Jul 2022
A quetzal sits atop a maize plant in the Codex Borgia pl. 53
Two of the most precious living things in ancient Mesoamerica were maize (corn) and the resplendent quetzal, whose feathers were identified with the leaves of the maize plant. Together with jade, these sacred commodities shared the same green colour, and were powerful symbols of growth and fertility, embellishment and the flourishing of life itself...
(Compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
Little wonder, then, that this powerful connection is depicted in several images, from the pages of codices to stone sculptures, both Central Mexican and Maya. Here, in the Codex Borgia (a detail from plate 53) a quetzal stands atop the world tree, symbolising the central axis of the earth, bedecked with fruitful ears of maize.
Info from Carmen Aguilera ‘Simbolismo mexica del quetzal’, in Ensayos sobre iconografía vol. 1, INAH, Mexico, 2010.
Image sources:-
• Main: image from the Codex Borgia scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1976
• Composite: (L) from the internet, (R) illustration by Antonio Sotomayor.
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A quetzal sits atop a maize plant in the Codex Borgia pl. 53
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