258 Singing Valleys 



at all times, the design of a cross has signified the bringing 

 together of opposing forces. Its central point, where those 

 warring forces meet, is where energy life is born. The union 

 of the opposites is a conflict, which generates force. It is, too, 

 the place of reconciliation and rebirth, where a secret transfor- 

 mation is brought about. 



Undoubtedly the Maya believed that it was the union of 

 the four opposites which generated the force that caused the 

 maize to grow. More dimly he perceived that something of the 

 same sort must take place within himself for his life to spring 

 up like the young plant. The rituals he performed in the 

 temples of the fertility goddess, and those he performed in 

 the fields where he planted and harvested his crops, were not 

 intended alone for the improvement of the harvest. They 

 were intended to work magic on the individual who per- 

 formed them. The primitive believed in cosmic law, the same 

 for man as for the plants and the animals. A rite which en- 

 couraged growth and productivity in the corn could not fail 

 to be equally good for man, whose body, according to the 

 legend, had been fashioned by Tepeu and the Plumed Serpent 

 out of the white and yellow maize. 



The ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America had 

 corn in four colors white, yellow, red and black. The colors 

 were associated with the different points of the compass, and 

 therefore with the Four Bacabs. The Bacab of the south was 

 called Kan. This was also the name of the day-sign which 

 meant maize. To Kan was ascribed the yellow corn. This was 

 the sacred color, worn by the priests in their temple cere- 

 monies. When Captain Cook visited the Sandwich Islands, 

 he was impressed by the king's ceremonial cloak of yellow 

 feathers. The yellow and white papal banners have the same 

 original significance. 



The Popol Vuh is the most striking and instructive of all 

 the myth-records of primitive America. Though it was not 

 written down until after the Conquest, and though its story of 



