Wood is a fundamental material in the past and current lives of Prehispanic cultures. Their use of wood brings together social, biological, practical and symbolic dimensions. Thanks to Colonial sources from the central Highlands, and to recently recovered offerings at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City, we know that the Mexicas got their wood through taxation and exchange with other regions, and from the cold and temperate forests near the basin. The importance assigned to different species of trees may vary between cultures and environments, and in Mesoamerican cosmovision it is common for trees to have symbolic connections to the gods and the idea of the world, serving as axis mundi. Among the Mexicas, the pine tree (Pinus) was linked to aquatic entities such as Tláloc, thunder and water; the ahuejote tree (Salix bonplandiana) is linked to the god Quetzalcóatl; and the mesquite tree (Prosopis) with Huitzilopochtli, main god of the Mexicas.
The first sheet of the Tonalámatl de los Pochtecas (Códice Fejérváry-Mayer) shows the universe on a horizontal plane, with four trees and a pair of gods on each cardinal point. On the east, which is red, we see Iztli, a flint knife god, next to the young Sun Tonatiuh-Piltzintecuhtli. The tree is the quetzalquáhuitl, quetzal tree, with a quetzal bird on the crown. Directly across, on the west, which is blue, we find Tlazoltéotl, goddess of sexuality, and Chalchiuhtlicueh, goddess of the jade apron; between them stands a quetzalpóchotl, a beautiful white ceiba tree, with a hummingbird on top. To the north, which is yellow, we find Tepeyólotl, “heart of the mountain,” and Tláloc, rain god; the bird and the tree in this area are an eagle and the mesquite tree, which has a notch in it. To the south, which is green, we see Cintéotl, corn god, and Mictlantecuhtli, lord of the deceased and of the underworld; this area has a cacao tree and a parakeet.
Other traditions also use trees to mark the corners of the world. For example, the Mayans, who give priority to the ceiba tree over other species, consider it to be a sacred tree which was cultivated by the gods of creation. Each area has a ceiba tree in a distinctive color: red to the east, black to the west, white to the north and yellow to the south.