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Photographer: J. Makali Bruton
Taken: February 5, 2017
Caption: The nearby The Monster of the Earth Marker
Additional Description:
El Monstruo de la Tierra
En muchas partes de Mesoamérica existen representaciones gráficas del llamado monstruo terrestre, un ser mitológico asociado con lo subterráneo y acuático, como el Cauac-Witz de la tradición maya y el Tlaltecuhtli de la tradición náhuatl.

En distintos códices se le representa con las fauces abiertas, a manera de pedestal, de donde emergen deidades, cerros, personajes, árboles, templos e incluso bultos funerarios.

En Cañada de la Virgen existe un tablero - labrado en piedra laja de basalto que representa un templo visto de frente, definido por dos líneas que corren paralelas y que delinean la entrada al templo. De la parte inferior del marco de la puerta de acceso, surgen dos trazos curvilíneos que delimitan las fauces y terminan con forma de garras redondeadas. Al centro, se observan tres dientes.

Se trata de un ser mitológico con forma de animal, mezcla de un felino y una serpiente. Se le relaciona con el inframundo y la fertilidad. El signo del monstruo de la tierra en Cañada de la Virgen se asocia arquitectónicamente con el sistema patio hundido-pirámide, que simboliza lo subterráneo y terrestre con las cuevas y el cielo con las montañas o cerros.

English:
The monster of the earth
Graphic representations of an earth monster exist in many parts of Mesoamerica, an underground or aquatic mythological being, such as Cauac Witz in the Mayan Tradition and Tlaltecuhtli in the Nahuatl tradition.

The monster appears in different codices with its jaws wide open, as a pedestal from which deities, hills, characters, trees, temples, and even funeral bundles emerge.

There is a panel in Cañada de la Virgen, carved out of a slab of basalt, which represents a temple seen from the front, defined by two parallel lines outlining the entrance. Two curved lines tracing the jaws emerge from the lower part of the doorframe and end in the shape of rounded claws. Three teeth can be seen in the centre.

It is a mythological being in animal form, a combination of a feline and a serpent. It is associated with the underworld and fertility. The sing (sic, sign) of the earth monster in Cañada de la Virgen is linked architect-nically with the sunken patio-pyramid system, with symbolizes the subterranean and the earthly with the caves and the sky with the mountains or hills.
Submitted: June 6, 2017, by J. Makali Bruton of Accra, Ghana.
Database Locator Identification Number: p384837
File Size: 2.608 Megabytes

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