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Huaxtepec: The Sacred Garden of an

Aztec Emperor
Patrizia Granziera
a
Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca,
Mexico
b
Av. Universidad n 1001, Col. Chamilpa C.P. 62210, Cuernavaca
Morelos, Mexico E-mail:

Version of record first published: 23 Jan 2007

To cite this article: Patrizia Granziera (2005): Huaxtepec: The Sacred Garden of an Aztec Emperor,
Landscape Research, 30:1, 81-107

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 Landscape Research,
Vol. 30, No. 1, 81 – 107, January 2005

Huaxtepec: The Sacred Garden of an

Aztec Emperor
PATRIZIA GRANZIERA
Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
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ABSTRACT The symbolic meaning of Huaxtepec, a very famous Aztec garden, is explained,
showing how it could have reflected some concepts of the pre-Columbian world view. Aztec and
Maya societies were essentially agricultural. Thus, their main preoccupation was fertility, which
they tried to maintain through the cult of gods associated with water and earth. Human life was
impossible without earth, plants and animals. In a world where the sacred was conceived in terms
of deified forms of the cosmic human and vegetal cycle, gardens, like the one in Huaxtepec,
became important spaces for ritual celebrations. Unfortunately, very little is left of this significant
Aztec garden, and in the 1960s part of it was turned into a vacation centre. However, through the
study of colonial documents and other important descriptions, this ancient garden is reconstructed
and its use as a ritual space is explained.

KEY WORDS: Gardens, Religion, Aztec

Pre-Hispanic Myths and Landscape

The famous Aztec royal gardens in Mexico amazed the first conquerors with their
variety, extent and elaborate layouts. There were royal gardens in and near the Aztec
capital in Tenochtitlan, Chapultepec, Ixtapalapa, el Peñon and Tetzcoco, as well as
in more distant locations such as Huaxtepec (Morelos). Gardens of the élite, such as
those on the temple grounds, were maintained by a large labour force and contained
ornamental, aromatic and medicinal plants. In a world like the pre-Hispanic one,
where man was intimately connected with nature and where flowers, plants and trees
were thought to have a soul like human beings, gardens played an important role in
the landscape. These gardens were part of a sacred landscape where images of the
sun, the mountains and the waters of life stood at the centre of pre-Hispanic religion.
In Mesoamerica the whole of the cosmos was animate: the cosmic forces earth,
water, wind and earthquake were seen as animated beings and were incorporated
into myth and religion. One of the most important myths recounted in 16th-century
works was the creation of the earth and the sky. This myth describes the formation
of the earth and sky as the tearing apart of the goddess Tlaltecuhtli. Tlaltecuhtli was
a monstrous being with eyes and mouths in her joints, who floated in a great sea.

Correspondence Address: Patrizia Granziera, Av. Universidad n 1001, Col. Chamilpa C.P. 62210,
Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico. Email: [email protected]

ISSN 0142-6397 Print/1469-9710 Online/05/010081-27 # 2005 Landscape Research Group Ltd

DOI: 10.1080/0142639042000324776
 82 P. Granziera

From parts of her body, hills and valleys, trees and plants were created. Her hair
turned into trees, flowers and herbs, her eyes became springs and caves, her mouth
rivers and large caverns, her nose mountains and valleys (Garibay, 1965, p. 108). It is
easy to see that with a mythological tradition such as this, all geographical
phenomena were seen as both animate and sacred.
To this we must add the high value placed on plants and flowers by Mesoamerican
people. This reverence for nature was reported with amazement by the friars
Motolinı́a, Bartolomé de las Casas (De las Casas, 1967, Chapter 1, pp. 639 – 640;
Motolinia, 1995, Chapter 3, pp. 26 – 27) and Duran. The latter writes:

Thus they passed their lives among the flowers in such blindness and darkness,
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since they had been deceived and persuaded by the devil, who had observed
their love for blossoms and flowers . . . even the bark of resinous trees was
revered so that it would create a good fire. The ancient blindness was such that
even large and small animals, fish, and tadpoles were adored and revered.
(Duran, 1971, p. 238)

Thus, plants were deified. Maize, the Mesoamerican staple crop, which played an
important role in the development of Mesoamerican agriculture, was associated with
Xilonen (Tender ear of corn), the goddess of xilotl, the green ear of corn, and
Chicomecoatl (seven serpents), the goddess of mature maize, called elote. In the
Nahuatl language, ‘teocintle’ (Zea mays) means: ‘food of the gods’.
Many plants and flowers were related to gods. The quetzalmizquitl (Parkinsonia
aculeata), a cactus plant with large leaves which looked like feathers, was considered
sacred and it was associated with Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent, one of the most
important Aztec gods (Viesca Treviño, 1999) (Figure 1).
Cihualcoatl, one of the multiple aspects of the Mother Goddess, was associated with
Tobacco (Nicotina tabacum). Torquemada reports that some Aztecs worshipped a
medicinal herb ‘‘. . . that they called Picietl’’ and the Spaniards called Tobacco the body
of ‘‘a goddess whom they name Cihualcoatl’’ (Torquemada, 1975, volume 2, p. 83).
The Goddess Xochiquetzal (flower-feather), patron of artesans and sexual love,
was associated with the flower izquixochitl (Bourreira huanita) (Dı́az Cintora, 1990,
p. 18), a flower that according to Hernández was very much appreciated for its
fragrant smell and curative properties. It was mixed with cacao to make chocolatl
(Hernández, 1976, volume 4, p. 389). The izquixochitl in Nahuatl means toasted
maize (Izquitl-xochitl), because its seeds pop out like toasted corn. Garibay believes
that it can be a symbol of life, the metaphor of maize, a basic plant in Mesoamerican
alimentation (Garibay, 1958, p. 165). Tlaloc, the God of rain, was also represented
by some hallucinogenic plants which grew on humid soil or during the rainy season;
one of these was iyauhtli (Tagetes lucida), known today as perı́con (Aguilera, 1985, p.
103).
Another interesting plant which, according to Doris Heyden, could be related to
the God Macuilxochitl (five flowers) is the ololiuhqui (Turbina corymbosa) (Lozoya &
Lozoya, 1982, p. 231), as this plant has a five-petalled flower (Heyden, 1983, p. 23)
(Figure 2). Cecilia Klein argues that the goddess Cihualcoatl might have personified
also the hallucinogenic plant ololiuhqui. This would associate the goddess with
magical powers and women healers (Klein, 2000).
 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 83
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Figure 1. The Quetzalmizquitl, Florentine Codex, Book XI, f. 167v. Medicean Library,
Florence.

Figure 2. Ololiuhqui. Florentine Codex, Book XI, f. 129v. Medicean Library, Florence.

Fertility, flowers, singing and dancing were all associated with Macuilxochitl, as
well as Xochipilli, the Aztec Prince of Flowers. The famous sculpture of Xochipilli
found on the slopes of the volcano Popocatepetl is decorated with several stylized
flowers which have been identified with well-known hallucinogenic plants such as
 84 P. Granziera

ololiuhqui (Turbina corymbosa) or Morning Glory, Tabaco (Nicotina tabacum) and

sinicuichi (Heimia salicifolia) (Dı́az, 1984), a sacred mushroom (Psilocybe aztecorum)
(Wasson, 1973) (Figure 3). Thus, Schulte affirms that Xochipilli undoubtedly
represents not simply the Prince of Flowers but more specifically the Prince of
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Figure 3. Xochipilli. Mexica Culture. Postclassic. Tlalmanalco, Stone 157 6 107 cm, Museo
Nacional de Antropologı́a (MNA). Published in Arqueologı´a Mexicana, 7/39 (1999).
 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 85

Inebriating Flowers, including the mushrooms which in Nahuatl poetry were called
‘flowers’ and ‘flowers that intoxicate’ (Shulte, 1992, p. 151). According to Schulte,
almost all the flowers used in the pre-Hispanic world had properties which provoked
a state of ecstasy. He mentions from 80 to 100 species of plants which produced this
condition. For example, in Mexico there are 45 kinds of Tobacco or Nicotina and
seven species of Datura, a plant called by Mexicans toloache (Datura stramonium L.)
(Aguirre Beltrán, 1950; Lozoya & Lozoya, 1982, p. 231), a modern version of the
ancient Nahuatl Toaloatzin (inclined head, in reference to its nodding fruit). It was
also known as Tolohuaxihuitl and Tlapatl (Figure 4). It was employed not only to
induce visual hallucinations, but also for a great variety of medicinal uses, especially
when applied to the body to relieve rheumatic pain and to reduce swellings. In the
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Codex Badiano (1552), this plant is mentioned as an analgesic or pain reliever (De la
Cruz, 1991, p. 29). The Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis or Codex Badiano
is a manuscript written in 1552 by Juan Badiano, who translated from Nahuatl into
Latin the knowledge of the Indian doctor Martin de la Cruz. The Codex has 150
colour paintings of medicinal plants used by the Indians of Mexico.

Figure 4. Tolohuaxihuitl or Toloache and Nexehuac, two plants of the Datura family. Libellus
de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, f. 29r. National Library of Anthropology and History,
Biblioteca Nacional de Antropologı́a y Historia (BNAH), Mexico City.
 86 P. Granziera

Another plant with hallucinogenic properties is the pipiltzintzintli (Salvia

divinorum), which represents the god Pilzintecuhtli (baby prince), another aspect
of Xochipilli but also related to the Sun and sometimes described as the husband of
Xochiquetzal (Heyden, 1983, p. 113).
All these plants and many others were used for shamanic reasons. They served as a
means of communication between man and gods and many of them were considered
gods themselves. However, they were also used as curative plants. In 1651 the
physician of the King of Spain, Francisco Hernández, describes the ololiuhqui as
having the following qualities:

Ololiuhqui, which some call Coaxihuitl or snake plant, is a twining herb with
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thin, green, cordate leaves; slender, little resin, it banishes chills and stimulates
and aids in a remarkable degree in cases of dislocations, fractures, and pelvic
troubles of women. The seed has some medicinal use. If pulverized or taken in a
decoction or used as a poultice on the head or forehead with milk and chilli, it is
said to cure eye troubles. When drunk, it acts as an aphrodisiac. It has a sharp
taste and is very hot. Formerly, when the priests wanted to communicate with
their gods and to receive a message from them, they ate this plant to induce a
delirium. A thousand visions and satanic hallucinations appeared to them. In its
manner of action, this plant can be compared with Solanum maniacum of
Discorides. It grows in warm places in the fields. (Hernández, 1976, volume 2, p.
225)

Flowers were very much appreciated by Mesoamerican societies because they were
offered to the gods; flowered branches were also given to leaders to strengthen them
for their tasks and to affiliate them more closely with the divine powers. Their
fragrance was thought to be derived from gods and was equated with leadership.
Odoriferous flowers such as yolloxochitl (Talauma mexicana) (Lozoya & Lozoya,
1982, p. 111), izquixochitl (Bourreria huanita) (Dı́az Cintora, 1990, p. 18),
cacaloxochitl (Plumeria acutifolia) (Baytelman, 1993, p. 71) and tlilxochitl (Vanilla
planifolia) (Aguilera, 1985, p. 139) were considered a luxury and therefore one of the
attributes of the ruling class. Appropriated to some extent by the ruler and the élite,
these plants became an indicator of rank that reinforced the social hierarchy in the
Aztec Empire (Heyden, 1983, pp. 49 – 57).
The native worshipper used different varieties of flowers for specific purposes, self-
consciously aware of their symbolism. Certain herbs and flowers were offered in the
spring, for example, while others were selected to celebrate the harvest and at the
beginning of the dry season. Almost all the native plants were known for their
medicinal effectiveness or psychotropic qualities. Psychotropic plants such as cacao,
the ololiuqui (Turbina corymbosa) (Lozoya & Lozoya, 1982, p. 231) and the toloache
(Datura stramonium L.) (p. 248) were also claimed by the ruling class, who reserved
the right to communicate directly with the gods.

The Sacred Garden of Huaxtepec

The garden of Huaxtepec, situated in the current state of Morelos (Mexico), was the
most wonderful of the Aztec emperor’s gardens and probably the most ancient
 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 87

botanical garden in the world (Maldonado, 2000, pp. 170 – 177). The botanical
gardens of Huaxtepec were so famous that Dr. Francisco Hernández, the Spanish
physician who was sent to New Spain by the King in order to compile a Natural
History of this country, spent most of his time (from 1570 to 1577) at Huaxtepec
describing and drawing the plants he saw there (Prescott, 1985, p. 85). This
important work, together with the Codex Badiano, is the most important source we
have on Mexican medicinal plants.
The pre-Hispanic town of Huaxtepec was inhabited by the Tlahuicas, a Nahuatl-
speaking people, and was part of the Mexica empire from 1438 to 1519, when the
Spanish conquered Mexico. The garden was created during the reign of the Mexica
emperor Moctezuma the Elder, 1440 – 1469 (Ilhuicomina).
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The ‘conquistador’ Hernan Cortés, in a letter he wrote in 1521 to Charles V,

describes Huaxtepec as the finest and largest garden ever seen:

. . . Guastepeque . . . [. . .] . . . is the greatest and most beautiful and fresh ever

seen, because it has two circuitous tongues of land, and through the middle runs
a gentle stream, . . . There are small dwellings and very fresh gardens and an
infinite amount of trees of a wide variety of fruits and many herbs and
odoriferous flowers, and surely the elegance and greatness of this garden
deserves admiration. (Cortés, 1992, p. 124)1

Other ‘conquistadores’ were equally enthusiastic. For example in the account of

Cortes’ second expedition, Bernal Diaz del Castillo wrote:

. . . Guastepeque, where lies the garden I have spoken of as the best that I have
seen in my entire life, and I repeat that Cortes and Treasurer Alderete, since
having seen it and walked through it, admired it and said that it was better than
any garden they had seen in Castile. (Dı́az del Castillo, 1992, p. 132)2

The historian Torquemada gives us additional information about this garden,

affirming that besides groves of trees and different flowers there were also
different buildings, such as fountains and bowers, and the rock was decorated with
reliefs:

. . . it had two circuitous tongues of land, through the middle ran a river, the
banks populated with many trees, small dwellings here and there, with gardens
of diverse flowers and fruits, and there were game animals, herbs, fountains and
many crags that had been carved, abours, oratories, vistas, and stairs cut into
the crags. (Torquemada, 1975 – 85, volume 4, p. 264) 3

One very important pictorial document of the garden is a colonial map of

Huaxtepec, painted in 1580 as part of a written description ordered by King of Spain
Philip II (Figure 5). The document is known as Relaciones Geograficas del siglo XVI
or Las Cuatro Villas del Marquesado (Acapistla, Huaxtepec, Teputztlan y
Yauhtepec), and was written in 1580 by Juan Gutiérrez de Liébana, mayor of these
four towns. At the centre of the map is the convent of Saint Dominic, just below the
toponym of Huaxtepec, which is composed of two Nahuatl words: ‘huaxin’ or
 88 P. Granziera
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Figure 5. Map of Huaxtepec, 1580. From the Pintura de Huaxtepeque, René Acuna edition,
1985. Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), Mexico City.

‘guaje’ in Spanish, a fruit tree that grows in the area, and ‘tepetl’, mountain. In this
rocky landscape among gorges and natural pools was situated the garden of
Moctezuma the Elder, Ilhuicomina (1440 – 1469).
According to Juan Gutiérrez de Liébana (1580), the location of the pre-Hispanic
town of Huaxtepec occupied the territory to the east and south-east of the actual
convent of Saint Dominic:

And [they say] that in ancient times, when people first came to this village [of
Huaxtepec], they settled a little way from town of Acapistla, and, because they
all made little circles of stone, they called it Zaqualpa; and others divided and
settled here, where there are some pools and a stone serpent, as we can see in the
painting, they called it Atliquipac . . .. (Acuña, 1985, volume 6, p. 197)4

Liébana mentions ‘some pools’ and a snake made of stone. These two pools are
painted in the map to the left of the convent, and we can also see the snake situated
near the second pool. This sculpture was still in the same position in 1930 when
Enrique Palacio visited the place. He describes it in his work Huaxtepec y sus
Reliquias Arqueologicas:

. . . Bathing in the springs, there is an idol . . . [. . .] . . . It is a serpent of grey

trachytic stone, a yard high, and coiled . . .. (Palacio, 1930, p. 14)5
 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 89

At present this sculpture (Figure 6) is placed as a ‘monument’ at approximately 20

metres from the source of the natural pool. In Mesoamerica the iconography of the
snake is always related to the powers of water and earth becoming a typical attribute
of the earth goddesses.
The name of the earth goddess Coatlicue means ‘serpent skirt’, as the goddess
was always represented with a skirt of serpents in codices and statues. The
goddess of maize is called Chicomecoatl, which means ‘seven snakes’, and is
usually represented as a woman whose inferior part seems to give birth to seven
snakes. On the day of her celebration girls dedicated to her cult would carry
seven ears of corn from the previous harvest which would be blessed inside her
temple, and from these ears would come the seeds for the following harvest
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(Sahagún, 1979, volume 19, p. 58). The seven serpents could thus have been
interpreted as the generative powers of the goddess. The other important earth
goddess often represented as a snake is Cihualcoatl, whose name means ‘woman
serpent’. The snake’s coiling movement made it a symbol of energy, while its
ability to shed off its skin made it a powerful symbol of regeneration and thus
associated with the goddess. The awakening of the snake meant the awakening of
all nature, the beginning of the life of the new year. Thus the snake near the
natural pool had a religious meaning related to fertility and agriculture (Cruz
Cortés, 2000).
The other pool, according to Liébana (1580), is also located in the wood of
Atliquipac (in Nahuatl this word means ‘on top of the water’), which corresponds to
the actual area of Huaxtepec still called ‘el Bosque’ or ‘the wood’. This natural pool
is known by the people who live there as la ‘Poza Azul’ (Figures 7, 8). In this blue
water pool, formed by a big hole in the rocks, originates the river Yautepec, a river
that crosses the state of Morelos from north to south. It is located about 500 metres
eastward from the other pool (Figure 8). About 300 metres to the south-east of the
‘Poza Azul’, on top of a cliff, was built a circular temple. In 1930, Enrique Palacio
mentions these ruins, stating that: ‘‘. . . there are the remains of up to four pyramid
structures, presently in ruins . . .’’ (Palacio, 1930, p. 15).6
The third natural pool that we see in the map corresponds to the actual ‘ojo de San
Juan’ (pool of St. John), at about 80 metres from the convent. In his description,
Liébana (1580) says that according to local informants the patron deity of
Huaxtepec was Quilaztli and that her sanctuary was situated in the central market
or ‘tianguez’ of the village near this other natural spring:

. . . there was an idol in the principal marketplace of the village which they called
Ichpochtli Quilaztli, which means ‘young woman’ and the quilaztle is an ancient
word . . .. (Acuña, 1985, volume 6, p. 202)7

Ichpochtli or Ichpuchtli means ‘‘virgin or unmarried woman’’ (Molina, 1977, p. 32),

while Quilaztli according to Garibay means ‘‘She who makes legumes grow’’
(Garibay, 1975, p. 944). Quilaztli was one of the names of the mother goddess
Cihualcoatl (woman serpent). She is one of the goddesses of midwifery. Midwives
exhorted women to call out to her in childbirth and to be as warriors in the violent
expelling of the child from the womb (Sahagún, 1979, volume 6, pp. 405, 411). The
identification of Cihualcoatl with Quilaztli is also testified by a document quoted by
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Figure 6. Huaxtepec. The snake sculpture. Photo by the author.

 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 91
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Figure 7. Huaxtepec. The ‘Poza Azul’. Photo by the author.

Torquemada, which describes the goddess as the Terrible Mother, the source of life
and death (Torquemada, 1975 – 85, volume 1, pp. 80 – 81). The three natural pools in
an area of the pre-Hispanic garden and the presence of Cihualcoatl in her
agricultural aspect of Quilaztli placed on top of a natural pool, source of the vital
liquid which fecundates Mother Earth, shows how the garden of Huaxtepec was part
of a ritual landscape and an important ceremonial centre dedicated to the cult of
water and fertility.
The earth is like a vessel containing water, it is like a womb filled with
amniotic fluid. For this reason, water and caves were sacred to Mesoamerican
people. In ancient Mexico, important places of ritual celebrations were situated
near rivers and springs, inside caves or on top of mountains. The friars, who were
trying to extirpate the ‘pagan’ Indian religion, made interesting reports on these
places of cult:

. . . The idols that the Indians had were very many and to be found in many
places, especially. . . [. . .] . . . in lofty places such as groves and high ridges and in
the high passes and our steep hills . . . [ . . .] . . . They also had idols near the
waters mostly near springs where they built their altars with a portico covering
the steps and at many copious springs they will have four of these altars
arranged in form of a cross, facing each other with the spring in the middle, and
into the water they would throw much copal and paper and many roses, and
some water worshippers made offerings there of their own blood . . ..
(Motolinı́a, 1950, p. 55)
 92 P. Granziera
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Figure 8. Huaxtepec. The River Yautepec. Photo by the author.

Together with springs and rivers, caves, as part of the mountains, were related to
goddesses, they were considered the womb of Mother Earth. The ritual use of
caves was also common in the pre-Hispanic world (Heyden, 1981, pp. 1 – 39). The
historian Sahagún (1499 – 1590) tells us that the ancient inhabitants of Mexico
believed that all rivers and water proceeded from the mountains and that the
goddess Chalchiuhtlicue placed inside the mountain would free the water with her
hands (Sahagún, 1979, volume 11, p. 223). Caves were places of origin, but also
of nourishment, since all living things build up and preserve their existence with
the water inside the earth. The Aztecs traced their origins back to a place called
 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 93

Chicomoztoc or ‘seven caves’.8 According to an Aztec myth, Tonacatepetl,

‘sunshine mountain’ or ‘sustenance mountain’, was the mythological source of
food crops (Townsend, 1987).9 Moreover among the Maya, Mixtecs and Aztecs,
communities were named after their mountains. Indeed, the very Nahuatl word
for community, altepetl, means ‘water mountain’. So, mountains as containers of
the water of life express the power of the goddess; they are a symbol of
protection and nourishment at the same time (Pollack, 1997, pp. 113 – 114). For
this reason, mountains for the Mexican Indian people still represent the creator
and protector deities of their villages, who are worshipped in caves and shrines
frequently erected on the tops of mountains and hills. Lopez Austin observes that
these deities, protectors of the villages, are usually associated with water and
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serpents, two attributes of the mother goddess (Lopez Austin, 1998, pp. 60 – 64).10
The garden of Huaxtepec was situated among mountains and hills, and according
to Liébana there was a particular mountain called Ilamatepec by the indios which
was especially worshipped for its cave crossed by a river:

. . . They say that on a hill in Yautepeque, which is a hill of lime called

Ilamatepeque and it is called like that because there are many badgers there, and
at the foot of the hill there is deep cave that gets larger as it goes in and then
drops into the ground. Those who have entered the cave have taken water from
a river . . . that runs from north to south, and although there are many crags and
springs, it was a place of recreation for Motenzuma, and there are fountains and
buildings from his time built into the crags . . .. (Acuña, 1985, volume 6, p. 207)11

So the garden of Huaxtepec, situated among the mountains, crossed by an important

river which originated in the garden, with a cave nearby and three natural bodies of
water, had a specific religious meaning for the Mexica people.
As might be expected from the high value placed on plants and flowers by
Mesoamerican people, their gardens were well stocked with ritual and medicinal
plants and the royal garden of Huaxtepec was well known for its magnificent
botanical collection. Since food crops were supplied to the nobility through tribute,
aristocratic gardens such as Huaxtepec excluded practical edible plants and
contained instead ornamental, aromatic and medicinal plants associated with ritual
needs or those that were emblematic of high status. Royal gardens such as
Huaxtepec had vast collections of plants from the most remote corners of the Aztec
tribute empire, demonstrating the extent of the empire and the power of the ruling
class. According to Durán, the collection of plants that composed Aztec royal
gardens showed ‘‘the grandeur of Mexican authority who desired to be called and
perceived as lords of creation in the water as well as on land . . .’’ (Durán, 1967,
volume 2, p. 208).
Durán and the historian Tezozómoc tell us that when Montezuma the Elder
(Ilhuicomina) (1440 – 1469), following the advice of his brother Tlacael, decided to
lay out the garden of Huaxtepec, he dispatched messengers to the tropical coast
region with the request to the Lord of Cuetlaxtla for plants with roots of cacao,12
hueynacaxtli,13 yolloxochitl,14 cacahuaxochitl15 (Figure 9), izquixochitl, hualcaxochitl16
(Figure 10), cacaloxochitl,17 tlilxochitl18 and other valuable flowers that grew in those
hot lands. He also asked that these be brought carefully by native gardeners from the
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Figure 9. Cacahuaxochitl and Yolloxochitl. Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, f. 53v.

National Library of Anthropology and History (BNAH), Mexico City.

same region, who were capable of replanting them in the customary way. On
receiving the message, the Lord of Cuetlaxtla immediately gave orders to have a
number of all kinds of plants dug up with their roots enclosed in earth, and had these
bundles dispatched to Mexico (Durán, 1967, volume 2, p. 247; Tezozómoc, 1980, pp.
370 – 371). Interestingly enough, almost all these plants are mentioned in the Codex
Badiano as a remedy against the tiredness of those who cover public or
administrative positions (De la Cruz, 1991, p. 57). It is worth mentioning here the
ceremony observed by the gardeners after they planted the trees. They fasted for
eight days and, piercing their upper ears, they sprinkled their blood on the soil. They
also made a great sacrifice to the god of flowers, offering him many dead quails after
having sprinkled the plants with their blood. They assured the people that after
observing these ceremonies none of the plants would be lost and that they would
soon bear flowers and fruits (Durán, 1967, volume 2, p. 248). This ceremony
portrays a mystical relationship held between people and the earth; the people feed
the earth their blood and bodies and in return the earth feeds the people by yielding
plants. The belief that one’s own blood could be exchanged for crop growth was so
fundamental that it is represented in Codex Borgia,19 where a maize plant fertilized
by blood being drawn from the sexual organs of two kneeling males sprouts from the
body of an earth goddess (Diaz & Rodgers, 1993, p. 53; Klein, 1987, pp. 293 – 363)
(Figure 11).
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Figure 10. Huacalxochitl, Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis, f. 18v. National Library
of Anthropology and History (BNAH) Mexico City.

Trees, both real and symbolic, acted as important cosmic metaphors in

Mesoamerican thought. In Mesoamerican mythology the world was imagined as
floating in a large lake and as having at its centre a mountain or large tree which
connects the sky, the earth and the underworld. While the most important and
sacred tree is this central tree, Mesoamerican belief also includes references to four
other trees at the four corners of the earth, which help support the sky. These four
trees are associated with the four cardinal directions, as well as with a specific deity,
colour and bird, whose identities varied regionally (Portilla, 1997, pp. 99 – 112;
Soustelle, 1982, pp. 144 – 176). These larger trees usually grow out of a monster
mask, the gaping jaw of the earth monster, a sacrificial victim or a crouching earth
deity.
The most famous examples of this are the trees of the four quarters of the
world in the Borgia, Fejérváry-Mayer (1972a)20 and Vaticanus 3773 (1972b)21
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Figure 11. The centre of the five directional trees. Codex Borgia, Plate 53. Ángel Palerm
library, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Autropologı́a Social (CIESAS),
Mexico City.

codices. In the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, each of the four trees grows out of a
terrestrial symbol and is surmounted by a supernatural bird (Figure 12). These
birds have been identified with the quetzal (east), yellow macaw (north), blue
hummingbird (west) and white sea bird (south). In the Codex Borgia, a full page
is devoted to each of the five directional trees of the world. All the Borgia trees
grow out of the bodies of Cihualcóatl figures, female supernaturals in their
destructive, death aspects. Mythological trees are also found in the historical
Mixtec codices, generally at the beginning of the history of the ruling dynasties.
In the Codex Vidobonensis (1963),22 an anthropomorphic tree with the head of a
goddess at its roots gives birth to the first male and female ancestors of the
Mixtec people (Figure 13). Trees in pre-Columbian art are generally depicted with
their roots growing out of the heads of an earth monster, with fruit flowers
growing on them and birds or insects in their branches (Pasztory, 1976, pp. 152 –
153).
As natural metaphors of the World Tree, two important trees were singled out for
their size and longevity. These species were the ceiba (Ceiba pentandra) (Aguilera,
1985, p. 120) among the Maya and the ahuehuete (Taxodium mucronatum)
(Baytelman, 1993, p. 71) among the central Mexican people. The ceiba or giant
silk cotton tree is called the yaxche or yax imixche (green tree) in yucatecan Maya.
The giant ceiba can attain a height of 140 feet and a trunk diameter of 8 feet. The red
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Figure 12. The five directions of the world. Codex Fejérváry Mayer, p. 1. Ángel Palerm library,
CIESAS, Mexico City.

colour of the ceiba’s new leaves and sap is associated with the bloodlines of a
community. The tree can also seemingly ‘rejuvenate’, as branches of the ceiba take
root quickly (Schiele & Miller, 1986, pp. 277 – 278). Like the ceiba in its dimensions
and age is the ahuehuete, also called sabino or cedar by the Spanish (Hernandéz,
1976, volume 2, p. 46) and referred to as cypress in 18th-century literature (Jiménez,
1990). Both trees offer a generous shade and they symbolize protection and security.
The ahuehuete is also mentioned in Aztec mythical history, as a mythical couple
took refuge in its trunk after the great deluge provoked by the end of one of the
cosmogonic Suns:

Titlacahuan called the one named Tata and his wife called Nene, and he told
them: you will not want anything more; you will make a hole in a very big
ahuéhuetl and get inside it when the eve will come and the sky will sink! . . .
(Leyenda de los Soles, Velázquéz, transl. 1945, pp. 119 – 164)23

With all this charge of symbolism it is not surprising that trees, and especially the
ahuehuete, played an important role in Aztec gardens, and the garden of
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Figure 13. Mixtec creation accounts: a scene of tree birth. Codex Vidobonensis, p. 33. National
Library of Anthropology and History (BNAH), Mexico City.

Huaxtepec is no exception. In this garden there is an area still called ‘El Bosque’
where the spring of the River Yautepec is. This bosque is characterized by the
presence of big trees, among which the older are the ahuehuetes (Zepillo Castillo,
1994) (Figures 14, 15).
The garden of Huaxtepec was then a source of curative plants, a cosmic paradigm
and, as we have seen, an important religious centre. The deities worshipped in
Huaxtepec were, together with Cihualcóatl-Quilazli, Xochiquetzal and Xochipilli-
Macuilxochitl, all gods related to fertility, procreation, dancing and singing. Another
important deity was Matlacxochitl (10 flowers), a kind of goddess of medicine, which
confirms the importance of Huaxtepec as a botanical garden (Maldonado, 2000, pp.
118 – 124).
This medicine goddess is mentioned by Liebana in his description of Huaxtepec:

. . . and they had another idol that was called Matlacsuchil, which means ten
roses. . . . [. . .] . . . and nothing was sacrificed to this idol, but people with
paralysis or other grave diseases went to it and offered pulque and things to eat
. . .. (Acuña, 1985, volume 6, p. 202)24

The importance of Huaxtepec as a place where one could receive treatments for
different kinds of illnesses continued during the colonial period. In 1568 the Hospital
of the Holy Cross was founded by Spanish friars of the charity order, and people
from all over New Spain, Guatemala and Peru used to come here to be treated with
herbs. Francisco Hernandez, doctor of Philip II, King of Spain, visited Huaxtepec to
study and collect information from the ‘indios’ about the medicinal properties of
many plants. Another famous work which describes the properties of all the
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Figure 14. Ahuehuete in the garden of Huaxtepec. Photo by the author.

medicinal herbs used in the Hospital of Huaxtepec is the Tesoro de Medicina para
todas enfermedades 1580 – 89, written by Gregorio Lopez, a book that became well
known over the whole of New Spain (Velasco de Espinosa, 1992). The tradition
continues nowadays, with a centre for the study of herbal treatment being created in
Huaxtepec.
Moreover, Huaxtepec, with its aromatic and curative flowers, could have
reminded the native people of the Tlalocan, home of the rain god Tlaloc. Tlalocan
was a luxuriant terrain reserved for those who died of drowning, leprosy, venereal
disease, sores and dropsy, and for children sacrificed to Tlaloc.
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Figure 15. The roots of an old ahuehuete along the river Yautepec. Huaxtepec. Photo by the
author.

Sahagún describes this terrestrial paradise as a place situated in the east, where
all rivers originate; a rich fertile soil where all kinds of plants grow, where there
are the most beautiful aromatic flowers, cacao trees and hule trees, the
yolloxochitl and other odoriferous flowers. All kinds of birds are present—with
precious feathers like the quetzal and scarlet macaw—and precious stones such as
jade, turquoise, silver and gold. Tlalocan, he continues, is the place of eternal
spring, never is there withering, forever there is sprouting, there is verdure, it is
eternally green (Sahagún, 1979, volume 3, p. 45, volume 6, p. 35, volume 11,
p. 247).
The scholar Alfonso Caso was the first to identify the Mural of Teopantitla in
Teotihuacan as a representation of the Tlalocan described by Sahagún (Caso, 1942).
The mural represents several tiny figures who are swimming, relaxing, playing in a place
with rivers, caves, vegetation, birds and butterflies. Recent investigations have
recognized some of the plants as maize, oceloxochitl,25 cacao, toloache (datura), yauhtli
(perı́con) and ololiuhqui, suggesting that part of this paradisiacal garden was dedicated
to the cultivation of medicinal plants. This is also proved by the presence of some
figures that were depicted in the act of curing people (Lozoya, 1999) (Figures 16, 17).
Thus the garden of Huaxtepec which was described by the first Spanish
eyewitnesses as a place filled with aromatic flowers, medicinal plants, pools and
rivulets, could correspond to the Mesoamerican concept of a sacred garden heaven.
As we have seen, the Aztecs created the garden of Huaxtepec on a natural sacred
place where the work of man in the form of canals, pools, temples and reliefs existed
in perfect harmony with natural features such as mountains, caves and springs.
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Figure 16. Detail of Teopantitla mural, Teotihuacan. Reproduced in the Teotihuacan Room,
MNA

Huaxtepec was not only a representation of a terrestrial paradise, a Tlalocan, it was

also a ritual place where kings and magnates performed rites that linked their people
to the sacred forces of the earth and sky that gave them life.
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Figure 17. Detail of Teopantitla mural, Teotihuacan. It can be observed that various figures
are depicted in the act of curing people. Reproduced in the Teotihuacan Room, MNA.

Another important aspect of the garden was its political iconography. On the
rocks of the hill at Huaxtepec there were reliefs representing the effigies of the king
and his ancestors, the function of which was to remind the population of the royal
family’s accomplishments.
In Huaxtepec, the Spanish historian Tezozómoc reports how Montezuma the
Elder (Ilhuicamina) (1440 – 1469) had sculpted on the rocks of the garden the effigies
of his ancestors:

. . . One day, Moctezuma called for Cihuacoatl and told him: Tlacaeletzin, I am
also told that there is a very delightful place in Huastepec where there are great
crags, gardens, springs, flower gardens and fruit trees. To this, Cihuacóatl
Tlacaeletzin responded: Sir, it is very well known that there [in Huastepec]
appear the images of your ancestors the kings . . .. (Tezozómoc, 1980, p. 175)26

In conclusion, Huaxtepec was a sacred place associated with the curing of physical
and spiritual ills and conveying the idea of a terrestrial paradise; an idyllic spot
which attempted to reproduce a sophisticated environment to explain the notion of
paradise to which, in the real, tangible world at least, only aristocracy had access.
The animistic sacred geography of the Mesoamerican people made them lay out
 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 103

their gardens around ritual places such as mountains, springs and caves, the
dwelling places of the gods of water and earth. From the descriptions of the
‘conquistadores’ who saw Huaxtepec, we can deduce that sanctuaries and
monolithic temples were carved in the rock; rooms were excavated in the rock
or built in the hillside and were probably complemented by stone and plaster walls
and covered by wooden roofs or terraces; and water ran through the garden,
creating pools and waterfalls that are still visible nowadays. Reliefs showing the
faces of Moctezuma’s ancestors were also part of the decoration of this garden.
The garden of Huaxtepec was not just a place of recreation; it served the Aztec
king to reinforce his ties with the cosmic forces through the presence of certain
plants and natural features and to convey certain patriotic and political ideas by
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means of its architectural iconography.

Notes
1 ‘‘Guastepeque . . . [. . .] . . . es la mayor y más hermosa y fresca que nunca se vió, porque tiene dos
lenguas de circuito, y por medio de ella va una muy gentil ribera de agua, . . . [. . .]. Hay
Aposentamientos y jardines muy frescos, y infinitos Arboles de diversas Frutas y muchas Yerbas y
Flores olorosas que cierto es cosa de admiración ver la gentileza y grandeza de toda esta Huerta . . ..’’
2 ‘‘. . . Gustepeque, adonde está la huerta que he dicho que es la mejor que avı́a visto en toda mi vida y a
sı́ lo torno a decir que Cortés y el Tesorero Alderete, desque entonces la vieron y pasearon algo en ella,
se admiraron y dixeron que mejor cosa de huerta no avı́an visto en Castilla . . ..’’
3 ‘‘. . . tenı́a dos lenguas de circuito, por medio del cual corrı́a un rı́o, pobladas las riberas de muchas
arboleadas, de trecho en trecho aposentos, con jardines de diversas flores y frutas y habı́a cazas,
sementeras, fuentes y habı́a en diversos peñascos labrados, cenadores, oratorios y miradores, con
escaleras en la misma peña . . ..’’
4 ‘‘Y [dicen] que antiguamente, cuando esta villa [ de Huaxtepec ] se pobló [ la] asentaron un poco
desviado de donde está hacia la villa de Acapistla, y, porque todos hacı́an unos cercadillos de piedra, la
llamaron Zaqualpa; y otros, que se dividieron y poblaron acá, donde están unos ojos de agua y
señalaba una culebra de piedra, como parece en la pintura, le llamaron Atliquipac . . ..’’
5 ‘‘. . . bañandose en las venas acabadas de brotar, he allı́ un idolo . . . [. . .] . . . Es una serpiente de piedra
gris traquı́tica, alta como una vara, enroscada . . ..’’
6 ‘‘. . . he allı́ los restos de hasta cuatro estructuras en pirámide, ya muy destruı́das al presente . . ..’’
7 ‘‘. . . tan solamente tenı́an un idolo en el tianguez principal de la villa al cual llamaban Ichpochtli
Quilaztli, que quiere decir ‘mujer moza’ y el quilaztle es vocabulo antiguo . . ..’’
8 In the 13th veintena (20-day period, or ‘month’ in the Aztec calendar), the Aztec celebrated what was
known as ‘Mountain Feast’; the celebration was widely carried out by Central Mexican peoples in
honour of various mountains. Five sacrificial victims, four women and one man, representing
mountains (Tepexoch, Matlalcueye, Xochitecatl, Mayahuel) and Milnahuatl (a serpent god), were slain
by heart extrusion and then decapitated. Xochitecatl (She of the Flower) and Matlalcueye (Blue Skirt)
are mountains in the region of Puebla-Tlaxcala. We do not know the location of the others. As we see,
the majority of these mountains have goddesses or feminine names, which indicates that in the sacred
pre-Hispanic landscapes, mountains represented the Great Mother (Graulich, 1999, pp. 161 – 169).
9 Quetzalcoatl journeyed to Tonacatepetl in order to obtain maize for humankind, he transformed
himself into an ant and stole some kernels. Similar accounts of the origin of maize are known among
the Maya, and the Quiché called the mountain of origin Paxil.
10 According to Galiner, among the Otomies, the mountain is still today related to the feminine: ‘‘. . . El
cerro, según la mitologı́a local, es mujer . . . [. . .] . . . el cerro es comparado a la cavidad uterina y en esto
sugiere la fertilidad, las plantas cultivadas’’ (Galinier, 1990, p. 561).
11 ‘‘. . . dicen que, en un cerro que está a la parte de Yautepeque, que es un cerro de cal, que llaman
Ilamatepeque, y que se llama ası́ porque hay muchos tejones, que se llaman ası́, y que al pié de dicho
cerro está una cueva honda que al principio va crecida a la larga, y después, abajan. Y los que han
entrado dentro han sacado agua de un rió que pasa por debajo y que corrı́a el agua de norte a sur, y
 104 P. Granziera

que aunque hay muchas peñas y fuentes era una recreación de Motenzuma, donde en la misma peña
hay fuentes y edificios de aquel tiempo . . ..’’
12 Cacao: products from the cacao tree claimed to be restricted to the upper class. The high value placed
on cacao was based on its function as currency in pre-conquest exchange systems and on its use as a
prestigious beverage and stimulant. Sahagún refers to chocolate as ‘‘the privilege, the drink of nobles,
of rulers’’ (Sahagún, 1979, volume 6, p. 256, volume 10, p. 93). The consumption of chocolate was
limited to the wealthy upper class, the elderly, or those honoured for their achievements by the state.
The cacao bean also has a stimulatimg effect on the drinker because of the alkaloid theobromine. The
effect of the cacao drink as a stimulant is referred to by Sahagún when he writes that the beverage
‘‘makes one dizzy confuses one, . . . deranges one’’ (Sahagún, 1979, volume 11, pp. 119 – 120).
Chocolate was also known as an aphrodisiac: a conviction that prompted its continued cultivation by
Spanish settlers and boasted its popularity ratings among 16th-century European nobility.
13 Hueynacaztli (Enterolobium cyclocarpum): this flower, dried and ground together with mecaxochitl and
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tlilxochitl, was put inside the flower yolloxochitl and hung around the neck of travellers as an amulet
(De la Cruz, 1991, p. 81). It has been suggested that the smell of this plant has hallucinogenic properties
(Viesca Treviño, 1977, pp. 120 – 132).
14 Yolloxochitl (Talauma mexicana of the magnolia family): an important flowering tree known as
‘heart flower’. Hernández mentions that the tree was ‘‘appreciated by the Indians as much for its
medicinal uses as for its beauty and the aroma of its flowers’’ (Hernández, 1976, volume 2, p. 5). The
yolloxochitl was so esteemed by the natives that, according to Sahagún’s informants, the tree was
cultivated only for the nobility and its flowers were used in offerings to the most important deities
(Sahagún, 1979, volume 9, p. 330). Part of the yolloxochitl’s importance was the physical
resemblance of the unopened bud to the human heart, as expressed in its Nahuatl name (yollotli,
heart; xochitl, flower). The Aztecs considered the heart the centre of a persona’s life and spirit and
the animating force. The plant’s magical powers were manifold. When dried and hollowed out, the
yolloxochitl bud was filled with a mixture of other flowers and hung around the neck of travellers as
a protective amulet. It was, and in rural Mexico still is, considered to be the most efficacious
medicine in heart diseases. This plant was also used to expell bad humours from a patient’s chest (De
la Cruz, 1991, p. 77).
15 Cacahuaxochitl (Quararibea funebris): in Nahuatl it means ‘precious flower’, and it is the flower of the
cacao tree. Because of its beautiful smell, the flowered branches were much used in ritual ceremonies.
The flowers were also used for their hallucinogenic properties.
16 Huacalxochitl (Philodendron affine): in Nahuatl it means ‘basket flower’, and it was one of the flowers
most venerated by the Aztecs. In addition to having medicinal value, the huacalxochitl was one of the
most noteworthy ritual accessories in Aztec ceremonies, considered so precious and aromatic that the
supreme Aztec ruler Moctezuma II offered the flower at the temple of the Aztec deity Huitzilopochtli.
It was also used to decorate military heroes and the ‘tlatoiani’, i.e. the ruler. The value of huacalxochitl
was related to fertility through the sexual symbolism inherent in its blossom (Hernández, 1976, volume
9, p. 389; Sahagún, 1979, volume 2, p. 209).
17 Cacaloxochitl (Plumeria acutifolia): in Nahuatl it means ‘crow flower’. Hernández affirms that it is a
flourishing tree, mainly used for its beautiful aromatic flowers. He writes that the natives made
garlands with it and the flowered branches of the tree were offered to governors or important people.
He also indicates its medicinal use for stomach diseases (Hernandez, 1976, volume 9, p. 403), while
Martin de la Cruz prescribes it as a remedy for those people who have suffered from a shock (De la
Cruz, 1991, p. 76).
18 Tlilxochitl (Vainilla planifolia): in Nahuatl it means ‘black flower’, and it is commonly known as
vanilla. The black sheaths of this flower were highly praised for their pleasant smell. It was added
to chocolate drink to enhance its taste. Hernandez writes that it was prescribed to those who spit
blood. It was also used to provoke women’s menstruations, accelerate their labour and to ease the
extraction of a dead foetus. It was also a remedy against animals’ poison (Hernández, 1976,
volume 3, p. 161).
19 The Codex Borgia is one of the most beautiful and of the few surviving pre-Colombian painted
manuscripts. Its special significance has been seen in its detailed depiction of highland Mesoamerican
gods and the ritual and divination associated with them. The Codex Borgia is today housed in the
Apostolic Library of the Vatican in Rome.
 Huaxtepec: Sacred Garden 105

20 The Codex Fejérváry – Mayer is a Codex of the Borgia group and represents a pre-Hispanic ritual
calendar. The original manuscript is kept in the Free Public Museum of Liverpool in England.
21 The Codex Vaticanus B, which includes Codex Vaticanus (3773), Codex Vaticano Rituale and Codex
Fabrega, represents a pre-Hispanic ritual calendar. The original manuscript is housed in the Apostolic
Library of the Vatican in Rome.
22 Codex Vidobonensis is a mixtec historical manuscript which deals with local history and royal
genealogies from various communities of the Mixteca Alta and surrounding regions. The original
manuscript is housed in the Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.
23 ‘‘. . . Titlacahuan llamó al que tenı́a el nombre de Tata y a su mujer llamada Nene, y les dijo: ¡No
queráis nada más; agujerad un ahuéhuetl muy grande y ahi os meteréis cuando sea la vigilia y se venga
hundiendo el cielo! . . ..’’
24 ‘‘. . . e que ası́ mismo tenı́an otro ı́dolo que se llamaba Matlacsuchil, que quiere decir, diez rosas, . . .
[. . .] y que a este ı́dolo que no sacrificaban ninguna cosa, más de que iban a él los enfermos de perlesı́a y
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otras enfermedades graves, los quales le ofrecı́an pulque y cosas de comer . . ..’’
25 Oceloxochitl: in Nahuatl it means ‘tiger flower’ or Tigridia Pavonia. The Aztecs named it flower of the
ocelot (jaguar) for the dark spots on its red and yellow petals. The flower was awarded special
importance because of its resemblance to the jaguar, a status element in Aztec Mexico. It was used to
make crowns and garlands. Not only were its bulbs considered sweet and edible; the flower was
consumed in order to promote fertility.
26 ‘‘. . . A otro dı́a llamó Moctezuma a Cihuacóatl, y dijóle: Tlacaeletzin, también soy avisado que está un
sitio muy deleitoso en Huastepec, donde hay peñas vivas, jardines, fuentes, rosales y árboles frutales. A
esto respondió Cihuacóatl Tlacaeleltzin y dijo; Señor, es muy bien acordado que allá [en Huastepec]
figuren los reyes vuestros antepasados . . ..’’

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