Jicaro: A Sacred Tree To Ancient Maya People
The Jicaro tree can be the solution to many of our turmoils.
According to one legend described in Popol Vuh, Hun Hunahpu, the earthly god was playing ball with his brother. The gods of Xibalba, the underworld felt disturbed. They cunningly invited the brothers to play a game with them, and defeated them through deceit. They then beheaded Hun Hunahpu and suspended his head on the branches of a calabash tree. The tree immediately produced fruits that looked like Hunahpu’s head. Until this time the tree had never borne fruits. Seeing this, the gods of the underworld were so fearful of the power of the tree that they forbade anyone from cutting its fruit or going near it. Intrigued by the head on the tree, an underworld maiden, daughter of one of the Xibalban lords approached the tree and started a conversation with the head. When she came close enough, Hun Hunahpu spat into her hand, magically impregnating her. When the dark lords discovered that she was carrying the child of an unknown father, they banished her to the surface of the earth where she gave birth to twins. The twins grew up on earth; they learnt that their true father was Hun Hunahpu, also the true lord of the earth. In due course they defeated the lords of the underworld and recovered the remains of their father and father’s brother, but could not resuscitate them.
