The sea turtle, a symbol of Mayan power

The turtle has always been an inspiration, for artists, for great philosophers, for modern life, but also for the past, there are many people who over time have seen this animal as a figure of power, intelligence and majesty; out of the sea it seems slow, but its movements are carefully planned, and in the sea, it inspires anyone who sees it with its swimming movements, which are pure art.

The Mayan culture knew how extraordinary this creature is, that is why it served as inspiration, they conceived the planet Earth as a great turtle whose shell symbolized its roundness, even among its mythology there is a story that tells about how the Sun and the Moon took shelter under the shell of a turtle to escape from the destruction of the world.

The turtle served as inspiration for many characters of the Mayan mythology, for example ‘the four bacaboob’, characters with long beards that dressed with clothes that characterized them as bees. In addition, each one of them carries the symbol of a turtle shell on his back. Pawahtún also carries a turtle shell on his back, this is a character that dwells in Heaven, Earth and the Underworld, and his task is to hold the celestial vault and the surface of the Earth.

Mayan astronomy could not be left behind, the constellation Ak-Ek’ or The Turtle (Orion constellation) forms the figure of this reptile, which is also identified with the summer solstice, because its slow movements represent the time when it seems that the sun does not move.

In Mexico and the world we can see the turtle in hundreds of murals, with different colors, swimming in the universe or carrying on its back figures of power; postcards, stories, movies, songs, poems. That is why today, June 16th, date in which we celebrate World Sea Turtle Day, we remember these reptiles as what they are, a source of inspiration, a symbol of power and intelligence.

Translated by Miguel Sánchez