2488: Mayan Directions & Maize Oct 4, 2021

The Mayans used a system where the four cardinal directions represented by the four colors of maize. This translated as white for north, black for west, yellow for south, and red for east. Inscriptions from around AD 600 use the names of the directions as they correspond to the colors, which in addition to the agricultural, culinary, and indeed major religious significance to the crop, a genericized symbolic blend of those as used for giving people directions.