Just like the American Indian, the ancient Mayans believed in the importance of certain colors. These colors represented the ordinal directions (north, east, south and west) as well as various gods in their complex religious belief system.
Cardinal directions
According to the book, The Book of Chilam Balam of Chuyamel, red represented east and the gods Ix Noh Uc, Ox Tocoy-moo, Ox Pauah Ek and Ah Miz.. White represented north and the gods Batun, Ah Puch, Balam-na and Ake. Black represented the west and the gods Iban, Ah Chab, and Ah Tucuch. Yellow represented south and the gods Ah Yamas, Ah Puc, Cauich, and Ah Couoh.
Each direction had various items in the respective color associated with it as well. These items included a flint stone, a ceiba tree (considered the sacred tree of life), wild turkeys, corn, bees, flowers and beans. So, in the east, the people had red beans, red-breasted turkeys, a red ceiba tree. etc. In the west, they had a black ceiba tree, black speckled corn, black beans, etc. In the south, the beans, corn, ceiba trees, flowers and bees were yellow and in the north, the sacred items were all white.
The most important direction
In the book A Forest of Kings, Linda Schele and David Friedel write, "East was red and the most important direction since it was where the sun was born. North, sometimes called the 'side of heaven', was white and the direction from which the cooling rains of winter came. It was also the direction of the north star around which the sky pivots. West, the leaving or dying place of the sun, was black. South was yellow and was considered to be the right-hand or great side of the sun. In the Maya conception, east, not north, should always be at the top of maps."
A fifth color associated with the Maya concept of heaven, earth, and the underworld was blue-green. This was found in the center of the four cardinal directions, running vertically from the underworld to the heavens. This direction also had its respective sacred ceiba tree, bird, bean, and corn and united the four cardinal directions with the layers of heaven and the underworld.
Many of these colors have been found in the ancient cities of the Mayans in the Yucatan, in the paintings and murals that cover the walls of the ancient pyramids. They have also been seen in fragments of clothing found among the buried dead, and on the various glazed pots and jugs found buried with these people as well.
Source
Friedel, David and Linda Schele, A Forest of Kings: the Untold Story of the Ancient Maya, Harper Perennial 1992
