In China, three thousand years before our era, the jade was already considered a royal stone. On another continent, in Central America, 3000 years ago, the Olmecs, bright and advanced people, used the jade in sculptures dedicated to deities and funerary masks.
What is the common point between these geographically and culturally separated civilizations, that several centuries apart, worshiped the same rock? Jade. At first, the explanation may be simply geological and practical. In fact, in China, Central America and even in Switzerland, the heart of Europe, in Siberia or Russia, jade was first extracted and used by their physical characteristics.
This hard rock allowed, since the Neolithic era, the manufacture of tools such as axes and sharp knives. However, in China and in Central America, very quickly, the practical dimension of this mineral made way to a much deeper and spiritual aspect. “Yu”, the royal stone, nephrite jade in China, defined by Confucius since the first century as the stone that symbolizes virtue. “Jade is precious not because it is rare, but because the quality of jade corresponds to virtues of a man, such as benevolence, wisdom, righteousness, propriety, loyalty, and trustworthiness. Jade is mild and gentle, just like benevolence.
Jade has a fine texture yet it is solid, just like a wise person; with a careful, meticulous and thorough way of handling things. Though jade has edges and corners, it is not sharp and will not hurt others, resembling a sense of justice and uprightness. When the jade is hung, it symbolizes polite restraint and prudence. When it is struck, it releases a clear and vivid sound like music.
Though jade is beautiful, blemishes do not obscure its merits. Just like loyalty, it is without bias and without the need to conceal. . In addition, the color of jade can be seen from all angles. Just like trustworthiness, a person’s behavior is consistent with words. Even in a darkened room, a person is trustworthy and does not deceive others.”
If it is possible to value gold, Jade itself is priceless, says a Chinese proverb
For many centuries, the love of China for this stone has not disappeared. It resisted the time and jade remains a highly sought after stone, as a symbol of excellence and wealth. It also has a strong connection with heritage. The families pass jade from generation to generation. China waited until the thirteenth century to discover the jadeite, imported during the Qing Dynasty. Both jades cohabit since that time, with a very particular enthusiasm for imperial jade, in jadeite.
Jade is associated with power. Numerous tombs of emperors in China conceal a large number of jade treasures, particularly in jade tubes as a symbol of power, jade ax as a symbol of military power and jade disc as a fortune symbol. For the Chinese emperors, jade was considered a kind of sacred talisman, that allowed their communication with the gods, as this rock contained, according to the belief, the essence of heaven and earth, the divine and the human.
On another continent, thousands of kilometers away from China, 1500 years before our era, the Olmecs from Central America, ancestors of the Mayans, saw high spiritual values in jade. Jade, fertile on the Olmec land, was also used as a symbol of power and an object of high spirituality. Polished jade axes were found and according to Professor Carmen Bernand from the University of Paris X Nanterre, expressing herself about this issue on the internet page clio.fr – “the function (of these axes) is a ritual, it is not utility. They were offerings – jade was the non-perishable substitute symbol of blood. Placed upright, they represented the axis of the world that united the three vertical levels of heaven, earth and the infra world, conceived as a tree of life – fundamental cosmic representation throughout the Mesoamerican mythology – but it also surrounded the four orients.” In the future, the Mayans, the Toltecs and the Aztecs also kept this particular affection for jade.
The funerary masks that were in the tombs of the Mayan lords were made with the mosaic technique, with pieces of jade, shells, turquoise, obsidian and also hematite and amazonite. For the Mayans, as well as in China, jade allowed the communication between the gods in heaven, men, animals and plants on earth, and in the infra world for the lords of death. Once a symbol of power, strength and bond between the visible and the invisible, jade was considered a sacred stone that will remain for many years in Central America.
The Aztecs continued working with jade until the arrival of the explorers in the sixteenth century. The Spaniards, blinded by the search for gold, did not realize the importance of jade and according to the legend, in 1521, the last Aztec emperor would have said these words, rejoicing by the fact that “the Spanish demons who looted all the gold that made them crazy, were not interested in the jade, the essential”, he said.
In Guatemala, under the Spanish colonies pressure, the jade mines were forgotten. They had to wait until 1952 for the geologist Robert Leslie to rediscover jade on the north slope of the valley of the river Motagua (Sierra Las Minas), southeast of Guatemala. At the end of the 90’s and beginning of 2000, new excavations found jade blocks to the south of the Motagua River.
For 2500 years, the Mayans and their ancestors extracted Jade from these Southern slopes and to the north of the Motagua River. How could such memory be lost until 1952? The answer lies in the trauma left by the explorers who tried to kill the Mesoamerican culture, both physically and culturally.
ALFA