Page 30 - 201205 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - May 2012

The Center of the Labyrinth The Center of the Labyrinth The twisting symbol of the labyrinth has been traced back over 3,500 years. It occurs in different cultures at different points in time, in places as diverse as Peru, Arizona, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, Crete, Egypt, and India. The design of the labyrinth symbol consists of a single meandering pathway that leads from the entrance to the center. Throughout the world and throughout history, it has been carved on wood and rock faces, woven into the design on blankets and baskets, laid out on the ground in the desert and on shorelines, in colored stones or tiles on the floors of villas, churches, and cathedrals, and cut into the living earth on village greens and hilltops. Occasionally the design of the labyrinth itself is altered or From time to time Iitoi’s spirit, in the suggest that mazes were a popular feature of developed, but usually it is utilized with no form of a small man, would apparently sneak village spring fairs. Some turf mazes can still be significant variation. into the nearby village and cause trouble. He found on village greens, or commons, often The labyrinth has often been employed would escape by confusing his pursuers with his close to churches, but others are found on as a symbol for the omphalos, the sacred center, circuitous route back up the mountain. The hilltops and at other remote sites, hinting at a or the navel of the world. Some ancient Roman design shows Iitoi on the tortuous path to the link with earlier pagan traditions and customs. mosaic labyrinths were surrounded by a sacred center of Baboquivari Peak. depiction of fortified walls; the center of the The world tree labyrinth represented various cities of the European mazes Three of these mazes have fully grown trees in Roman Empire. In medieval, Christianized In Europe the labyrinth symbol is widespread the centers. These tress provide a link between Europe, the labyrinths appeared in churches and and varied in its forms. Prehistoric labyrinth the symbolism of the omphalos, or navel, and cathedrals. The center fo some of these were designs are found carved on rock faces at the symbolism of the world tree, or tree of life. designated as Jerusalem, the Christian holy city. Pontevedra, Spain, and at Val Camonica in To the roving Vikings of Scandinavia, this was In this instance the labyrinth stood as a symbol northern Italy. But the most famous ancient the world ash tree (yggdrasil in the ancient of the Christian faith, makin git clear to the labyrinth was at Knosses in Crete, where the Norse language), whose long branches reached faithful that there is only one path to the center, monstrous bull-man known as the Minotaur was up to heaven. The turf maze at Saffron Walden, just as there is only one true path to salvation. supposed to be imprisoned. The Labyrinth England, has now lost its large ash tree, but itself, a Minoan palace / temple complex, was otherwise survives in good condition. There is Labyrinths of the Americas destroyed and then rebuilt several times during an 18th-century account of how young men In the Americas, the labyrinth is etched into the its long history, but was eventually abandoned would race each other through the maze to reach sands of the Nazca Plain in Peru, and is c.1380 B.C. No examples of the labyrinth young women standing at the center. In both scratched on boulders and rock faces in northern symbol survive from the site itself. A variety of spiritual and secular use, the labyrinth design Mexico, new Mexico, and Arizona. Among the Cretan coins, however, incorporate a type of seems to symbolize the long and complex path Hopi people of Arizona it is known as Tapu’at labyrinth design; these ancient coins date from that must be followed in order to reach the (Mother and Child), and is depicted in two the last three centuries before Christ. object of the quest at the center. forms. There is a circular variety symbolizing The labyrinth symbol was widely used Dances and processions took place at the the Sun Father, the giver of life; the various and adapted by the ancient Romans; its Rad (“wheel”) turf maze in Hannover, lines and pathways represent the road of life that geometric form was a popular subject for Germany; a mature lime tree stands at the should be followed, and the four points where depiction in mosaic pavements, of which there center, makin git one of the most impressive the lines end represent the four cardinal points. are more than 60 known examples. They are surviving turf mazes. Slupsk in Poland formerly Within the square variety, the lines are subtly found throughout the Roman Empire and in possessed an enormous turf maze, around 150 interconnected to produce one labyrinth within North Africa. feet in diameter, which was used as a site for a another: the Mother Earth symbol, depicting the costumed festival administered by the local unborn child within the womb of its mother Turf designs shoemaker’s trade guild. cradled in her arms after birth. The Hopi Indians Turf labyrinths, or turf mazes as they are also see the labyrinth as a symbolic popularly known, were once found in many A9:65- 4)@- .68 3;+2 ): 9-) representation of the concentric boundaries of countries throughout Europe. They are formed In Scandinavia stones were often used to mark their traditional lands, which have secret shrines by ridges of turf and shallow trenches marking out the labyrinth design; over 500 examples hidden at several key points around their a single pathway that commonly leads to a small have been recorded. Stone labyrinths also perimeters. mound at the center. Most were between 30 and existed in Iceland, Russia, and other Baltic The Tohono O’otam and Pima tribes 60 feet in diameter and circular, although square countries, India, Arizona, and the British Isles. from southern Arizona weave baskets from and other polygonal examples are also known. Many of the Scandinavian labyrinths are found dried leaves, stems, and roots of various desert Several hundred sites have been recorded, but close to the coast, and were built by fishing plants. The labyrinth appears on these as a only 11 examples survive - eight in England and communities, probably during the medieval design known as “The House of Iitoi.” It three in Germany. Although such mazes have period, when labyrinths were occasionally explains the myth of Iitoi, the ancestral founder been known since early Roman times, most of painted on the walls of churches in the region. of the tribes, whose spirit resides at the top of those recorded probably date to medieval times. Baboquivari Peak, one of the sacred centers of Folklore and the scant records that survive Continued on Page 31 the tribal lands.