Hawk Nature-Spirit of Zapotec
Among the Zapotec people of Oaxaca, Mexico, the Hawk Nature-Spirit is a sacred being associated with the ancient cloud forests of the Sierra Norte and the archaeological sites of Monte Albán and Mitla. The Zapotec civilization, one of the oldest in Mesoamerica, developed a sophisticated cosmology in which birds of prey were considered messengers of the gods and intermediaries between the world of the living and the underworld (Lyobaa). The Hawk Nature-Spirit was particularly associated with the Zapotec rain god Cocijo and the lightning bolt, reflecting the hawk's connection to storms and the s