gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history,

Stones or gems considered highly valuable, chalchihuitl and xihuitl (jades and emeralds), appear many times in the codices as metaphors for that which is beautiful and precious. In Nahua songs and poems, the chalchihuitl, a precious reality, is identified with the heart and even with the human person. Reference to the transience and passing of rulers and of all that exists is reiterated again and again through the metaphor of jade.