In early Mexico the god Tezcatlipoca was assigned a fivefold aspect, and this was later upgraded into five separate gods. Initially, he represented the centre and the four cardinal points surrounded by the four traditional colours. Later, the four variants of the one supreme god became differentiated. The blue of the south became Tlaloc, god of rain; the red east became Xipe Totec, sunrise; the north remained the domain of Tecatlipoca himself, and the west was appropriated by the Plumed Serpent, Quetzalcoatl.

The major different colour sytems of the world may be summarized in the following way, which demonstrates their fundamental variance.

          Centre    East    North    West    South

Aztec               Red     white    black   blue
Chinese   yellow    blue    black    white   red
Irish               red     black    green   white
Hindu               white   brown    yellow  red
Maya/Hopi           red     white    black   yellow
Tibetan   white     blue    green    red     yellow