Abstract. – The Tree of Tule (El Arbol del Tule) is a huge Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) located in the center of the town Santa María del Tule in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. In the local Nahuatl language it is being nicknamed ahuehuete (“old man of the water”). In 2001 it was placed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. In this article, the author discusses the historical and socio-cultural context surrounding that Monument. [Mexico, Oaxaca, Nahuatl, indigenous cult of nature, the Tree of Tule]