#mesoamericans

Giving chocolates is a way to show your love on Valentines Day. Human beings have been in love with chocolate and the Cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) for thousands of years, and today we will learn about the romance of culture and chocolate.

Although Cacao is most famously associated with Mesoamerican cultures, genetic studies indicate that Cacao was domesticated by indigenous Americans around 5,300 years ago in the Upper Amazon region. From there, Cacao cultivation spread north to Mexico. The Cacao fruit pulp was more commonly consumed in South America in Pre Columbian times while the Mesoamericans invented the technique of fermentation and roasting to utilise the Cacao nibs.

Archaeological evidence, such as chemical residues on ancient pottery shards, pinpoints the first use of Cacao drinks in Mesoamerica around 1600 BCE. By the time of the Classical Mayan civilization (250-900 CE), ground cacao nibs were mixed with water and spices by careful pouring between vessels to make a nourishing and invigorating hot drink which was consumed by people of all social classes. In the later Mexica (Aztec) civilization, cold cacao drink or xocoatl (bitter water in Nahuatl) exquisitely flavoured with flowers, fruits, chillies, and spices was reserved for the elite and ceremonial occasions. Cacao seeds were used as a form of currency for trade and barter during the Mexica Empire.

After the conquest of the Mexica Empire by Spain in 1521, cacao was one of the many new plant-based foods brought to Europe. In Spain, the locals of Andalusia experimented with the spicy xocoatl by adding cane sugar and dairy ingredients. It is said that drinking chocolate was so universally popular from the 17th century to the late 19th century that it prevented coffee from becoming mainstream in Spanish culture. Drinking chocolate caught on in the rest of Europe in the 1600’s but it was not until the mid 19th century that innovation in processing and chemistry allowed the invention of solid chocolate candies. Cadbury chocolate company is credited with marketing chocolates as a token of love for Valentines Day in 1868.

Chocolate in the modern world is not always a sweet story. Today, approximately 70% of the world’s cacao is produced in West African countries like Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Sadly, exploitative practices like child labour and enslavement are still rife in these countries’ Cacao farms. Chocolate lovers can help by buying Fair Trade certified chocolate products and other responsibly grown cacao products. Fortunately, cacao can be grown in sustainable agroforestry alongside native rainforest trees especially in Latin America. Cacao’s sacred and medicinal properties are experiencing a renaissance among “chocolate shamans” around the world who drawn upon indigenous knowledge to make the ethical production and mindful consumption of cacao a healing spiritual experience.

Humanity and Cacao have a long-lasting love that continues to evolve over time, and has the potential to benefit plants, people, and the planet. Ponder the storied history of Cacao if you indulge in chocolate this Valentines Day.

The Mayan creation myth is translated from their ancient writtings in a text called the “Popul Vuh” which describes their cosmology which can be sumerised as follows:

The world was without life only the sky and sea existed but both were empty. The text goes on to say there were “makers in the sea, together called the plumed serpent” (“plumed/feathered serpent” refers to the God Quetzalcoatl) and that there were “makers in the sky, together called the “Heart of Sky” and that these forces, Quetzalcoatl and Heart of Sky planned to create life, between them they raised the land up from below the oceans creating mountains to separate the land, sea and sky, The Heart of Sky made animals; mammals and reptiles and then birds, the heart of sky asked the animals to pray to them but the animals could not talk and so were designated as food to eat. Attempting to make more intelligent life the makers then made a body of mud which talked but looked grotesque and crumbled away in the rain. Because they could not create the beings they desired the Heart of Sky called on the wise ones or diviners the grandfather God Xpiyacoc and grandmother Goddess Xmucane who suggest making and animating wooden carvings instead. These wooden people could talk and multiply but their minds and hearts were empty and they do not revere/serve the Heart of Sky and thus the Heart of Sky devised a flood and killed them all in rain that lasted many days and nights, the animals came into the wooden peoples homes and ate them and the text goes on to state that the wooden peoples resembled monkeys suggesting that they were primitive men. Following this the Heart of Sky and Quetzalcoatl make eight human beings (four male and four female) out of yellow and white corn or maize which formed the modern humans who could talk, multiply and worshiped the Gods thus the Maize plant became sacred to the Mayans as a sign of the ancestor and united them in their new agricultural society focused around growing maize instead of being just a tribal hunter gatherer structure. The Heart of Sky and Quetzalcoatl are pleased with their creation however they are disturbed by mankinds spiritual spark or “perfect sight” and they choose to then cloud the vision of man to keep mankind subservient.