STORIES OF SACRED CACAO
At the end of the day everyone loves chocolate.
Until very recently in today's modern society, chocolate has for the most past been associated with women and their emotional needs. Directed towards, but not exclusively, to the feminine as a companion through upheaval and celebration.
But the history of cacao could not be further from this as Venus is from from Mars. Chocolate has been consumed, revered and desired for over 3,000 years. Consumed originally as a bitter drink made from crushed cocoa beans, chili peppers, and water, it was held in such high esteem that the Mayans called it the “food of the G O D S.”
After water it is the single healthiest substance you can put in your mouth and basically smokes all the other super foods. It is emerging as a health superstar as it has the highest antioxidant polyphenol content, and provides the greatest cardio-protection. For centuries it has been revered as a very precious substance and, therefore, reserved for the elite (the royal house, nobles, priests, highest government officials, military officers, great warriors, shamans, artists, merchants)
Cacao was an intrinsic part of ancient Mayan and Aztec life, not just as a beverage or food, but as a pillar of their economies and an integral part of their religions, appearing in their numerous spiritual ceremonies—even death rites and sacrifices. Seen as a sacred offering to the gods combined with personal blood-letting through the piercing or cutting of their own flesh.
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Not for the faint hearted!
From the time of its discovery by the Olmecs of Mesoamerica in 1500 B.C., Theobroma cacao has served many functions, yet because of its stimulating effects, Aztec women were forbidden to drink it, whilst all Mayans could enjoy cacao, regardless of their social status. As empires rose and fell, the subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations of the Izapan, Maya, Toltecs, and Aztecs coveted cacao for its properties and seen as a godly potion that would grant energy and power, was used in many rituals to appease their deities. In Mayan creation mythology, humans are partially composed of cacao! In the Madrid Codex, an additional ancient Mayan text, four young gods bleed onto cacao pods, mingling the cacao and their blood. Bring Back The Warrior !!
The Chimalpopoca Codex includes a myth similar to the creation tale in the Mayan Popol Vuh, in which the gods created man from maize, cacao, and other plants brought from the Mountains of Sustenance
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“And so it came to pass that cacao was one of the essential materials used by the god of all gods to create human beings. And as is only right for a plant of such importance to our very being, cacao was held in the utmost esteem from that day onward.” – Chris Kilham
Aztecs believed that wisdom and power came from eating the fruit of the cocoa tree. The drink was so precious that it was served in golden goblets that were thrown away after just one use!
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Also known as the devilish aphrodisiac packed full of ecstasy and sensuality it was revered so strongly by King Montezuma, the Aztec king, whom drank 50 cups of cacao a day, and an extra one when he was planning to meet a lover. As far as the Aztecs were concerned, money really did grow on trees. When the Mayans were conquered, they were forced to pay taxes to the Aztecs called tributes and payable in Cacao. As you can imagine the Aztecs were very protective of their beans. They paid for food, clothes, taxes, gifts, and offerings to their gods using said beans. Having a pocket full of beans was like having a wallet full of cash.
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Cocoa beans were kept in locked boxes in businesses, and some enterprising Aztecs actually made counterfeit cocoa beans.
Some things never change !!!
FUN FACT:
Cocoa bean exchange rate
4 beans = 1 pumpkin
10 beans = 1 rabbit or..
or 10 beans = lady to stay overnight
Cacao arrived into Europe with the Spanish. And once sugar was added the drink was more appealing, becoming popular among the Spanish nobility and officials of the Roman Catholic Church, still taking its time to became popular in other European courts.
Yet it was not until during the Industrial Revolution of the 18 th and 19 th centuries that a change in the way people consumed chocolate occurred resulting in our present day chocolate consumption.