Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica:

The Aztecs and the Maya; Where did the Ritual Use of Cacao Originate?

ARC2AZT

Caroline Seawright

2012

http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/ARC2AZT.html

Caroline Seawright

Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Ritual use of cacao permeates the Maya, the Aztec, and other cultures of Mesoamerica.
Cacao, an indigenous plant, originally appeared in the Soconusco region of Mexico, with
archaeological evidence of its use stretching over millennia. Next to maize, it was the most
important plant food in Mesoamerica. Cacao connected mankind to their gods; it was used
as a milestone for important life events, a healing beverage, and a luxury. This essay will
investigate the archaeological and ethnohistorical history of cacao in rituals and religion,
and its origin. The similarities in cacao rites associated with various milestones of the
lifecycle of indigenous peoples, and the symbolism of cacao and its use with human
sacrificial rituals, in religion and at death, will be explored, focusing on the Maya, the Aztec
and other cultures (Figure 1). Cacao has permeated the ritual life of the Mesoamerican
people since ancient times. Despite the millennia that have passed, and the different
cultures that procured cacao, there is a remarkable similarity in ritual contexts. It is
postulated that cacao must have originated from an early culture, stemming back to the
time of the Olmecs.

Figure 1: Mesoamerican timeline (Pohl 2003).

Caroline Seawright

Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

The Maya and the Aztecs were instrumental in introducing cacao to the Spanish, yet as
cacao originated far to the south in Soconusco, another culture must have introduced it to
them. Within the Maya region, vessels containing theobromine, an alkaloid found in cacao,
have been discovered at Colha in Belize from the Pre-Classic period (c. 600 BC-250 AD),
and from a Classic period tomb at Rio Azul in Guatemala (c. 460-480 AD; Figure 2);
iconographic and ethnographic evidence demonstrates the cultural importance of cacao to
the Maya through the Classic (c. 250-900 AD) and into the Post-Classic (c. 900-1,500 AD)
periods (Hall et al. 1990, p. 139-140; Kufer, Grube and Heinrich 2006, p. 598; Powis et al.
2008, pp. 35-36; Figure 3). Five rare cacao seeds (c. 134-615 AD) were discovered in an
Early Classic Maya burial at Batsub Cave, Belize (McNeil 2010, p. 310; Moreiras 2010, p.
19; Prufer and Hurst 2007, pp. 276-278). As few studies were apparently performed on the
theobromine contents of vessels from within the Aztec sphere of influence, archaeologists
rely on iconographic and ethnographic descriptions to determine the nature of such
vessels. For example, Smith et al. (2003, p. 3 & 257) believe that a polished redware
goblet with a butterfly element (c. 1350-1520 AD; Figure 4), found at a Coatetelco burial,
was used for drinking cacao as it is similar in style to the picture of a similar cacao vessel
with a bird element (Figure 5) in the Codex Tudela. They also contend that the shape of
Mixtec cacao serving vessels differ from shape to those used by the Aztecs (Smith et al.
2003, p. 262). Direct evidence from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan is hard to find, due to
Mexico Citys location on top of the old capital, and no evidence of cacao has been found
within the citys old ritual centre (Draper 2010, p. 110; Templo Mayor Museum 2012 pers.
comm., 10 May). Ceramics containing cacao traces (c. 1,000-1,125 AD) have even been
found as far away as Pueblo Bonito in the Chaco Canyon, USA (Moreiras 2010, p. 21;
Map 2). Cacao has been important since at least 600 BC, which suggests that the
Mesoamerican origin of cacao use came from a time prior to that of the Maya. The ritual
use of cacao must therefore be examined before a common origin can be determined.
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Map 1: Mesoamerican sites with evidence of cacao, including Pueblo Bonito in New
Mexico (Moreiras 2010, p. 39).

Figure 2: Ceramic vessels from Rio Azul with cacao residues (Hall et al. 1990, p. 139).
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Figure 3: Behind God L, a woman pours chocolate from one vessel into another.
Princeton Vase, Late Classic Maya (c. 750 AD) (Kerr 2005a; Moreiras 2010, p. 37).

Figure 4: Polished redware goblet from

Coatetelco, probably used for drinking
cacao (after Smith et al. 2003, p. 259).
Figure 5: Woman pouring cacao, Codex
Tudela (NEH Summer Institute for School
Teachers, Oaxaca 2011a).
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

According to the beliefs of the Maya and Aztec, cacao was part of the creation myth and
thus the start of life. In Post-Conquest literature, the K'iche' Maya Popol Vuh and the Aztec
Chimalpopoca Codex, the gods alternatively created man from maize, cacao and other
good plant foods, or brought the same foods to mankind from the mythical Mountain of
Sustenance (Coe and Coe 1996, pp. 41-42; Dillinger et al. 2000, p. 2058S; Recinos 1950,
p. 166; Suess 2002, p. 21). Although these works were written after the Spanish
Conquest, they show how mankind connects to the divine through the use of cacao. This
connection began at birth, and continued throughout life. In the 16th Century, Diego Garca
de Palacio observed a Maya naming ritual where the priest and mother presented cacao to
the newly named baby (Henderson et al. 2007, p. 18938; Prufer and Hurst 2007, p. 288).
Bishop Diego de Landa describes the Post-Conquest Maya baptising children with a
mixture of cacao, virgin water and crushed flowers during an initiation ceremony (Vail
2009, p. 5). Friar Bernardino de Sahagn describes 16th century Aztec fathers advising
their sons, who were entering religious school, to offer cacaoatl drink to God (DurandForest 1967, pp. 174). Cacao use also occurred in marriage ceremonies. The 14th century
Codex Zouche-Nuttall depicts a Mixtec ceremony where Lady Thirteen Serpent offers a
bowl of cacao to Lord Eight Deer to solemnise their marriage (Closs 2000, p. 230; Vail
2009, p. 6; Figure 6). The Post-Conquest Madrid Codex depicts the Maya god Chaak
marrying the goddess Ixik Kaab, stating that they were given their cacao, a term
indicating marriage (Figure 7); in the Guatemalan highlands, some Maya continue to hold
to this tradition (Vail 2009, pp. 6-7), although some cultures now use money in place of
cacao. Chocolate still resonates with indigenous ceremonies today as it has done since
much earlier times (Coe and Coe 1996, pp. 62-63; LeCount 2001, p. 943; Prufer and Hurst
2007, pp. 286-287). Cacao was also used at religious rites and festivals, and as a symbol
of blood itself.
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Figure 6: The groom, Lord Eight Deer, points to a cup of frothy cacao in the hands of his
bride, Lady Thirteen Serpent (Mexico Lore 2006).

Figure 7: The wedding of the god Chaak and the goddess Ixik Kaab (NEH Summer
Institute for School Teachers, Oaxaca 2011b).
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

The symbolism of chocolate as blood was universal throughout Mesoamerica. The Madrid
Codex depicts four young Maya gods piercing their own earlobes to cover cacao pods in
showers of their own blood because the Maya linked liquid chocolate with blood (Coe and
Coe 1996, p. 44-45; Dillinger et al. 2000, p. 2058S; Figure 8). Landa (1937, pp. 86-89)
discusses the cruel and obscene sacrifices made by the Maya, but cacao is not identified
as being part of any human sacrificial rituals. The connection between blood and chocolate
also mattered to the Aztecs, for whom the metaphor "heart, blood" meant cacao, and the
cacao pod was likened to the human heart torn out in sacrifice (Coe and Coe 1996, p. 101;
Moreiras 2010, p. 32). The Aztecs also occasionally offered cacao to sacrificial victims.
This was offered to comfort human sacrifices to the trader god Yacatecuhtli (Dillinger et
al. 2000, p. 2058S; Figure 9), and was a major ingredient in itzpacalatl (water from the
washing of obsidian blades) which was given to the impersonator of Quetzalcoatl. This
concoction perhaps with additional unnamed hallucinogens would ensure that he was
joyful until the time of his death (Coe and Coe 1996, p. 102; Durn 1971, pp. 131-133;
Elferink 1988, p. 430-431; Versnyi 1989, pp. 218-219). To the Maya, cacao was a sacred
offering to the gods combined with personal blood-letting through the piercing or cutting of
their own flesh. Unlike the Aztecs, there is no evidence that cacao was part of Maya
human sacrifice rites. Whilst the Aztecs used cacao to subdue victims for sacrifice, it was
not part of the ceremony itself as only the heart was offered to the deities. The association
between cacao and blood, which survived through thousands of years of cultural change,
must have originated from potent beliefs and symbolism of an ancestral culture. Although
the Spanish outlawed human sacrifice in Mesoamerica and brought change to the religions
of the area, blood and chocolate continued to be central to the worship the old gods.

Caroline Seawright

Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Figure 8: Gods cutting their ears and bleeding onto cacao pods (FAMSI 2003).

Figure 9: The Aztec merchant god Yacatecuhtli, as depicted in the Codex FejrvryMayer (Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt Graz 2004).

Caroline Seawright

Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

The religions of the Maya and Aztec were similar, as were their ways of revering their
gods. The Maya deity of merchants and cacao, known as Ek Chuah during the PostConquest period, had links to the Aztec merchant deity, Yacatecuhtli (Guerrero 2009, p.
1194; Vail 2009, p. 6), because cacao was used as currency (Landa 1937, pp. 71). During
the month of Muan, cacao plantation owners offered a dog spotted with the colours of the
cacao in sacrifice to certain gods, including Ek Chuah (Aguilera 1985, p. 120; Dillinger et
al. 2000, p. 2058S; Landa 1937, p. 131; Vail 2009, pp. 4-5). Sahagn documents PostConquest Aztec offerings of liquid chocolate in sacred cups to Xiuhtecutli, the old fire god,
and to Yiacatecutli, by merchants who had returned from long journeys (Durand-Forest
1967, p. 174; Sahagn 1976, p. 28). The Aztecs maintained trade links with the cacaoproducing Maya city of Acallan (Coe and Coe 1996, p. 59). Through such networks, the
Maya adopted a new deity of merchants and cacao, known as God M (Figure 10), who
had the attributes of Yacatecuhtli (Taube 1992, p. 88). The Maya Maize God also had a
connection to these merchant gods, and to chocolate; he is occasionally shown as having
cacao pods growing from his body (Figure 11), having been, on his death, transformed into
plant foods, cacao being the most prominent after maize (Martin 2006, pp. 154-156 &
163). God L presided over the Maize Gods death and took possession of these crops,
including cacao (Martin 2006, pp. 169). A mural of God L facing a cacao tree (c. 600-830
AD; Figure 12) was discovered at Cacaxtla, a central Mexican site which flourished prior to
the arrival of the Aztecs (Dakin and Wichmann 2000, p. 68). The mural was painted in
Maya-Mexican style at the bottom of a stairway to symbolise the ascent of God L from the
underworld, ladened with maize and cacao (Coe and Coe 1996, p. 56; Martin 2006, p.
172; Vail 2009, p. 6). This belief in the Maize God is even more ancient (Taube 1996).
Despite religious changes across time and culture, the religious importance of cacao never
diminished.
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Figure 10: Cacaxtla mural, God L at a cacao tree (Dreiss and Greenhill 2008, pp. 90-91).

Figure 12: Bowl depicting the Maize God as a

personified cacao tree (250-600 AD) from the
Dumbarton Oaks Collection (Stone and Kreft
2005).
Figure 11: Late Classic vase (600900 AD) with possible depiction of
God M (Prez de Lara 2007).
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Beyond ethnohistorical sources and surviving codices, the best source of evidence for
ritual use of cacao is Mesoamerican tombs. Prufer and Hurst (2007, p. 289) note that
cacao is an important part of mortuary rituals for the dead and the living: it could be an
offering to accompany the deceased into the afterlife, and it may be consumed by the
living during funeral preparations. The Maya were carefully buried with personalised cacao
cups. The text around the rim known as the Primary Standard Sequence includes the
name of the deceased and the type of cacao the cup contained (LeCount 2001, p. 945;
Moreiras 2010, p. 19; Figure 13). The seeds found at Batsub Cave (c. 134-615 AD) were
in an inverted bowl over the pelvis of a decapitated individual. In the position where his
head should have been was an undecorated jar containing a single jade bead, and his
actual head was lying to the left of his pelvis (Prufer and Hurst 2007, pp. 276-278). The
body was near a wooden stool, which Prufer and Hurst (2007, p. 289) assert is an
important part of ritual mortuary activity. Theobromine residue has been found in burial
offering vessels at Copan (c. 430-600 AD; Figure 14), mixed with inedible cinnabar
pigment to differentiate cacao drinks for the deceased from the consumable beverages of
the living (McNeil 2010, p. 300 & 306). As no theobromine studies of Aztec burial vessels
are available, ethnohistorical information shows that Aztecs drank cacao from cups called
copa (Nichols et al. 2009, p. 459). An image from the Codex Magliabechiano, an early
Post-Conquest codex, describes a high ranking individuals funeral where his relatives
offer him cacauatl (chocolate) for the journey (Iguaz 1993, p. 64; Figure 15). Friar Diego
Durn described that, following the death of king Axayacatl in 1481, the deceased ruler
was presented with slaves, cacao and other precious items for his use in the afterlife. After
his body had been dressed in imitation of the gods, his wives brought him offerings of
foods and gourds filled with chocolate (Durn 1994, pp. 293-294). Earlier cultures also had
cacao, but there is only archaeological evidence of one ancient culture in a ritual setting.
This legacy survives through to the present Maya and Aztec ritual uses of cacao.
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Figure 13: Cacao cup stating the name Lady Bacab of Tikal (Kerr 2005b).

Figure 15: Relatives of the deceased offer the

deceased chocolate for his journey into the
afterlife, from the Codex Magliabechiano
Figure 14: The Dazzler Vase (c. 430-

(Iguaz 1993, p. 68).

600 AD), a cylinder tripod vessel from

the Margarita tomb at Honduras with
evidence

of

cacao

(Xian

2012a).

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Caroline Seawright

Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

The use of cacao in ritual throughout Mesoamerica varies through time and space (Prufer
and Hurst 2007, p. 285), but the number of similarities suggests a common origin. Early
archaeological evidence of Mesoamerican cacao usage has been detected through traces
of theobromine on ancient ceramics (Moreiras 2010, p. 6). Site assemblages include a jar
(Figure 16) from the pre-Olmec Mokaya culture at Paso de la Amada, a bowl found in at El
Manat, various vessels of different shapes (Figure 17) from the Olmec capital of San
Lorenzo, and a number of Olmec-style ceramic bowls and other vessels at the Early
Honduran site of Puerto Escondido in Honduras (Henderson et al. 2007, p. 18938; Joyce
and Henderson 2007, p. 645; Moreiras 2010, p. 17; Powis et al. 2008, p. 36-37; Powis et
al. 2011, p. 8595; Map 2; Table 1). The Mokaya, Corn People, were one of the earliest
Mesoamerican egalitarian societies to become stratified during the Early Formative period
(Clarke and Blake 1994, p. 22). Although Mokaya and Early Honduran ritual use of cacao
cannot be determined from the location of the artefacts, Clarke and Blake hypothesise
(1994, p. 28) that this style of ceramics was designed for liquids with ritual and prestige
value. The word for cacao itself, however, came from the Olmec heartland (Kaufman and
Justeson 2007, p. 193), suggesting that it was held in high status among the Olmecs, and
those who subsequently appropriated the word, and the product, for their own usage. The
El Manat bowl, found amongst religious offerings, is indicative of the ritual importance of
cacao (Powis et al. 2008, p. 37), as is a San Lorenzo burial pit for the victims of human
sacrifice, capped with four cacao-filled vessels (Powis et al. 2011, p. 8597 & 8599).
Mesoamerica had a very long, continuous history of preparing and consuming liquid
chocolate ... chocolate drink was as central to the Mokaya and Olmec as we know it was
to the later Maya and Aztecs (Powis et al. 2008, p. 38). Of these early cultures, the
Olmecs are the most probable culture to have disseminated cacao throughout
Mesoamerica, along with their cultural, religious and social practices (Joyce and
Henderson 2010, p. 197; Tolstoy and Paradis 1970, p. 350).
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Figure 16: Fragment of the vessel from Paso de la Amada (Xian 2012b).

Figure 17: Vessels from the San Lorenzo used for cacao (Powis et al. 2011, p. 8599).

Map 2: Locations of early archaeological sites with cacao (Powis et al. 2011, p. 8596).

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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Culture
Mokaya
Olmec
Olmec

Site
Paso de la Amada
El Manat
San Lorenzo

Stratigraphy
Construction fill deposit
Ritual context, with luxury offerings
Domestic and ceremonial contexts

Early Honduran

Puerto Escondido

Two different domestic contexts

Description
Tecomate jar, vertical fluting
Deep bowl, red slip line at base
Caamao jar, course
Caimn bottle, polished
Conejo open bowl, orange-on-white
Eroded necked jar, grey
Garza neckless jar, smooth
Mulato cup, black
Peje micaceous closed form
Pochitoca bottle, polished
Tejn rimmed bowl, white
Tejn open vessel, white
Tejn open bowl, white
Tigrillo rimmed bowl, black and white
Tigrillo open bowl, black and white
Tigrillo ladle, monochrome
Tigrillo open bowl, monochrome
Tigrillo small cup, monochrome
Tigrillo rimmed bowl, white-rimmed
black
Xochiultepec collared jar, white
Xochiultepec necked jar, white
Xochiultepec open bowl, white
Various open bowls, flaring walls (x 7)
Black base of cylinder, glossy
Urbe unslipped jar, pattern burnishing
Barraca bottle spout, glossy

Date
c. 1,900-1,500 BC
c. 1,650-1,500 BC
c. 1,800-1,600 BC

c. 1,400-900 BC

Table 1: Early archaeological vessels with evidence of cacao from Mesoamerican sites (after Henderson et al. 2007, p. 18938; Joyce
and Henderson 2007, p. 645; Moreiras 2010, p. 17; Powis et al. 2008, p. 36-37; Powis et al. 2011, p. 8595).
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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Despite cultural changes over time and space throughout Mesoamerica, resulting in
different ritual use of chocolate, cacao was the second most important plant to the various
cultures of Central America. The Maya and the Aztecs used cacao in coming-of-age and
wedding customs; and as liquid offerings for the gods due to its symbolic connections with
blood. Both cultures used different methods to prepare people for sacrifice the Aztecs
occasionally gave cacao to the victims, whereas the Maya did not. They both presented
cacao to the dead for use in the afterlife. Although evidence as to whether the Olmec
associated chocolate with lifecycle milestones and religion is lacking, cacao was clearly an
important product as they, too, provided their dead with cacao for their journey into the
underworld. Based on this evidence, cacao was first used in a ritual manner by the
Olmecs. To more satisfactorily answer this question, research is required on the status of
cacao in the Olmec religion domain, and on the theobromine content in Aztec ceramics.
Chocolate was the foremost plant food, after maize, used ritually in almost every aspect of
the lives of the peoples of Mesoamerica. It is a mysterious product, rendered sacred, but
for reasons never clearly stated ... Linked to the earth and the cyclical nature of human life,
it both mediates and transcends relationships between humans and the forces that
animate the earth (Prufer and Hurst 2007, p. 292). The use of cacao may have changed
throughout history, but it has always retained its place of importance to the peoples of
Mesoamerica, thanks to the ancient Olmec.

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Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica

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