Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao

17. Traditional Cacao Use in Modern Mesoamerica

17 Traditional Cacao Use in Modern Mesoamerica Cameron L. McNeil Many individuals in Mesoamerican communities continue to cultivate or purchase cacao, using it in beverages and foods and in rituals. The consumption of cacao is tied to many life passage events, particularly marriage and childbirth. It is an important ritual offering and has a range of associations (water, fertility, rebirth), most of which appear to have originated in the pre-Columbian era. Although traditional cacao uses across Mesoamerica clearly have some commonalities , there are also customs unique to specific communities. The documentation of these practices is particularly important as many are dying out. In this chapter, I will first discuss some of the beverages and foods produced from cacao in Mesoamerica. Then I will examine the importance of cacao in ritual and secular events of Mesoamerica and explore the meaning of these uses. My research in Guatemala and Honduras provides the basis for this work, the focus of which is on the Maya. Information on modern cacao use is augmented with data from ethnographies written during the last hundred years.1 Seven publications, all of which are heavily drawn on for this chapter, provide the most extensive primary documentation of modern Mesoamerican cacao use: Bunzel (1967), Chapman (1985, 1986), V. D. Davis (1978), Girard (1995), E. C. Parsons (1936), and W. Popenoe (1919a). For our purposes, the word “cacao” refers to Theobroma cacao L., and the term pataxte refers to Theobroma bicolor Bonpl. Some, perhaps all, Maya groups recognize T. bicolor as a form of cacao, and it is, therefore, integral to a discussion of cacao in modern communities. Methodology Fieldwork was conducted for this chapter. Permission for this research was approved through the Institutional Review Board of the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. Primary research was carried out in Guatemala in Solola; Santiago Atitlan; towns along the western coast, Cameron L. McNeil 342 including Mazatenango and San Antonio Suchitepequez; Coban; and Antigua. Research was also pursued in Copan, Honduras. The structure of the research was centered on informal interviews and participant observation. Photographs were taken and are used with permission of the individuals in the photos. In endeavoring to learn more about modern cacao practice, the author focused on areas where cacao use is known to continue, seeking out owners of cacao orchards, vendors of cacao products, producers of cacao beverages and foods, and practitioners of rituals involving cacao. The Role of Cacao in the Production of Comestibles Today intensive use of cacao is most common close to areas where T. cacao and T. bicolor can be grown easily, although it does not follow that cacao use remains intensive in all areas where it can be grown. In many modern communities of Guatemala and Honduras today’s cacao market is restricted to trade within the Maya and Ladino communities in which it is produced or between closely associated areas. For example, along the west coast of Guatemala many Maya and Ladino families grow cacao, when possible, in their backyards and Figure 17.1. A cacao and pataxte seed broker in the market. Mazatenango, Guatemala. Photograph by Cameron L. McNeil. Traditional Cacao Use in Modern Mesoamerica 343 gardens and sell the seeds or cacao tablets to market vendors who sell it to other members of the community (Figure 17.1). Some of these tablets and seeds are then traded to the communities in the Highlands where cacao trees will not grow, or they are sold in the large markets in Guatemala City; little of this product reaches the international market. Preparation of cacao seeds Today, in Guatemala and Honduras, much of the cacao consumed locally comes from small orchards (cacaotales) (Figure 17.2), where one can find a diverse mixture of criollo and forastero types and hybrids (see McNeil, Chapter 1, this volume). The fruit and seeds of these varieties are not equal, with some having a much sweeter and tastier pulp and some with less bitter seeds (see McNeil, Chapter 1). In addition, the flavor and quality of both the fruit and the seeds is affected by the stage at which the pods are harvested and the manner in which they are processed. There is a loose protocol for harvesting and processing cacao seeds: pods are Figure 17.2. Woman with a cacao pod from her garden. She said that this pod, which contained both lavender and white seeds, was a hybrid...