Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao

Contents

Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables xiii Foreword xv 1. Introduction: The Biology, Antiquity, and Modern Uses of the Chocolate Tree (Theobroma cacao L.) 1 Cameron L. McNeil Part I. Evolution, Domestication, Chemistry, and Identification of Cacao and Its Close Relatives 2. Cacao and Its Relatives in South America: An Overview of Taxonomy, Ecology, Biogeography, Chemistry, and Ethnobotany 31 Nathaniel Bletter and Douglas C. Daly 3. The Domestication and Distribution of Theobroma cacao L. in the Neotropics 69 Nisao Ogata, Arturo Gómez-Pompa, and Karl A. Taube 4. The Jaguar Tree (Theobroma bicolor Bonpl.) 90 Johanna Kufer and Cameron L. McNeil 5. The Determination of Cacao in Samples of Archaeological Interest 105 W. Jeffrey Hurst Part II. Cacao in Pre-Columbian Cultures 6. The History of the Word for ‘Cacao’ and Related Terms in Ancient Meso-America 117 Terrence Kaufman and John Justeson 7. Brewing Distinction: The Development of Cacao Beverages in Formative Mesoamerica 140 John S. Henderson and Rosemary A. Joyce 8. Cacao in Ancient Maya Religion: First Fruit from the Maize Tree and other Tales from the Underworld 154 Simon Martin 9. The Language of Chocolate: References to Cacao on Classic Maya Drinking Vessels 184 David Stuart 10. The Social Context of Kakaw Drinking among the Ancient Maya 202 Dorie Reents-Budet 11. The Use and Representation of Cacao During the Classic Period at Copan, Honduras 224 Cameron L. McNeil, W. Jeffrey Hurst, and Robert J. Sharer 12. Cacao in Greater Nicoya: Ethnohistory and a Unique Tradition 253 Larry Steinbrenner Part III. Cacao in the Colonial Period 13. The Good and Evil of Chocolate in Colonial Mexico 273 Manuel Aguilar-Moreno 14. The Itza Maya Control over Cacao: Politics, Commerce, and War in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 289 Laura Caso Barrera and Mario Aliphat F. 15. Cacao Production, Tribute, and Wealth in Sixteenth-Century Izalcos, El Salvador 307 William R. Fowler 16. Soconusco Cacao Farmers Past and Present: Continuity and Change in an Ancient Way of Life 322 Janine Gasco Part IV. Mesoamerican Cacao Use in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries 17. Traditional Cacao Use in Modern Mesoamerica 341 Cameron L. McNeil 18. Cacao, Gender, and the Northern Lacandon God House 367 Timothy W. Pugh 19. Food for the Rain Gods: Cacao in Ch’orti’ Ritual 384 Johanna Kufer and Michael Heinrich 20. Cacao in the Yukatek Maya Healing Ceremonies of Don Pedro Ucán Itza 408 Betty Bernice Faust and Javier Hirose López 21. From Chocolate Pots to Maya Gold: Belizean Cacao Farmers Through the Ages 429 Patricia A. McAnany and Satoru Murata Bibliography 451 List of Contributors 515 Index 519 ...