Today's Mayan date is: 12.19.17.1.13 - two years and 316 days to go to the end of the cycle!

Hot Chocolate: the Blood of the Gods?

‘Mythology taught that “Quetzalcóatl came to earth on the beam of a morning star bearing cacao trees from paradise and gave it to the people”. They learnt how to roast and grind cacao seeds and made a nourishing thick paste which can be dissolved in water. They added spices and call this drink xoco-atl (bitter water in Náhuatl) and believed that it afforded nourishment and good judgement.

Pouring chocolate, Codex Tudela (Click on image to enlarge)

‘Cacao was very precious to the Aztecs and as a drink it was restricted to the nobles and for use in religious ceremonies. Much as bread and wine are used by Christians as the body and blood of Christ, the flesh of the pod and the drink made from it represented the body and blood of the gods. Using a little imagination, when cocoa is crushed it often resembles blood...’
(Top image from the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, info from ‘Chocolaztec’ by Sara Jayne-Stanes)

Even pouring the chocolate was a fine art! This lovely image comes from the Codex Tudela (original in Madrid) - a post-Colonial manuscript

Q: How do you download a delicious and melodious chocolate taste from the internet? A: Borrow ‘my-pod’!

Learn much more about chocolate from Professor Ortiz de Montellano

Play ‘Chocolate Fancy Dress’