More detail on my field work is going to be published in the Food, Culture and Society Journal. Look for: Conversion in South Central Quintana Roo: Changes in Religion, Community, Economy and Nutrition in a Maya Village. Forthcoming in Food, Culture and Society. Berg Publishers. Vol 15.1.
http://www.bergpublishers.com/BergJournals/FoodCultureandSociety/tabid/521/Default.aspx
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Download Thesis_FINAL_20080413.pdf (2240.9K)Maya Foodways: A Reflection of Gender and Ideology - Full Text with Photos
June 09, 2008 in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (24)
“Through analysis of food and eating systems one can gain information about how a culture understands some of the basic categories of its world” (Mary Douglas in Counihan 1997). It is through this lens of foodways that I would like to explore the continuation of gender complementarity from the Maya spanning from pre-Colombian times to my field work in 2007. The issue of gender parity is somewhat contentious in the academic world of Anthropology, and is therefore something that should continued to be explored in-depth with the living Maya. My field work was not exhaustive, but is an ongoing investigation. I will begin with the stories and actions I experienced in the field that spurred me to explore gender roles through food. I will then explain the historical significance of these phenomena, which will include exploration of foodways as represented in pre-Colombian Maya art, encompassing gendered numerology, agricultural and creator deities and end with current discourse on these gendered separations within the Maya culture. I will argue that as a subsistence agriculture based society, the modern Maya of the Yucatan continue in their expression of gender equality as expressed in division of labor in which the woman, and her association with the number three, has historical representation as “cooked” or culture and the man, with his association of the number four, represents “raw” or nature.
First, I would like to disclose, that the purpose of my fieldwork was not to explore this issue of gender parity. I went with the intent of exposing how globalization has affected the ceremonial recipes and knowledge of traditional Maya communities. It was during this process that I found women were excluded from many of the agriculture based rituals. My initial thought was that this was a form of oppression or prejudice against the female population and I was disheartened. However, the women did not seem affected by this separation. It is what I uncovered through research upon returning home upon which this paper will focus, but first, I would like to provide the stories that encouraged my further analysis.
During the summer of 2007, I arrived in Quintana Roo with one contact, a shaman for the Maya communities extending from Playa del Carmen south to Coba’. I spent two weeks sitting with him at his second job, tending his convenience store in a small indigenous neighborhood on the outskirts of the booming tourist city of Playa del Carmen. Here he wove stories of Maya past and present traditions before he allowed me to accompany him to a small village where he was heading to perform a thanksgiving ritual for some of his constituents. I was to purchase ingredients for Sa’ Ko’ol, a stew-like dish often used for festal purposes, which I could help prepare with the women of the community for this familial ritual.
While I was working with the local women preparing the stew, Don Luis finally answered some of my questions about food. He said the only time purely indigenous and hand prepared foods are eaten is during public ceremonies. Women are not permitted to prepare these foods due to the possibility that menstruation could contaminate food for the gods. Otherwise, women use what food may be available from the milpa and mix that with goods from the grocery store. Most typically, chicken, onions, garlic have been co-opted into daily fare to the point that there is no distinction that they are not indigenous. Don Luis says this is the reason that a shaman must provide the ingredient list and recipes for ceremonial food, because the people do not understand what is native and therefore acceptable as offerings. As this meal was not being offered to the gods, but was for familial consumption, it was acceptable for women to cook it. Also while we were cooking, I observed the use of the three stone hearth. Don Luis identified the three stone hearth as a symbol of the union of the family and states that it must be used to make ritual food. When I pressed him on any further symbolism of the number three for women or the hearth he denied knowing any tales of constellations or creation myths that pertain to the number three and women. He did provide information about the woman as a symbol of civilization and holiness via her ability to transform man’s “rawness” via food and birth. She takes the man’s raw corn and makes sustenance and she transforms his seed into humans. She is cooked, while he is raw. Don Luis says the attraction between man and woman comes from a Maya legend where man and woman were once one being, but ended up being split apart. He says, “We form a union to try and repair the separation.” He illustrated this by describing the marriage ritual he performs which reinforces the notion of man as raw and woman as cooked via the man bringing an offering of raw maize kernels and cacao beans to the altar while the woman brings masa and tortillas, symbolizing that the man will be the provider of ingredients, while the woman will process those into nurturing sustenance.
The other village I was able to visit was Señor. It is located between Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Valladolid. Here there is an organization that is trying to start an interest in “sustainable” tourism and I was able to meet with the president, Marcos Cante. He took me to a household to prepare what he called a simple, humble meal. I once again noticed the presence of the three stone hearth and asked about its significance. Marcos told a different tale than Don Luis. Marcos says the three stones are representative of the woman’s work of cooking and are reflected in the timing of the Het’z mek ceremony. For a girl, this ceremony (which I will discuss later) is performed at the age of three months where the boy receives his at four months old. Marcos said this represents the four corners of the man’s milpa and his work of farming. He also denied any knowledge of astronomical or creation myth significance of the three stones. He said that this generation has lost the importance and symbolism of corn and the other foods, but still 99% of the food eaten in Señor comes from subsistence milpas, principally corn.
After these encounters I went home and started researching the relevance of a few repeating themes. I was particularly interested in the stories surrounding the division of labor associated with food. This was apparently reflected in the three stones and four corners along with the associated theories of “woman’s work” of the hearth and “man’s work” of the milpa. This also seemed to play into the gender roles symbolized by the modern Maya rituals of the Het’z mek and the marriage ceremonies. I wanted to see if there is material or ethno-historical evidence of these associations purported by the modern Maya I encountered. I decided to start with the primary sources of the Popol Vuh and The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel which address Maya creation mythology. While the version of the Popol Vuh we have today is from the Quiche Maya of Guatemala, Christenson states that it is based on a Pre-Colombian text from the Yucatan lowlands and I therefore include it in my research (2003). Many of the stories in the Popol Vuh are thought to reflect ideal gender role behaviors (Preuss 1985). It is here that we find stories telling of the pairing of male and female creator gods; Xmucane, the “maker” is female and Xpiyacoc, “modeler” is male (Gustafson 2002). Xmucane, also identified as Ix Chel in the Yucatan, is the first grandmother who ground the corn from which she made the first humans thus identifying the first grandmother, who is in turn the first mother, as the nurturer and creator of humans on earth (Christenson 2003). Xmucane is the epitome of cultural leadership. She demonstrates the “norms” of feminine duties esteemed by the Maya including that of grinding corn, cooking and offering food, caring for offspring, healing, and giving birth which through the telling of these myths, inspires social control (Preuss 1985).
Another creation story found in The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, the “bible” of the Yucatec Maya, the center of the world is identified as a “three stone place”, or hearth (Roys 1933). This story involves the setting of the three stones at the center of the universe. It is these stones that establish the center of the Maya universe and continue to be represented in Maya homes as the cooking hearth. This setting of the stones was the first act in creating this world and where the first fire was started (Freidel 1993). Therefore the hearth is known as the “mother of the fire” It is from these three stones that there are Classic era depictions of the maize god emerging (Fischer 1999). This combination of mythologies links maize, fertility and cooking to women from the dawn of creation. Even today meals of maize continue to be eaten around the hearth (Anderson 2005a).
At the time of creation, in the Popol Vuh, the female creator made four male lineage heads who in wandered long distances to find appropriate places in which to settle their family (Christenson 2003). This delineates men as providers, and long distance wanderers. It was four male deities who set the four corners of the universe, which was the second act of creation. This space is associated with the four cardinal directions and represents a focused area of supernatural forces upon the face of the earth (Freidel 1993). This story is also given in The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. where the boundaries of the world are set by four lineage heads, and are representative of the four cardinal directions associated with different forms of sustenance and colors (Roys 1933). Notice that the male creator deity was not described as involved with the grinding or the producing of humans. This is because the male role was as definer of the limits of the human realm. The male creator deity Xpiyacoc, or Itzamna in the Yucatan, defined the ritual space of the human world (Gustafson 2002). Once again, this demonstrates women as central with men skirting the four cardinal boundaries of the world.
For the early Maya, there is a paucity of ethnographic evidence except what we are able to decipher from representations of male and female found in art (Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934). We must remember that art typically represents the ideal, which is often emulated but not without exception (Klein 2001). Early representations of deities tended to be androgynous, incorporating male and female traits and were oriented toward agricultural needs, such as rain, corn, storms and water. It is during this time we find more evidence of women involved in ideology and rulership (Nash 1997). Around this time frame, there is also a presence of small clay images of females grinding corn and making offerings of food, possibly this is to reinforce as “ideal” the role of woman to provide sustenance to her family and to the gods as the female creator deity gave rise to human beings (Klein 2001).
Throughout time, several Anthropologists have explored the theory that women are integral to the domestic sphere while men reign in the natural, or wild areas outside of the “cultural” domicile or village. In the village of Chan Kom, Redfield and Villa Rojas found that men were in charge of public rituals where women were in charge of domestic ritual (1934). Sophie Coe sites patterns of cooking, where women are in charge of private, or home cooking while man performs public ritual cooking (1994). Both Gustafson (2005) and Joyce (Klein 2001) have identified gendered spheres of activity for the Maya and Gustafson even argues that in the world of the Maya, gender is defined by the type of labor one performs, not just their anatomy (2002). Anderson explores linguistic evidence that the forest is the “opposite of tame or household reared” and states that there is never a difference between man and nature (2005b). Redfield’s findings in the 1930s and 1940s where he described man’s role in regard to nature as “…nothing stands between the woods and the milpero; he deals, so to speak, directly with nature” (1941). He goes on to describe that men still perceive their world as quadrilateral and associated with the cardinal directions (1941). According to Little, today’s traditional Maya continue in this division of labor with the woman responsible for the household and the man working at anything requiring leaving the village (2004). I believe this theory ties into the man’s association with the four cornered world with the woman’s association with the three stoned hearth. Woman is central, daily, culture with man as external, ceremonial and wild. During my encounters, I found that both men and women cooked, but in different arenas and for different occasions. The woman was responsible for all food cooked on the three stone hearth, while men made ceremonial food (typically roasted meats) in public spaces or at the milpa using the pib. The hearth-cooked food was boiled and stew-like while the pib food was roasted without liquid. I found support for what appears to be today’s habitus rooted in ancient symbolism regarding woman’s association with the number three and man’s association with the number four. The shape and alignment of the world with its cardinal directions are reflected in the earth oven used by the Maya men to prepare roasted meat dishes for ceremonial use. The milpa is seen as the four cornered world of men and is located in “wild” land, that is, land outside of the domestic sphere. This is the area in which Maya spirits are most prevalent. It is this area where men dominate and perform supernatural ritual (Redfield 1941). Ritual is seen as dangerous, similar to a hunt, where conduits are open between earthly and cosmological realms (Faust 1998). Thus, this is the “wild” space of man. In this area of the world, all rituals involve food (Sullivan 1989). The woman performs her rituals using mundane foods of maize, garden herbs and vegetables collected near the home and she performs the rituals within the home near the hearth (Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934). The male creator deity set limits of cosmos, as men continue to do today by outlining and honoring their milpas (Redfield 1934, Gustafson 2002).
The division of labor by cooking methods is summed up by Lévi-Strauss when he states that:
...roasted is on the side of nature, the boiled on the side of culture: literally, because boiling requires the use of a receptacle, a cultural object; symbolically, as in much as culture is a medication of the relations between man and the world, and boiling demands a mediation (by water) of the relation between food and fire which is absent in roasting (Counihan 1997).
Building on Lévi-Strauss’ theory, I believe the Maya woman is the metaphorical receptacle of culture as she not only provides fully developed or “cooked” humans, but also the sustenance for those humans as did the female creator deity. In Gustafson, the glyph for woman is even described as “the sun sign inside an inverted ceramic water jar; the male seed inside a female vessel (2002).” Joyce describes this phenomenon via her observation that the ceramic dishes and cloth bundles held by women in monumental art represented “end point of sequences of production which transformed raw materials into culturally defined forms.” She goes on to state that men’s work provides “raw” materials where women’s work transforms these materials into culturally viable objects (1993).
These separate roles were not seen as hierarchical, they were seen as a continuation of the ideal of balance as both parts were needed to keep society functioning. While this labor is identified as separate, it is also considered as two parts necessary to make a whole, the four cornered world cannot exist without its central axis, just as the left side of the body cannot exist without the right (Klein 2001). “Male and female action, when joined together through marriage, creates an economically interdependent and complementary whole” (Gustafson 2002). This was readily evident as described in the marriage ritual described to me by Shaman Don Luis in 2007; however it brings up some of the issues anthropologists have with theories of balanced gender parity. Mascia-Lees defines functionalism as “viewing a society as an integrated whole with all of its practices and institutions working together harmoniously to fulfill individual needs or sustain the society in a state of equilibrium (2002)”. She goes on to critique this view as allowing for gender bias. I would argue that this basic idea that modern anthropologists have disregarded as too simplistic is the very view that was essential to the living Maya at the time of Spanish contact. It is evident in the Popol Vuh Chilam and The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel that the division of labor by gender allowed for “ideal” societal structure. This allowed for the man to be public, provider for the gods, and gatherer of distant food items, while the woman could stay closer to the home, be private, provider for the family and gatherer of nearby food items. This division of labor led to increased population as women could feed and rear children while the men increased their social prestige with gods and noblemen by providing food for ritual as well as food for women to convert to sustenance.
Rituals of gender role reinforcement are still in practice. Two that were discussed during my field work were the Het’z mek and, as mentioned above, the wedding ceremony is still in practice. Anderson (2005b) states, “(the) Yucatec Maya body of ritual is centered on food” and according to Counihan, many cultures define marriage as reciprocal food gifting (Counihan 1999). It can therefore be assumed that it is still important to engender the proper roles for male and females via these rituals. The Het’z mek is a ceremony in which at three months for girls and four months for boys the children are given items they are expected to use in life (Gustafson 2002). In Señor, as in published ethnographic works (see Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934, Redfield 1941, Landa 1978, Gustafson 2005, and Joyce 2000) the boy is often given miniature farming tools used in milpa cultivation and the girl is often given cooking utensils or a small ball of masa. The timing of the ceremony indicates the continued ties of female with the three stoned hearth and male with the milpa and hold on to the delineation of female vs. male work. Redfield observes that for the Yucatec Maya “food maintains relations with people and gods” (1941). This combined with the marriage symbolism of male and female work, illustrates the continued dependence on complementary dualism in gendered foodways where from infancy the role of male as milpero and public provider and female as creator and domestic provider is reinforced (Gustafson 2002).
I see this division of labor, not as a structure used to oppress women, but a cultural construct necessary in populations that are based in subsistence agriculture. Children are necessary for manual labor; therefore women must spend significant time in acculturating and caring for their offspring. By finding a pattern that allows women to stay near the domicile, this allows woman to be the central cultural influence of the family. In turn men can provide the labor that requires travel, whether for trade of agricultural products with nearby villages, or because of increased distance to their milpas due to deforestation and population growth. As many “traditional” Maya continue in some practice of honoring agricultural gods, men still hold the habitus of providing food for these public ceremonies while the women provide the food for family gatherings. In conclusion, I hold to Redfield’s belief that this division of labor is resistant to change. However, as their labor changes, so will their gender roles. The more “modernized” communities definitely show a trend away from the balanced social organization and a toward women’s loss of social capital when a household is dependent solely on wage labor. Foodways have been a particularly fruitful way to explore gender roles of the Maya, and I find, like Counihan, that gender models food activities as it structures society, history and ideology (1998).
WORKS CITED
Anderson, E.N. and Medina Tzuc, Felix. 2005a. Animals and the Maya in Southeast Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Anderson, E. N.; Aurora Dzib Xihum de Cen; Felix Medina Tzuc; Pastor Valdez Chale. 2005b. Political Ecology in a Yucatec Maya Community. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press.
Christenson, Allen J. 2003. Popol Vuh, The Sacred Book of the Maya. New York: O Books.
Coe, Sophie D. 1994. America's First Cuisines. Austin: University Of Texas Press.
Counihan, Carole and Van Esterik, Penny (Eds.). 1997. Food and Culture: A Reader. New York: Routledge.
Counihan, Carole M. and Kaplan, Steven L. (Eds.). 1998. Food and Gender, Identity and Power. London: Routlege.
Counihan, Carole M. (Ed.). 1999. The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning and Power. New York: Routledge.
Faust, Betty Bernice. 1998. Mexican Rural Development and the Plumed Serpent: Technology and Maya Cosmology in the Tropical Forest of Campeche, Mexico. Westport: Bergin & Garvey.
Fischer, Edward F. 1999. Cultural Logic and Maya Identity: Rethinking Constructivism and Essentialism. Current Anthropology 40, no. 4 (Aug.-Oct): 473-499. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=001-3204%28199908%2F10%2940%3A4%3C473%3ACLAMIR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q.
Freidel, David; Linda Schele; Joy Parker. 1993. Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path. 1993: HarperCollins Publishers.
Gustafston, Lowell S. and Trevelyan, Amelia M. (Eds.). 2002. Ancient Maya Gender Identity and Relations. Westport: Bergin & Garvey.
Joyce, Rosemary; Davis, Whitney; Kehoe, Alice; Schortman, Edward; Urban, Patricia; Bell, Ellen. 1993. Women's Work: Images of Production and Reproduction in Pre-Hispanic Southern Central America. Current Anthropology Vol. 34, No. 3, 255-274. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199306%2934%3A3%3C255%3AWWIOPA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 (accessed Sep. 20, 2007).
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2000. Girling the Girl and Boying the Boy: The Production of Adulthood in Ancient Mesoamerica. World Archaeology 31, no. 3 (February): 473-483. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8243%28200002%2931%3A3%3C473%3AGTGABT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C/ (accessed October 20, 2007).
Klein, Cecelia F.; Jeffrey Quiltez, ed. 2001. Gender in Pre-Hispanic America, By Joyce, Rosemary A. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. E-book, www.doaks.org/etexts.html. (accessed October 23, 2007).
Landa, Friar Diego de. 1978. Yucatan Before and After the Conquest (William Gates, Trans.). New York: Dover Publications. (Original work published in 1937).
Little, Walter E. 2004. Mayas in the Marketplace. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Mascia-Lees, Frances E. and Johnson Black, Nancy. 2000. Gender and Anthropology. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc.
Nash, June. 1997. Gendered Deities and the Survival of Culture. History of Religions Vol. 36, No. 4, 333. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2710%28199705%2936%3A4%3CC333%3AGDATSO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23.
Preuss, Mary H. 1985. Vestiges of the Past: The Role of the Grandmother in Contemporary Yucatec Literature. Wicazo Sa Review 1, no. 2 (Autumn): 1-10. http;//links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0749-6427%28198523%291%3A2%3C1%3AVOTPTR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z/ (accessed September 29, 2007).
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December 23, 2007 in Food and Drink, Religion, Travel | Permalink | Comments (4)
The Role of Food in Aztec Society
As in most societies, food was the impetus of Aztec culture. Food was a part of their creation myths, a part of their legendary rise to greatness, a part of their social structure and a major player in their religion. In this paper I will explore how food was a unifier of the early Aztec rise to power at Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico and then evolved into a divisive agent and vehicle for social mobility once an elite lineage ruling class rose to rule the empire. The Aztecs were united by their early lake based diet and their staple of corn from the commoner’s worship of corn seeds and the elite sacrifice to the maize god. However, with the evolution of empire building and tribute, foods deemed high in tonalli such as cacao, sacrificial flesh and any intoxicant clearly began divide. Through this divide, there were paths of social mobility provided largely by talent, such as a woman’s prowess in cooking, a warrior’s ability to obtain captives for ritual cannibalism or a calpolli member’s ability to host an extravagant feast. Many of these catalysts for social mobility are rooted in consumption.
According to legend, the Aztecs started on their rise to power after settling in the swamps of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. While the swampy area may not sound like the ideal place to foster a society, this land was full of natural resources that fed the early Mexica tribes (Coe, 2002). This abundance of natural resources led to the prolific rise in their numbers. The population increased pressure on the natural resources, resulting in domestication and agriculture, specifically chinampa farming practices (Smith, 1987). The increased agricultural intensification was a sign of cultural change for the Aztecs and their success was directly linked to this intensification (Smith, 1987). As their population continued to grow due to sufficient nutrition and surplus of resources, societal and craft specializations began to form which eventually allowed the Aztecs to become the greatest force in the Valley of Mexico. They then began to exert their influence and power over other regional polities (Clendinnen 1985). As these polities became part of the empire, the Aztecs began to exact tribute requirements on them which led to an influx of hard to get, or elite foodstuffs (Smith, 1987). I propose that food is one of the many representations of the duality of Aztec culture. It acted as a unifier and divider. The humble beginnings of the Aztec people found strength in a shared dietary heritage and maize based diet, but as their power grew, their diet expanded to include dishes of political and religious importance that were restricted to those ordained with supernatural authority and tonalli. Without the elite imposed value system put in place under the revolutionary leader, Itzcoatl, there would have been no differentiation in the Aztec diet between commoners and nobility. Both classes grew out of survival on a varied and nutritionally rich lake based diet which included items such as birds, amphibians, fish, algae, and eggs and was superior to those communities which surrounded the valley (Coe, 2002). Even as the Aztec diet shifted to agriculture with the development of the chinampas, there was little differentiation between the foods of the elite and the foods of the commoners (LeCount, 2001). However, once the pattern of social stratification was in place, tribute items began to flow into the ruling class.
In the beginning of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs were unified by their ability to adapt to marine and estuary resources that other groups in the Valley of Mexico had not yet harnessed, then, as they grew and shifted to agriculture, corn became their cultural bond. The original diet of the Aztecs can be traced back to their meager beginnings in the Valley of Mexico. Relegated to unwanted swamp lands the Mexica tribes were forced to eke out their existence with what was available for hunting and gathering on Lake Texcoco and its margins. Fortunately, this area was teeming with life, such as water insects, fish, aquatic birds, frogs, tadpoles, lizards, snakes and their eggs as well as algae from the lake all of which provided adequate nutrition to sustain and grow the life of the Aztecs (Coe, 2002). As their population increased, agriculture was needed to support the increased pressure on the natural food supply. Some of the first evidences of public works indicating stratification were chinampas, agricultural terracing of the hills surrounding the valley and irrigation systems necessary to keep these areas watered (Smith, 1987). Chinampas were built in the swamps by dredging the fertile lake bottoms for mud, then piling that mud up above the water level. These beds were held in place by planting trees whose roots held the soil in place. They were extremely fertile plots of land (Smith, 2003). These intensively farmed areas provided the growing city with maize, beans, avocados, tomatoes, squash, amaranth, chia and chile peppers (Smith, 2003).
Of these staples, the primary food source, eaten by all levels of society at every meal was maize (Coe, 2002). Maize was the major unifying element of the Aztec diet. It came in many varieties and each variety had its own specific use (Sahagun v. 11, 1951). Maize was so important to society that it was not only a food, but a religion. The creation myths of the Aztec discuss the belief that humans of this world come from maize and therefore it can stand in as a human or blood sacrifice. In this vein, maize is a suitable food not only for commoners, but for all strata of society, including gods, as it represents fertility and sacrifice. Maize illustrated the circle of life and death -- as maize comes from the ground, people eat it and are therefore made of maize and then when they die they are returned to the ground to be re-born (LeCount, 2001). Due to its importance, depictions of maize are often found in Aztec art, but mainly in context with the worship of a maize or agricultural deity such as Tlaloc, Cinteotl or Chicomecoatl. According to Sahagun, these deities were worshipped not only in public temples but also at home altars indicating that maize was a unifying food item of Aztec culture. It was as accessible to the poorest resident of the empire as well as a daily food item of the emperor (Coe, 2002). Because of the Aztec dependence on agriculture as life, weather was a major concern (Smith, 2003). Therefore agricultural themes are present in state and domestic ritual and religion, and evidence of these rituals can be found in the archaeological record (Coe, 2002).
Along with corn, the other staples of the Aztec diet were combined in a variety of ways to produce many dishes. The basic unit of the diet was the tortilla, formed from dried and nixtamalized corn ground on the metate and cooked on the comal (Barros, & Buenrostro, 2002). The most basic diet of a commoner consisted of tortillas dipped in chile water (Coe, 2002). Another daily meal of all classes was atolli. It was also corn based, but the ingredients varied based on one’s social standing. It could range from a thin gruel of chili and corn, to a more elaborate thicker drink of corn, flowers and fruit or even chocolate (Coe, 2002). The basic diet of the Aztecs consisted of some sort of corn flavored with some sort of sauce. The sauce is what delineated one’s social status (Coe, 2002). According to the Florentine Codex there were over 10 types of tortillas and 27 types of salsas (Barros & Buenrostro, 2002).
As time progressed, the agricultural surplus grew and times of abundant rains continued. This led to the Aztec people’s support of the empire which grew and expanded its reach (Smith, 2003). As it amassed new polities into its society, tribute systems were put in place as was common in Mesoamerica (Smith, 2003). These tribute systems led to exotic food and food related items coming into the Aztec elite. However, this new variety was not available to all members of society at Tenochtitlan. The city had grown into the capitol of a massive empire and within this empire, there was a rigidly stratified between heredity based nobility and commoners since the time of Itzcoatl’s reign (Clendinnen, 1985). In between these two main classes existed a middle class of merchants, warriors, artisans and priests. The nobility mainly concerned itself with maintaining positive reciprocal relationships with the gods, especially those associated with agricultural fertility. These ritual activities often entailed the consumption of flesh, chocolate, pulque and other items associated with high levels of tonalli. The lower classes concerned themselves with attempting to gain social status. There were a few routes possible to both men and women to move up in status. Good cooks, warriors, and hosts were some of the people able to move up based on consumables. One could also climb the ranks of society if they studied to become a great warrior, priest or merchant (Smith, 1987). Individual successes led to increased access to tribute which could then be re-distributed to friends and family (Clendinnen, 1985).
Before discussing the relationships with the gods and restricted consumables, there is a need to define a cultural construct important to the stratification of the Aztec empire, tonalli, defined by Furst as “life force” (2003). The Aztecs held the belief that this life force was present in all items of the universe from rocks, to humans to the sun. However, the amount of tonalli an item possessed could differ. In humans, the amount of this life force could be determined by the status a human had achieved, the more elite one’s status, the more tonalli. This was an important concept regarding human sacrifice and cannibalism. The victims were dressed in the finery of the gods before sacrifice; therefore the decoration bestowed upon the human the vital life force of the god. Only those who already possessed high tonalli could expect to receive more tonalli (Furst, 2003). Therefore, only those of high rank could expect to eat human flesh. This same thought was applied to chocolate, hallucinogenic mushrooms and pulque. All of these consumables were considered to open a conduit to the gods, and only those strong enough in their tonalli could successfully withstand the responsibility that came with that communication (Coe, 2002).
Some of the deities with which the rulers communicated were Tlaloc, Tlalteuctli, Tonatiuh, Cinteotl and Chicomecoatl who are all associated with agricultural fertility. Tlalteuctli, the earth lord or earth monster was acknowledged at feasts by participants dropping pieces of food to the ground before they ate (Coe, 2002). Tonatiuh was the god of the sun which provided the warmth needed to provide crops with their life force and he was honored with human sacrifice (Furst, 2003). Tlaloc was the god of storms who was honored by child sacrifices, as the tears of the child were thought to bring forth the rains (Sahagun v.2, 1951). The maize god had several incarnations, two of which were Cinteotl and Chicomecoatl and this god was honored in many ways from the commoners who addressed corn kernels directly before planting, and women who would gently warm them with their breath before adding them to the olla for cooking, to the nobility who would honor them with sacrifice, great sculptures and the playing of the ballgame (Clendinennen, 1991). Of these deities, the prevalent ones represented in Aztec art are Tlaloc and the maize god. Tlaloc was the main deity of sustenance as he represented rain and storms and therefore agricultural fertility. He often is associated with water, lightening and maize. Tlaloc was considered the provider and one of the sides of the Templo Mayor was dedicated to him (Miller & Taube, 2003). Most recently, a huge stone monument has been discovered in Mexico City, in front of the ruins of Tenochtitlan’s Templo Mayor that appears to be an altar or tomb with Tlaloc on one side and the maize goddess on the other (Lujan, 2006). This would incorporate the two main Aztec deities related to agriculture and such a monumental piece would place significant elite value on their relationships with the gods who provide sustenance. The maize god’s incarnation of Chicomecoatl, is a goddess of food, especially maize (Miller & Taube, 2003). Cinteotl is the masculine incarnation of the corn deity. He is typically depicted in Aztec and Maya art with a double line that runs vertically down his face and jogs at his temple (Miller & Taube, 2003). The Aztec emperors accepted it as their duty to maintain relationships with these gods through sacrifice, bloodletting, fasting, feasting and offerings in order to maintain agricultural fertility which led to continued support by their constituents. Much of their day was spent in reflection and ritual to appease the gods as their success as a ruler was often judged by the success of the harvest as a reflection of their relationships with these gods. According to Furst, commoners could not afford the great sacrifice of human life; they constructed offerings of food that typically involved maize, since maize was considered a representation of human flesh (2006). Food made from maize and maize god effigies were taken to tribal temples in the calpolli and in the homes of commoners (Sahagun v. 2, 1951). In the Aztec belief system, both the commoner sacrifice of corn and the elite sacrifice of flesh fulfilled the cultural responsibility to feed the gods, so, one could argue that this unifies the classes, however, because the life force provided by blood and flesh yielded greater tonalli for the elite, the classes remained divided.
Besides the ability to consume human flesh, there were specific consumables also associated with the tonalli force such as cacao and pulque. Of these, cacao was the main elite tributary consumable. It could not be grown in Central Mexico and so was a highly valued tribute item. Cacao grew in demand as it became a source of currency for the poor and a prized beverage for the elite (Rust). Commoners, especially those at the low end of the spectrum had little access to cacao, except as they could scrounge for it in Tapir feces (Sahagun v.11, 1951). Otherwise it trickled down from the nobility who received 980 troxes of it per year (a troxe contains 8,000-10,000 bushels), (Coe, 2002). Cacao could also be purchased at markets but commoners were restricted to using the beans for money, not consumption. Commoners were restricted from consuming cacao due to the belief that cacao was an intoxicant and would therefore create a conduit between the drinker and the gods. It was the Aztec belief that only those of nobility and training could open themselves to the gods without repercussions (Clendinnen 1991). Along with the import of cacao, came the import of cacao related serving vessels such as the decorative cacao pots and batadors (Barros & Buenrostro, 2002). The batadors were whisking utensils used to give the chocolate beverage its much prized head of foam. The cacao drinks were prized for the amount of froth that could be produced on them and the skill of producing this foam was prized and held by women (Coe, 2002). The drinking of cacao was reserved for use by the elite in rituals and in feasting (Coe, 2002), however, the nobility could provide cacao to other highly regarded people such as valued warriors or favored long distance traders (Rust). In Mesoamerica, according to LeCount, cacao was used more in private political and social displays of power and reciprocity than in public religious rituals (2001). Possibly this was due to the Aztec myth that depicted the powerful Aztec leaders returning to visit their ancestors in their homeland of Chichimeca. There they were chastised for their use of cacao, the ancestors saying it had made them soft, weak and heavy, for they could no longer walk in the sands of their homeland without sinking (Coe, 2002). Perhaps this was a warning of overindulgence; perhaps it was a warning to the Aztecs to not forget their humble beginnings based in hunger and exile now that they were great rulers with such luxuries.
Another of the stratifying consumables was pulque. While in the outskirts of the empire, there was ample access to the maguey plant, from which pulque was made, within the confines of Tenochtitlan, it was strictly regulated. Pulque was used primarily as a medicinal treatment for the elders to cure their “cold blood” (Coe, 2002). Pulque was a vitamin-rich milky liquid and was believed to be derived from the milk of the Earth Goddess. (Miller & Taube, 2003) In fact, pulque was popular liquid in which to stew a snake ragout which was thought to produce a strengthening effect for the elderly. (Coe, 2002) At feasts, of those the middle and higher classes only old men and women were allowed to indulge in the mildly alcoholic beverage (Coe, 2002). Coe goes on to state that it was reserved specifically for old women and men over seventy who had children and grandchildren. Even then, only a few small cups were allowed. “Drinking was acceptable, intoxication was not” (2002).
The most sacred and restricted of all elite consumption came in the form of cannibalism. Contrary to sensationalized colonial accounts, human flesh was not considered a part of the diet, but a ritual act of consuming life force (Furst, 2003). While emperors and nobility were always included, only the friends and family of those wealthy enough to afford slaves to be given as sacrificial victims or warriors fierce enough to capture victims could expect to be included in the ritual consumption of human life force (Furst, 2003). The captors of the sacrificial victims were given a portion of flesh based on their involvement in the capture. They then took the remains and stewed them with maize and salt. No chiles were included in order to preserve the idea of the human body as pure corn. By the time they had divided this stew amongst their friends and relatives; it amounted to one half ounce per person and was not regarded for its flavor (Coe, 2002).
Another stratifying food event was feasting. Idyllically, feasting was seen as a way to increase social standing for lower classes, but mainly it was another mechanism used to reinforce the separation of the commoner and elite classes. Many of the elite from polities surrounding the Aztec empire willingly joined the empire in order to benefit from the power of Tenochtitlan via the redistribution involved with tribute and feasting within the empire (Smith, 1986). Feasting was a way to accomplish religious, political and social goals in Aztec society (Clendinnen, 1991). By lavishly eating in times of drought or when stores are depleted before planting season, the rulers are showing their faith in Tlaloc and the coming rains that will give the crops success (Clendinnen, 1991). By sharing food within a calpolli, neighbors are establishing a hierarchy and sense of community as well as re-distributing goods. By inviting nobility from other polities, Aztec rulers were also establishing a hierarchy and promoting unity among the noble classes of the empire (Smith, 1986). Even the serving utensils used at feasts served as a reminder of class delineation. At times, there was not a large differentiation in the types of food served by commoners and elites, but in this case the high quality polychrome vessels used for serving were used to reinforce wealth and division (Brumfiel, 1987). While all classes may have resorted to serving a slurry of corn in hard times, the elites would have served their guests with fine pottery while the commoners would have used gourds (LeCount, 2001).
For the poorest of commoners, especially within the confines of the urban environment of Tenochtitlan, life was difficult. Access to food was restricted to the marketplace, and there were those who could not afford to purchase foodstuffs. These people were dependent upon the kindness of neighbors and of the government. Clendinnen discusses that food gifting and sharing were common and resulted in a sense of community during the smaller rituals (1991), Smith and Sahagun also describe several types of redistribution. There are depictions of people of all societal levels offering others containers of food and drink in the illustrations of the Florentine Codex (Sahagun v. 11, 1951). Smith discusses several large scale ceremonies that acted as redistributive devices to unify the nobility of outlying areas who had less access to tribute (1986). The Florentine Codex outlines at least one specific feast given in honor of the poor. It was called Uei Tecuilhuil, “Great Feast of the Lords”. It lasted for seven days and was intended to show the generosity of the emperor during a famine-prone time of year. It was given when dried maize was running out at the end of the dry season. In the morning, each person was allowed to bring their own vessels, as big and as many as they could carry, to fill with the atolli of lime, sage and honey supplied by the ruler. They could take as much as they could but could not return for a second time. Later in the day, they were fed as many tamales as they could carry in one hand (Sahagun, v.2, 1951). These types of feasts however, were the only ones that were intended as welfare and not involved in the reciprocal idea of feasting that was the norm in Aztec society. According to Clendinnen, those who could not afford their own feasts were not invited to the feasts of others, and merely had to wait by the margins to scavenge on leftovers and were mocked and humiliated (1991). It is this level of society that suffered most as they were unable to work their way up to be a part of society and for them, there was no real notion of community or charity (Clendinnen, 1991).
Contrary to popular thought, the Aztec woman had the ability to move between social classes independently of her male counterpart. Where men could move up by becoming a soldier or priest, the woman could move up by being a merchant, a healer or a cook. Women’s societal success in Aztec culture was defined by her ability to feed people (Kellogg, 1995). Upon birth, a female baby’s umbilicus was buried under a metate and a prayer was given to the goddesses to make her a good cook (Coe, 2002). A woman could progress through the ranks of society by actively pursuing her responsibilities of hostess of feasts or by becoming a respected cook (Kellogg, 1995). Not all women were chosen to be cooks for royal feasts. Some were considered “inedible” people, a judgment of not only their food but their character (Coe, 2002). Others were able to progress as “edible” and some even were able to cook for the feasts of the emperor (Coe, 2002). Cooks in the home and the market place were women, and those who were successful, could become part time or full time specialists (Coe, 2002). Of those, a few were selected to be professional cooks for imperial feasts. The most highly prized cooks were those who could beat a great foam on top of the cacao beverages (Coe, 2002).
By the time of Moteuczomah II, the demarcation between commoners, rulers and gods had its roots in diet. According to Coe, the Tlaxcalans sent to Cortes’ men:
…five slaves, incense, domestic fowl and cakes, so that if he was, as they had heard, a fearsome god, he could feed on the slaves, if a benevolent one, he would be content with the incense and if human and mortal he would use the fowl, fruit and cakes that had been prepared for him… (2002).
Moteuczomah also provided diet related tests to decipher Cortes’ status by sending food along with chocolate beverages to test the Spanish. He presumed if they drank the chocolate, they were royalty (Coe, 2002).
For the noble classes, there were many responsibilities in regard to food, not only were they responsible for the redistribution of tribute via feasting, but included in their inherited right to rule was the inherited responsibility to maintain relationships with the gods, especially those gods who were related to weather, agriculture and fertility. Elite monumental Aztec art such as architecture and altars were created to reinforce these relationships, in fact, the tzompantli and sacrificial stones were all symbols of this relationship that remain today in the archaeological record. The artistic accounts signifying the commoner’s relationship with food comes from colonial codices.
From ethno historical accounts in the Mesoamerican codices and archaeological evidence of carved monuments, utensils, serving items and seeds, we have evidence of food use in Aztec culture. It begins with the legends of the adaptable and tenacious Mexica who eked out their existence in the margins of society and rose to become a superpower. United in their general diet and religious use of food, they were divided in the details. It was the Aztec elite’s love of embellishment that separated them. While the staple diet was accessible to all levels of society, it was the manner in which these staples were served that delineated one’s stratification. The commoner’s plain maize cakes served from gourds were juxtaposed with the elite maize cakes drenched in rich sauces and served on beautiful pottery. While the entire society shared the responsibility of feeding flesh to the gods, it was the level of tonalli involved in the offering that divided, flesh from the elite far outweighed maize as the representation of flesh from the commoner. While food could restrict one’s societal reach it could also provide a vehicle by which one could ascend levels of society. For males the capture or purchase of a sacrificial victim and its following consumption by family and friends allowed warriors to move up in the military and merchants ascend in the hierarchy of their calpolli. For women, success in the market place and society was judged on the quality of her hosting, cooking and generosity. The ability for her to feed the community led to a chance to become a full time specialist for the royal court or her lack of skills led to her failure and relegation as an “inedible” member of society. The dual aspects of food as uniter and divider of cultures was commonplace for the Aztecs just as it is today in modern society. Access to certain foods continues to be restricted by religion, cost, culture and availability just as it was then. The “elite” goods have changed, but the idea of tonalli lives on in human discourse as class and privilege.
Works Cited
Barros, Cristina, and Marco Buenrostro. Cocina Prehispanica Recetario. Ed. Enrique Vela. Spec. issue of Arqueologia Mexicana 12 (Nov. 2002).
Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. “Consumption and Politics at Aztec Huexotla.” American Anthropologist 89.3 (Sept. 1987): 676-686. JSTOR. American Anthropological Association. 13 Oct. 2006
Clendinnen, Inga. “The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society.” Past and Present 107 (May 1985): 44-89. JSTOR. Oxford University Press. 30 Oct. 2006
- - -. “Local Perspectives.” Aztecs: An Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 45-83.
Coe, Sophie D. “The Aztecs, Aztec Ingredients, Aztec Cooks and Menus.” America’s First Cuisines. 1994. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. 66-120.
Furst, Leslie McKeever. “Food for the Gods Or, You Are Who You Eat in Ancient Mexico.” Expedition 45.2 (2003): 26-29. EBESCO Publishing. 27 Oct. 2006
Kellogg, Susan. “The Woman’s Room: Some aspects of Gender Relations in Tenochtitlan in the Late Pre-Hispanic Period.” Ethnohistory 42.4 (Fall 1995): 563-576. JSTOR. Duke University Press. 30 Oct. 2006
LeCount, Lisa. “Like Water for Chocolate: Feasting and Political Ritual Among the Late Classic Maya at Xunantunich, Belize.” American Anthropologist 103.4 (Dec. 2001): 935-953.
Lujan, Leonardo Lopez. “Aztec House of the Eagles - Digging the Underworld in Downtown Mexico City.” Art History Guest Lecture Series, Department of Art and Art History, the Department of Anthropology, the Mexican American Studies Center, the Mesoamerican Center, and LILAS. ART 1.102, University of Texas. 24 Oct. 2006.
Miller, Mary, and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2003.
Rust, Randi L. “A Brief History of Chocolate, Food of the Gods.” Athena Review 2.2: 1-4. 22 Oct. 2006
Sahagun, Fray Bernardino. The Florentine Codex. Vol. 2, The Ceremonies. Santa Fe: The School of American Research and The University of Utah, 1951.
- - -. . The Florentine Codex. Vol. 11, The Earthly Things. Santa Fe: The School of American Research and The University of Utah, 1951.
Smith, Michael E. “Archaeology and the Aztec Economy: The Social Scientific use of Archaeological Data.” Social Science History 11.3 (Fall 1987): 237-259. JSTOR. Duke University Press. 30 Oct. 2006
- - -. The Aztecs. 1996. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
- - -. “The Role of Social Stratification in the Aztec Empire: A View from the Provinces.” American Anthropologist 88.1 (Mar. 1986): 70-91. JSTOR. American Anthropological Association. 27 Oct. 2006 http://www.jstor.org.content.lib.utexas.edu:2048/?sici=0002-7294%28198603%292%3A88%3A1%3C70%3ATROSSI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z.
December 20, 2006 in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (2)
June 2005
June’s Seasonal Spotlight
Eight Ball Squash
It’s June…that means the Austin Farmers’ Markets are abundant with produce. All of our favorites are there: tomatoes, peaches, blueberries and corn but today I’m going to introduce a little known variety of squash that is rising to popularity in other parts of the country and grows well here in Texas. It’s a fist sized blackish green ball called an Eight Ball squash from the zucchini family. It can be eaten the same as a zucchini or even hollowed out to make little serving bowls or to stuff and bake.
Nutritionally, the Eight Ball squash is rich in valuable antioxidants. Plus it contains beta-carotene, vitamin C, folic acid and calcium. It is also a good source of fiber (4 grams per cup).
The Eight Ball squash can be found at the Austin Farmer’s Market or the Westlake Market this season.
Today we’re using it in a soup recipe (a variation of a Oaxacan soup called Sopa de Guias). This recipe also utilizes the tomatoes corn and chilies starting to peek into the market. The epazote and squash blossoms can also be found in the markets this summer. If you have trouble at the market, try a Mexican grocer.
Following the soup recipe, there’s a great frosty peach cocktail to cool you down in the kitchen.
Summer Squash and Corn Dumpling Soup
For the Soup:
1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
1 small head garlic, finely chopped
4 fresh ears of corn, cleaned and sliced in rounds 1 inch thick
4-5 small round Eight ball squash (1.25 lbs)
1 handful Epazote (Mexican herb that can be found fresh or dry in most specialty stores)
2.5 Cups Squash flowers, cleaned and torn in half
Salt to taste
For the Salsa:
3 Fresh chile serranos
3 large ripe plum tomatoes
5 garlic cloves
½ lime, juiced
Salt to taste
4 limes cut in 8-10 wedges
For the Dumplings:
1 Cup Masa Harina
1 Tablespoon lard or vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
For the Soup:
In a large stockpot, heat 4.5 quarts of water with the onion and garlic to boil. Lower the heat and add the corn rounds and cook, covered for 30 minutes.
Cut the squash into 1 inch thick wedges.
Add the squash and squash blossoms to the soup. Cook covered 30 minutes, season with salt.
For the Salsa:
Toast the chilies, tomatoes and garlic on a pan or over a grill flame until skins are ready to peel off.
Remove skins from chilies, tomatoes and garlic.
Blend chilies and garlic in a food processor or blender until smooth, then add the tomatoes and lime juice and pulse to a relatively chunky consistency. Salt to taste.
For the Dumplings:
Mix masa with 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water until you have a soft dough.
Let sit covered with damp towel for 15 minutes.
Mix in the lard or oil and salt.
Roll the dough into small balls (approximately 50) and make an indentation in each one with your finger.
When soup is cooking with the squash, add the dumplings and cook approximately 5 minutes, or until firm.
Taste soup and adjust seasonings in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Serve soup in hollowed out squash bowls or in soup bowls topped with salsa and a squeeze of lime.
Serves 8-10.
For Frozen Peach Cocktail:
4-6 Very Ripe Peaches, peeled and cut in medium chunks
Raw sugar or simple syrup, to taste
1 C. peach schnapps
2 limes, juiced
Ice
1 bottle sparkling wine
Cut peaches and place in blender with sweetener, lime juice and schnapps.
Blend to smooth consistency.
Fill blender with ice and blend to smooth consistency.
Fill half of chilled champagne flutes or margarita glasses with peach mixture and then fill remainder with champagne, stir lightly.
Enjoy the bounty of the season.
Amber O’Connor
March 21, 2005 in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (33)
Welcome.
First, I’d like to thank my grandmother, without whose help I would not have been able to attend Texas Culinary Academy.
I knew from the beginning that I wasn’t your typical culinary student. My long term goal was never to be executive chef or own a restaurant.
My joy doesn’t stem from the long hours on the line, but from the long hours of studying about the food we use there.
I recognize this is an industry fraught with challenges and here I am asking you to face one with me in the future. Continue to learn. Specifically, educate yourselves about your medium…food.
We have the responsibility to change our industry by supporting our local growers and educating our patrons about seasonal produce and the role it plays in flavor, health and local economics.
Challenge yourself to find a way around the generic Sysco, Sam’s, and Ben E Keith supplied restaurants that serve food without regard to health, taste or genetic diversity.
Explore your local flavors and combine them with your creativity.
None of us went to school to become mediocre so why should we support companies that promote mediocrity?
Let’s agree today to feature responsibility as part of our menus.
Thank you.
January 08, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Foodways Spanish Tapas Meeting
First, I’d like to introduce Foodways, a group that meets once a month to focus on a specific region’s cuisine and traditions in regard to that cuisine. Membership costs $17.00/year and there is usually an extra fee for each meeting. They can be contacted via their website http://www.main.org/foodways/. I attended my first meeting this past Sunday, October 19, 2003.
While at Trish Bales’ home last Sunday we were treated to a presentation and tasty array of Spanish style tapas. Tapas are small, usually salty treats served in throughout Spain at Tapa Bars. This is a very social way to eat and try many different items in one sitting. Authentic tapa bars do not have a set menu, just a display of that day’s fare.
Our buffet consisted of Manchego with quince paste, a very traditional sharp cheese contrasted with a sweet-tart fruit paste. My favorite item from our meeting was Papas Bravas, which are roasted or fried potatoes coated with a spicy tomato sauce topped with aioli. A potato and egg “tortilla” which is similar to an Italian frittata except that it is finished on the stove instead of in the oven was served warm, where typically it would be room temperature or served in a sandwich at the tapa bar. There was also a typical mélange of olives, jamon Serrano, chorizo, sobrasada, seasoned almonds and rustic breads with garlic and tomato toppings. All in all it was a delicious sampling of traditional Spanish food items garnered from places like Phoenicia bakery, Central Market, Whole Foods and Grapevine Market along with some of their own recipes from their travels in Spain.
September 01, 2004 in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)
Dia De Los Muertos
by Amber O’Connor
While the children in America traditionally dress in costumes and go trick or treating on October 31st every year a different tradition occurs in Mexico. Dia De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead is celebrated November 1st and 2nd every year. This holiday is used to honor the deceased. Offerings of food, candies, flowers and even sometimes tequila are left at the graves of friends and family members. Often, members of the family will hold vigil all night in the cemeteries with lit candles. If a family member is unable to go to the gravesite, altars are made in the home using la calaca, or the skeleton to represent the departed.
While any of the favorite foods of the deceased can be used, in honor of this holiday, here are some traditional Dia De Los Muertos recipes from the Mayan culture. One look at these recipes and it is easy to see the care and love involved in honoring one’s relatives on this holiday.
PIBIWAH – BU’ULIWAH (Bean Tamales)
Masa:
8 Cups Masa Harina
2 t. salt
2 C. lard
1 hot green chili, finely chopped
2 C. chicken broth
Place masa and salt in large mixing bowl
Beat lard until fluffy
Stir in the broth and add to the masa
Blend ingredients well and add chili if desired
Bean Paste:
22 oz. black beans, dried
12 C. water
1 hot green chili, toasted
1 bulb garlic, toasted
½ C. lard
1 onion, toasted and chopped
Salt to taste
4 limes, halved
2 hot green chilies, chopped
Wash beans well, add water, and soak overnight.
Change water and add to cover
Add toasted chili and garlic; simmer 2 hours adding water as needed
Heat lard in skillet, sauté onion until translucent, add to beans.
Cook for an additional hour or until done, add salt if needed
Remove the chili and garlic.
Place beans in blender and blend to puree.
Tamales:
8 – 10 inch banana leaves or parchment paper
Banana leaf ties or string
Favorite chili salsa
1 Recipe Masa Harina (above)
¾ C. pumpkin or squash seeds, toasted
Water as needed
½ C. honey
1 Recipe Black bean puree (above)
Line up the banana leaf pieces, side by side.
Pat out 8 fat tortillas using ¼ C. of masa for each one.
Place each of the tortillas on a leaf.
Mix pumpkin seeds with enough water to make a thin paste. Spread a layer of pumpkin seed paste over the top of each tortilla.
Pat out 8 more fat tortillas and place them on top of the first layer. Spread on a spoonful of honey.
Add a 3rd layer of tortillas. Spread on a heavy layer of the Bean Puree.
Add the fourth layer of tortillas.
Make 4 indentations in the top of each tortilla. This symbolizes the four winds. Spread a layer of pumpkin seeds in each of the indentations.
Fold over the edges of a banana leaf and wrap it as if it were a package.
Tie the tamale with string to secure the contents.
Do this with all the tamales.
Place in steamer and steam for 1 – 1 ½ hours
Unwrap and serve with salsa.
TSAH BI YAX IK (Enriched Green Chili Salsa)
1 small onion, toasted and chopped
2 cloves garlic, toasted and chopped
5 fresh green hot chilies, toasted and chopped
2 T. lard
¼ C. juice from sour oranges or limes
Salt, to taste
Toast the onion, remove skin, and chop
Toast the garlic, remove skin, and chop
Toast chilies and crush them in a molcajete or grind them in a food processor.
Heat lard in heavy skillet and sauté onion and garlic until the onion is translucent.
Add the chilies and sauté for another 2 minutes.
Mix in the sour citrus juice.
X – TANCHUCUA (Porridge of Chocolate and Corn)
2 T. cocoa (unsweetened and preferably the Aztec chocolate)
4 T. sugar
1 T. masa harina
6 C. water
½ t. cinnamon
¼ t. vanilla
Mix the cocoa, sugar and masa together in a clay pitcher or heavy saucepan.
Stir in ½ C. of the water and whip with whisk until all of the lumps have dissolved.
Cook on medium-high heat while adding the remaining water, a little at a time.
When the porridge is steaming and has thickened somewhat, turn off the heat, strain the chocolate and serve.
Recipes from: Mayan Cooking: Recipes From the Sun Kingdoms of Mexico, Hamman, 1998
September 01, 2004 in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (0)
How the Expansionist and Conversionist Mentality of Sixteenth Century Christians Affects Our Understanding of Ancient Mesoamerica Drug Use
When we think of the ancient Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya, Aztecs and Incas unfortunately most of us only recall the histories left by the Spanish Christian conquerors that destroyed the cultures and traditions of what was a very advanced portion of the world at that time. Mesoamericans had an understanding of astronomy, they had a calendar system, a system of government and transportation, in fact, some of the first roads in history were made by the Maya Indians. What these cultures had going against them were the facts that they had access to large sources of gold and they were not of the Christian faith. These cultures were all polytheistic versus the strict Catholic doctrine of the Spaniards. It was these Spaniards who were given a strong sense of entitlement from the Catholic Church to convert or destroy all cultures who were not Christians. It was these Christians who wrote the final history of the Mesoamerican culture. According to those documents, the Aztec, Maya, and Inca cultures were annihilated due to their immoral choices of drug use, alcoholism and polytheism. In this paper, we’ll explore the fallacies told by the conquerors and explore the historical use of drugs and alcohol by ancient Mesoamerican cultures.
To put it simply, lies were told and continue to permeate our thoughts in regard to these cultures. The Spanish Friars who were charged with converting the polytheist Mesoamericans to Christianity needed to validate their expenses and time spent in Central America and did so by telling the Church back in Spain that the natives committed drunken crazed acts of orgy and murder. The most well documented of these Friars was in charge of the Yucatan area from 1549 to 1579. His name was Diego de Landa and he is best known for destroying the art, architecture and mostly, the entire written history of the Maya. He in return wrote his own history of the Maya and presented it to his superiors in Spain as the truth about the natives thus validating his return to rule with a promotion to Bishop in the Yucatan. In his book, Yucatan: Before and After the Conquest he outlines explicit acts of orgies, drugs, drinking and murder. This was the basis of all history of the indigenous Central American cultures to the western world until the 1930’s when anthropologists began to uncover some very important contradictions in the Spaniard’s accounts of Central America.
First, let us address drunkenness. Landa’s tales included great details of drunken orgies. They included the following quote regarding his opinion of their behavior at banquets:
‘The Indians are very dissolute in drinking and becoming intoxicated, and many ills follow their excesses in this way. They kill each other; violate their beds, the poor women thinking they are receiving their own husbands; they treat their own fathers and mothers as if they were in the houses of enemies; they set fire to their houses and so destroy themselves in drunkenness…after eating…they help themselves from great jars until they are overcome and their wives have great trouble in getting their drunken husbands home’ (Landa 35)
Years of research by prominent anthropologists have concluded that Central American cultures believed it was acceptable to drink, but never to be drunk, not even during ceremonial times. Their version of alcohol was made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant which they called pulque, so the first fallacy is that tequila was the beverage of choice in ancient times. In fact, Mesoamericans had no method of distilling alcohol until the Europeans brought that knowledge to the new world. Pulque was used primarily as a medicinal treatment for the elders of the tribe to cure their “cold blood”. Pulque was a vitamin-rich milky liquid and was believed to be derived from the milk of the Earth Goddess. (Miller, Taube 138) In fact, pulque was popular liquid in which to stew a snake ragout which was thought to produce a strengthening effect for the elderly. (Coe 99) At banquets, according to one of the first Mesoamerican anthropologists, “…old men and the old women…were the only ones allowed to freely indulge in the weakly alcoholic pulque…” (Coe 78) Coe goes on to state that it was reserved specifically for old women and men over seventy who had children and grandchildren, although it was permissible “for those over fifty, because that was when the blood turned cold, and pulque warmed it and made it easier to sleep”. (Coe 84) Even then, only a few small cups were allowed. “Drinking was acceptable, intoxication was not.” (Coe 84) Drinking pulque was even considered a lowly activity as “…lords, princes and warriors made it a point of honor not to drink it, preferring to drink chocolate, which was the prestige drink.” (Coe 85) Youngsters were discouraged from ever partaking in pulque.
Further evidence that Mesoamericans were against drunkenness can even be found in their folktales such the one called “The Story of the Devil Who was Put Inside a Tecomate.” This tale tells of a woman who married the devil. He ended up being lazy, so his wife imprisoned him in a gourd jar. The only person who would let him out was a drunkard who made a deal to let the devil out in exchange for money to by alcohol. The moral of the folktale is not to be a foolish drunk. (Sexton 38:42) The Aztecs went so far to discourage drunkenness as to say that Quetzalcoatl, the most popular of the Aztec gods was shamed by a night of drinking pulque because while drunk he slept with his own sister and had to leave his holy place of residence. (Miller, Taube 138) Maya history says that the king of the Huastec Maya became drunk and cast off his loincloth, thus having to abandon his kingship and move away in disgrace. (Miller, Taube 138) Even further evidence that pulque was not to be abused are several carvings depicting death gods emerging from pots of pulque. (Pohl 143)
Next we move on to the topic of drug use in ancient Mesoamerica. While used in ancient Central American cultures, drugs were not condoned for recreational use. They were reserved for spiritual services only and typically were only used by priests or those involved with sacrificial rites. Also a myth is the type of drugs used. Peyote was not used in these times. The only solid proof of drug use identifies the psilocybin mushroom, an extract from Morning Glory seeds and excretions from certain species of frog as the hallucinogenic drugs of choice for Central American natives. All of these substances were used for their hallucinogenic properties. Most importantly, none of these were used for recreation, but for communication directly with the gods.
The most widely used drug in ancient Mesoamerican culture was the hallucinogenic, or psilocybin mushroom. We’ll discuss the history, archeological proof and uses of this hallucinogen. According to a historical document rich in pictographic information on the mythological origin of things, called the Vienna Codex, there is an entire page devoted to the original gods teaching Quetzalcoatl to use mushrooms for communicating with them (Powell). The Aztec Na’huatl word for the mushroom teonana’catl translates literally to flesh of god. Even the Inca name for flower is actually used to name the hallucinogenic mushrooms. This mushroom genus can be found growing indigenously from the arctic to the tropics in materials such as humus, dung, rotting wood, peat and mosses (Snow). These mushrooms have been consumed by man as evidenced in history dating back to as early as 1000 BC.
The mushrooms “…ritual role as a potent sacrament was overtly established within the very fabric of ancient Mesoamerican society. That is until it came under the merciless gaze of the Catholic Spanish conquistadores…” (Powell). It was consumed by priests and sacrificial participants to induce a trancelike state where the wishes of gods were made known to the spiritual leaders. In these trances the gods could express their pleasure, displeasure and future desires. The mushrooms were collected in a ceremony intended to shield them from irreverent eyes by wrapping them with banana leaves and then taken to the church to sit on the altar. They were never sold in the market place (Wasson). When mushrooms were eaten, they were consumed with honey and then only chocolate would be drunk throughout the night. No other food or drink was considered royal enough to imbibe while communicating with the gods. The similarities between the mushroom ritual and Christian communion are similar and probably what threatened the Spaniards the most. A notable difference in Christianity versus Mesoamerican culture is that people were not expected to believe without a doubt that God was indeed present in the ritual until after trying the first mushroom (Wasson). According to Coe, the Maya blamed the decline in their numbers on the prohibition the Europeans put on the use of a fermented beverage of psilocybin mushrooms. (Coe 166) The Maya believed that blood sacrifices must be obtained to appease the maize god. Since maize was the main source of food for the Maya, they were willing to go to great lengths to spill blood including their own in honor of this god. Even priests and kings were willing to commit auto sacrifice by killing themselves or piercing themselves to honor the maize god. Before performing this ritual, they would first take the mushrooms so that they could speak directly with the appropriate god so they would know what the sacrifice was for. Without the use of the mushroom the Maya believed the maize god would punish them with a bad crop because the sacrifice would not be properly received without communicating with the gods directly. (Longhena 128:129) Friar Diego Duran also describes the mushroom sacrifice ritual in a letter written back to Spain.
‘The sacrifice finished and the steps of the temple and patio bathed in human blood, they all went to eat raw mushrooms on which food they went out of their minds…killed themselves by their own hand and with the force of those mushrooms they would see visions and have revelations of the future’ (Powell).
The Spanish were so thorough in destroying the mushroom; academic reports from the early twentieth century still stated that there were never any intoxicating mushrooms in Mexico. This view was unchallenged until 1938 when contrary evidence was found (Powell). According to R. Gordon Wasson, who spent time with the last surviving mushroom cult in the mountains surrounding Oaxaca, Mexico circa 1953, the mushrooms are still used and are not thought of as intoxicating but as divine.
As far as archeological evidence, there are several documentations of the use and existence of the mushroom. Over four hundred statues worshiping the mushroom have been found from as far south as Honduras and as far north as Mexico. These statues date back as far as 1000-500 BC (Stone). Some are individual mushrooms with faces of animals, gods and priests carved in the stem and others are large statues dedicated to gods and mushrooms are carved around the gods like vines of flowers. The individual mushrooms were a personal symbol of religion, like the Christians use the cross, and were used to identify the pious. One of the best pieces of evidence of the divinity of the mushroom versus the lack of respect of alcohol is a statue from the sixteenth century of Xochipilli, the Flower Prince (Powell).
‘The statue represents a cross-legged male figure – the god Xochipilli – caught up in an ecstatic trance. The very essence of ecstasy has been captured in stone. The arms, legs and base of this stone-carved ecstatic prince carry stylized engravings of flowers and on each of the four sides of the base of the statue are carved mushroom motifs. These mushroom motifs also appear upon the subject so enraptured.’ (Powell)
The flowers were Nicotiana Tabacum – the common tobacco plant which was considered sacred by all native American cultures, and Turbina Corymbosa, the morning glory plant sacred to the Aztecs. There were no such depictions of less esteemed plants such as those used to ferment pulque (Powell). Here we again see that alcohol is referred to with vulgarity while the mushroom is considered with much respect and piety.
Next, let’s address the morning glory seeds which contain certain LSD compounds (Powell). Today theses seeds are thought to be deadly, however in ancient times, the seeds from the morning glory were taken at night by special practitioners and used to divine sources of illness, track down law breakers and find lost people and objects through visions created by the poisons in the morning glory seeds. The seed itself was believed to be a god called ololiuhqui and was treated with much respect. It was kept in small baskets that were passed down through generations of diviners (Miller, Taube 91). There is much less documentation and archeological evidence of how this was used. It is believed possibly since it was not used for religious practices that it was less important to preserve.
Last in the list of widely used hallucinogens in pre-Colombian times is a substance derived from the excretions of a specific toad. The ability for kings, priests and warriors to change from human form into an animal form was highly revered by ancient Mesoamerican cultures. The ability to make this transformation was considered to be what gave these sects of people their special powers. Anthropologists have gathered from carvings that one of the ways the transformation was made possible was by ingesting hallucinogens found in the glands of Bufo Marinus, a species of toad. By ingesting this hallucinogenic substance, it was believed that shamans and other powerful people could communicate with their animal being as well as with the gods that rule that species of animal. (Pohl 28)
While ancient cultures had a much more accepting attitude toward drug and alcohol use, it was still considered taboo unless it was used by the proper people for the proper reasons. In truth, it was legal however much more highly guarded than use in America today. What right did the conquistadors really have to destroy these cultures? The documented reasons from most sources say things like, they aren’t Christian, and they aren’t moral because they partake in mind altering substances and violently kill people for their gods. Could the conquistadores not see the similarity between bloodshed for their god through war and conquest and the Mesoamerican bloodshed for their gods through sacrifice and auto sacrifice? The Europeans brought with them the technology to distill liquor but destroyed the ability of native Central Americans to speak to the divine in what they considered prayer. The Christian conquerors believed this personal knowledge of the divine was unacceptable as their doctrine restricted communication directly with God to a formally established religious hierarchy, namely the very Bishops who were killing off the Mesoamerican culture (Powell). I believe the Spanish were angered by the fact that the natives were as audacious as to believe they had the right to speak directly to their gods. The Spanish, having what they believed to be the modern, and therefore, correct view of religion felt within their rights to commit genocide.
Works Cited
Coe, Sophie B. America's First Cuisines. 4th ed. Austin: University of Texas P, 2002.
de Landa, Diego. Yucatan: Before and After the Conquest. New York: Dover Publications, 1978.
Ethnomycology. Comp. Snow, Joel. Vers. 2. 2 May 1995. Langston University. 24 Feb. 2004
Longhena, Maria. Ancient Mexico: The History and Culture of the Maya, Aztecs and Other Pre-Colombian People. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1998.
Miller, Mary and Taube, Karl. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. 3rd ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993.
Pohl, John. Places In Time: Exploring Mesoamerica. New York: Oxford UP, Inc., 1999.
Powell, Simon G. The Psilocybin Solution. 17 Feb. 2004
Sexton, James D. Mayan Folktales. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico P, 2002.
Strophariaceae. Comp. Snow, Joel. Vers. 2. 28 Jan. 1996. Langston University. 24 Feb. 2004
Wasson, R. Gordon. The Hallucinogenic Fungi of Mexico: An Inquiry Into the Origins of the Religious Idea Among Primitive Peoples. Mycological Society of America. Annual Lecture of the Mycological Society of America. Stillwater, Oklahoma. 1960. 24 Feb. 2004
September 01, 2004 in Religion | Permalink | Comments (13)
