Psyc Paper Mesoamerican Drug Use

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 .

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