Maya and their chocolate.

The Maya believe that chocolate was given to them after they were made out of maize. The Mayan word for chocolate was/is xocoatl. This was a Pan-European word for chocolate. They also made a chocolate drink called chocolatl out of roasted cocoa beans, water and spice. Maya also used cocoa beans as currency. Cocoa was only for high-ranking adult males. This meant priests, high government officials, military officers, distinguished warriors, and sacrificial beings. Women and children were not allowed to drink chocolate becasue it was too valuable. The Ancient Maya called the cocoa tree “cacahuatquchtl”. It was the only tree named. They thought the tree was from the gods and that the cocoa pods were the god’s gifts to humans. Chocolate was crucial to the Mayan Society.



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Justin Wu, Matthew Chou, Bryan Forster.