The cacao bean has played an important role in Mesoamerican history. It was used not only for food but also for medicinal purposes and as offerings to the gods. It was a central part of their social, economic, and belief systems. It was so revered that it used to be used only in religious ceremonies. This was later relaxed and the upper class drank it at feasts. Even then it never lost its religious importance.
When Catholic missionaries came to convert the natives they were appalled that the natives would bring chocolate and drink during mass (they saw it as the breaking of fast) and attempted to ban it. Of course, the natives bringing chocolate and drinking it was their way of worshipping God, but the church was determined to stop them. The natives raised a big enough fuss that eventually the Pope declared that they were not breaking fast by drinking liquids.
This is where the Christ of Cacao enters. In the sixteenth century a statue of Christ was placed in a chapel in Mexico City. This chapel was adjacent the Templo Mayor, a temple of the Aztecs. When the natives went to worship, they left cacao beans as alms much in the same way they would have left offerings for their own Gods at Templo Mayor. These offerings made the priests at the cathedral very wealthy as the cacao bean was an form of currency. Priests and other religious officials would encourage the natives to leave these offerings. Thomas Gage, a friar during the seventeenth century became so rich off of the cacao offerings that when he left his post as a religious official in Colonial America, he left with plenty of precious stones and pearls.
The Christ of Cacao tells a story of how the ancient Latin American culture was mixed with the culture of Spain, a culture that has now become what we know as Latin America today.
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
50 latamobjects 
Leaving cacao beans as alms is so interesting! It is great how this object represents both the Catholic missionaries coming in and the natives using what they have to worship (incorporates both Catholic missionaries’ and natives’ beliefs and rituals). However, maybe in one of the earlier paragraphs, you should say that the missionaries came from Spain, because you only bring Spain up in the last paragraph.
Really interesting object! I like the combination of indigenous customs and Spanish influence. Well organized description; it flows logically and chronologically. I think cacao is very intriguing: I enjoyed the brief history of its development from a drink to a religious sacrament. I would like to see a little more history of cacao.
I find the description for the Christ of Cacao to be very well organized and also telling of why this would be a significant object to include within the 50 objects list. Although I do not have much comments or revisions for this description because I felt it pretty much encompassed all that a description of an object should include (such as: time period or era, purpose of object, etc), I do feel that one thing you could answer is: After the Europeans came in and attempted to convert the natives, and eventually succeeded by placing a figure of Christ in their temple and had them offering cacao to this figure, why do you think the natives never questioned this sudden new found wealth the missionaries experienced? Do you think they would have been able to make a significant change if they did realize the correlation between the European missionaries growing wealthy from cacao beans that they gave as offering?
Another thing I have in mind is this description should probably include what the Christ of Cacao means on a larger scale in context of the time period or for later years after that. Did the introduction of the Christ of Cacao lead to other imperialistic endeavors in this region or in surrounding areas? Also, it would be nice to include why this object has any sort of significance (because I do feel it is extremely significant!). You can include things along the lines of it contributing to Spanish imperialistic pursuits to spread Catholicism and also their way of life or something else.
But besides those minor points, I don’t feel any major revisions should be done to this as it already provides the history of the object quite adequately.