The power of Chocolate was regarded widely with mystery and awe. The Aztecs and Mayans believed that chocolate would impart spiritual wisdom, increase sexual abilities and provide an energy boost. Chocolate was prized highly as a nuptial aide and of course then was considered the favored drink at wedding ceremonies. Montezuma always took a cup to fortify himself before entering into his harem. Chocolate was considered an exotic luxury beverage and was reserved for kings, nobility and upper ranks of the priesthood. It was used by Aztec warriors to fortify them in times of battle. For the use by warriors the chocolate was compressed into easy to carry tablets and was forbidden unless he was engaging into a war campaign even if he was of noble birth.
The Spaniards once becoming accustomed to the strangeness of the drink took to it with great enthusiasm. Cortes convinced Carlos I of the restorative powers and the extreme profit to be gained by the new health food from the New World that... " a cup of this precious drink could enable a man to walk for an entire day without taking food." Chocolate was also tauted as a curative for upset and weaken stomachs after a meal.
There were many rites and rituals that Aztecs performed at the planting of the Cocao crops. Some involved celibacy, blood letting and sacrificing a dog with a chocolate colored spot on it. Anther use of chocolate by the Aztecs was to paint their face with chocolate for certain ceremonies. Human sacrifices were often fed large quantities of chocolate in preparation so that his blood would be the color of chocolate when his heart was cut out and offered to the gods. Even the early Spanish settlers and farmers believed these rituals of planting were necessary and performed some of them.
From it's earliest days chocolate was considered as a substance of power, a gift from the gods and a source of vitality and life.
Chocolate was used medicinally as far back in time as the fourth century by the Mayans. Sorcerers prescribed cocao as a stimulant as well as a soothing balm. Warriors took it as an energy booster, Kings took it to fortify themselves and to enhance their sexual abilities and the cocao butter was used to dress wounds and to sooth burns.
Aztecs would add to the list of medicinal uses by prescribing the mixing of cocao potions with the ground bones of those who were deceased to cure diarrhea. Spanish colonists were made aware of the curing powers of cocao and recorded the potions and mixtures.
Chocolate received a mixed bag of reviews from both the scientific community as well as the religious sect who endlessly debated the good and bad that could be expected from this new mysterious substance. Spanish doctors, whom back in the sixteenth century, classified illness and the causes there of as to the cold and warm temperatures and the imbalance there for as the cause for ill humors in the body, classified chocolate as a cold substance. To their consternation, they could not conceive why Aztecs would consume chocolate prepared cold when obviously it was a "cold" element and needed to be consumed warm to restore the balance. the controversy continued until the seventeenth century when it received it's official seal of approval from the medical community with the recommendation that not too much spices or sugar being added in it's preparation.
In Italy, an Italian physician stated that chocolate was not only pleasant to the taste but maintained the mouth and glands in a good health and humor so that all who partook of it had a sweet breath.A French medical magistrate stated that when carefully prepared chocolate was a wholesome and agreeable food. Very suitable for persons of great mental exertion, preachers, lawyers and above all travelers as it agrees with the weakest of stomachs. has provided beneficial in cases of chronic illness and remains the last resort in the disease of the pylorus. The same French physician wrote," To those who love, and are unfortunate enough to suffer from the most universal of all gallant illnesses, will find in chocolate the most enlightening consolation." Thus it was believe to be the cure for a broken heart.
Finally it was believed by the English that it was the perfect family drink and was preferred at meal times when tea and coffee were inappropriate unless almost all milk. It was told to assist in the perfect digestion of food within three hours of consumption. By the end of the century chocolate was approved by all the medical community and was used by hospital and sanitariums as well as by the navy, the army and various other public service branches.
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Lamentations of the Caves By Rebecca Cuevas De Caissie
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